Ben RozakChris Frazeur has been here before. The next step, though, would put him in even more exclusive company.
Frazeur will be one of 15 members of the Cal Poly track and field team looking to qualify for the national championships at West Regional competition at Cal State Northridge this Friday and Saturday.
“That’s a lifelong dream of mine,” said Frazeur, who will compete in the 400-meter hurdles for the second year in a row at the regional level. “Athletically, my whole life has kind of been leading up to this since I started running track 12 or 13 years ago. This would definitely be the highest point of my entire athletic career.”
He enters the weekend seeded ninth in his premier event, at 51.68 seconds.
Top-five finishers will automatically qualify for the national championships, held June 11-14 in Des Moines, Iowa, while those in the top 12 will be considered for at-large bids, given in descending order, applying the national best marks list.
Leading the Cal Poly women will most likely be senior Sharon Day, whose national standing is already entrenched. The top-ranked high jumper in the country met an Olympic “A” standard in that event by clearing 6 feet, 4 _ inches at the Big West Conference Championships on May 17, also at Cal State Northridge.
Day regionally qualified in the long jump and javelin throw, and nationally in the heptathlon, but chose to compete solely in the high jump.
“I was quite a ways down on those lists as far as making it to nationals,” Day explained, adding that competing in the long jump and the javelin throw, leading up to the high jump, in such a condensed period of time may have precluded her from being at her best for her top event.
Helping the Mustangs, Day said, could be their familiarity with the Matador Track Complex.
“It definitely adds to a greater comfort level,” Day said. “We should have more experience there than a lot of other schools who haven’t had the opportunity to compete there a few times like we have.”
Frazeur will be competing at the facility for the third time.
“I’m excited we’re heading back,” he said. “We know what the weather’s like, what the track is like and where the wind blows, so we’ll have a little bit of an advantage over a lot of people in the region who may have never been on the track.”
Cal Poly women joining Day include seniors Christine Silva (in the pole vault) and Jessica Eggleston (triple jump), in addition to junior Julieann Dufresne (shot put and discus) and freshman Jasmine Pickett (long jump and triple jump).
Nine Mustangs join Frazeur competing on the men’s side.
Seeded 12th are junior Tre’dale Tolver (in the 100) and sophomore Joe Gatel (1,500).
The rest of the contingent is comprised of seniors Joey Hauser (in the triple jump) and Chris White (shot put), juniors Evan Anderson (1,500) and Jeff Lease (steeplechase), sophomores Kevin Jones (pole vault) and Carl Dargitz (steeplechase) and freshman Connor Landry (pole vault).
Competition starts with the women’s hammer throw at 10 a.m. Friday, before the first Mustang competes in the women’s pole vault at 1:30 p.m.
Track events begin with the women’s 4-x-100 relay at 2:10 p.m., prior to the initial Cal Poly-graced running event, the men’s 1,500 at 2:50 p.m.