Report by LBSU

Junior Kenneth Medwood advanced to the 400-meter hurdle finals to highlight the first day of the NCAA West Regional Championships for the Long Beach State track and field team Friday at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.

Medwood, the 49ers’ only two-event competitor, opened the day with a 12th-place finish in the long jump (23-06.25). The Los Angeles native then came back in the evening to run a blistering 51.29 in the 400m hurdle preliminaries, taking second in his heat and sixth overall to advance to Saturday’s final.

Sophomore Nimrod Piggee finished 13th in the 110m hurdle prelims (14.73), while senior Patrick Smith was 19th overall in the javelin (196-09).

In the distance events, junior Alex Freitas was unable to advance in the 800-meter run, crossing the finish line in 1:51.08 for 18th place. Freshman Matt Maldonado saw similar results as he came in 26th in the 1500m prelims with a time of 3 minutes, 56.41 seconds.

Junior Missy Barclay was the only competitor on the women’s side for LBSU as she took 21st overall in the 1500 preliminaries (4:44.24).

Six 49ers will be in action on Saturday, including Medwood (400H), Rodney Hawkins (triple jump), Colin Dunbar (hammer), Dylan Jaedtke (steeplechase), Tayler O’Connor (high jump) and Carly Harris (steeplechase).

The final day of the NCAA West Regionals is set to get underway at 12:30 p.m. (PT).