Avenal’s Ayala barely misses NCAA finals berth

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Fresno State's Sharon Ayala placed 13th in the hammer throw preliminaries at the NCAA track and field championships Wednesday, falling one spot short of the finals. The Avenal High graduate's top throw sailed 199 feet, five inches in the competition at Drake University.

To reach the finals, Ayala needed to reach 200-7 -- the mark Akron's Stevi Large and Arizona State's Sarah Stevens attained to tie for 11th.

The field consisted of 29 competitors.

Ayala had gained an at-large bid to the NCAA championships with a personal-best mark of 203-4 -- a school record. She set the record three times this season.

A junior transfer from Fresno City College, Ayala competed in both NCAA championship meets this year.

Ayala was one of three Fresno State athletes to land spots in the NCAA meet.

Freshman long jumper Gary Lee reached 25-4 on Wednesday to gain a spot in today's finals. Lee was seeded 17th, but put together the sixth-best mark in preliminaries.

Fresno State's Rosario Sanchez, a freshman from Selma, will compete in the shot put preliminaries today.

(June 12, 2008)