March 12, 2012
For immediate release
Former Ponderosa standout finishes second in 5,000 on Friday and 3,000 on Saturday
The Sacramento Running Association salutes a group of local athletes who competed at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship in Nampa, Idaho this past weekend, headed by Cal’s Deborah Maier, a former Ponderosa High School standout who delivered a pair of second-place finishes.
Maier finished second in the 5,000 meters on Friday in 15 minutes, 40.74 seconds, trailing only Iowa State’s Betsy Saina (15:38.83). The junior then came back on Saturday to finish second in the 3,000 meters, crossing the line in 9:15.74, just behind winner Emily Infield of Georgetown’s 9:15.44 effort.
Maier became the first Bear in 22 years to score in two individual events. The last one was also from the Sacramento area; Rio Linda’s Sheila Hudson won the long jump and triple jump at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in 1990.
Cal finished 15th in the women’s team standings, with all of the Bears’ 16 points coming from Maier.
The SRA also recognizes the efforts of several other Sacramento-area athletes who competed in the NCAA Championship:
- Oregon’s Alex Kosinski, from Oak Ridge High School, finished 14th in the women’s 5,000 meters in 16:38.61. She also savored the Ducks winning the women’s team title.
- Cal’s Chelsea Reilly, from Davis High School, helped the Bears finish 10th in the women’s distance medley in 11:19:54.
- Stanford’s Brendan Gregg, also from Davis, finished 15th in the men’s 5,000 in 14:40.80.
The Sacramento Running Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to finding ways to encourage people of all ages and abilities to run. The SRA is committed to developing new, quality running events that appeal to a broad variety of runners.
SRA beneficiaries include the American River Parkway, youth fitness programs, local running venues and aspiring young runners
Sacramento Running Association events include the Credit Union SACTOWN Ten-Mile Run on April 1, the Lake Natoma Four Bridges Half Marathon on Oct. 28, the California International Marathon on Dec. 2 and the recently concluded Super Bowl Sunday 10K Run.