EUGENE, OR. – Cal State L.A.'s two NCAA Division II national champions will both be competing in the 2011 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships that will be held June 23-26 at Hayward Field.

 

Josh Como, who won the national title in the triple jump, will compete in his specialty on Thursday, June 23, while Giorgio Bryant, the national champion in the long jump, will compete in that event on Saturday, June 25.

 

The 2011 USA Outdoor Championships serve as the selection event for Team USA's roster for the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, which will be held later this summer in Daegu, South Korea. The top three in each event will qualify for Team USA.

 

Como goes into the meet with the ninth-best qualifying mark in the triple jump. He broke the Cal State L.A. record with a mark of 54-8 that he recorded twice at UCLA's Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Kersee Invitational and again at the Mt. SAC Relays. Como won the national championship by more than two feet with a winning mark of 54-2.50 in rainy conditions at Cal State Stanislaus.

 

Como was the West Region Field Athlete of the Year for the second straight year and he also claimed his second straight California Collegiate Athletic Association championship in the triple jump.

 

Bryant goes into the meet with the ninth-best qualifying mark in the long jump. His qualifying mark was the 25-6.25 effort he posted while winning the CCAA title. He had a wind-aided mark of 26-1.50 while winning the national championship.

 

Bryant won three conference championships in the 100, 200 and long jump and was named the CCAA Newcomer of the Year.

 

Former Cal State L.A. distance great Jacques Sallberg has qualified in the 3,000 steeplechase. He still holds the school record in that event with a time of 8:37.85. Sallberg set the record in 1998.

 

Another former Golden Eagle, Keinan Briggs, has a provisional qualifying mark in the triple jump. His mark is 52-4.75. Briggs is No. 7 at Cal State L.A.'s all-time list in the triple jump.