Steve Frost
SFU Athletics/Morning Star Staff
SAN FRANCISCO – Simon Fraser University Clan junior Ella Brown of Armstrong won back-to-back triple jumps in San Francisco last weekend, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Division II national outdoor championships.
Brown followed her victory in the triple jump at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival on Friday with a victory at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday with a personal best performance.
Brown’s winning jump at Stanford was 12.02 metres ranking her ninth overall in NCAA D2. Brown leaped 11.88 metres on Friday.
“This is a big breakthrough for Ella.” said Clan head coach Brit Townsend. “It was a personal best and this will give her a good chance to make the outdoor championships.”
The automatic qualifying standard in the women’s triple jump is 12.70 metres. A leap of 12.02 metres would have qualified for nationals last year.
“I’m super excited about how this weekend went,” Brown told The Morning Star. “Having such a big PB especially so early in the season is awesome especially since it was over 12 meters which is what I have been aiming for for a while.
“I was pretty nervous going into especially the Stanford meet because it was my second day of competing and it was a Div. 1 meet and I had placed pretty high expectations on myself so jumping over 12 was actually a relief. And getting the meet record at San Francisco State the day before was the cherry on top.”
Brown is studying environmental resource management. She has been spending summers in Pemberton the past few years.
Another highlight from the Stanford Invitational was senior middle distance runner Cameron Proceviat finishing 11th in the 800. His time of 1:50.85 provisionally qualifies for nationals and he currently ranks eighth overall.
“We qualified a lot of individuals for the conference championships and we had a lot of personal bests so it’s a great start to the seasons,” added Townsend.