Add one more competitor - and a whole lot of quickness - to the Cal Poly Pomona track and field contingent heading to Pueblo, Colo., next week for nationals. With several student-athletes from other schools unavailable due to injuries, Broncos' sophomore
Lizette Huerta has earned a spot in the 1,500-meter event at the NCAA Division II National Championships that start on Thursday, May 23. The prelims for Huerta's event will be on that first day - May 23 - at 4:10 p.m. Pacific time (5:10 p.m. Mountain time).
She is now one of eight Broncos traveling to compete at nationals and on the women's side, she joins the veteran group of junior
Samantha Swanson along with seniors
Angela Garcia,
Jillian Schmidt and
Tiffany Dinh. The CPP men's squad will send three student-athletes: sophomore Justin Ellerbee, senior Connor Birtwhistle and senior Vincent Huitt.
Huerta, a native of Ontario, Calif., has been a key contributor on the Broncos' track and field squad this season as she competed in the 4x400 relay early in the season before focusing solely on the 800- and 1,500-meter individual events.
Her top 1,500-meter time of 2013 came at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 18 when she crossed the line in 4:33.89. That mark represents the fifth-best mark in CPP program history. To watch a video of that race at Mt. SAC,
click here. Early this month, Huerta placed third in the 1,500-meter race at the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) championships to earn All-Conference honors.
