And then there were three for UC Irvine

UC Irvine will have three competitors at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Sacramento today through Saturday.

UCI’s trio includes junior Julian Eison (high jump), senior Ricky Barnes (1,500 meters) and sophomore Lauren Collins (heptathlon).

Eison qualified with a fifth-place finish of 6 feet, 11 inches in the high jump at the NCAA West Regional in Eugene, Ore., last weekend.

Barnes, who finished sixth in the 1,500 meters at the regional (3 minutes, 46.71 seconds), received an at-large berth to the national meet based on his time of 3:42.57 recorded at the Big West Conference Championships May 12.

Barnes is No. 2 in UC Irvine history with his time at the Big West Championships.

Collins posted an NCAA automatic-qualifying total of 5,512 points in the heptathlon while winning the Big West title May 5-6. Collins finished ninth in the high jump (5-7 1/4 ) at the West Regional.

Eison will compete today at 7:15 p.m., in the qualifier for the high jump. Collins and Barnes will be competing Thursday, Collins in the first four events of the heptathlon and Barnes in the 1,500 semifinals at 6:05 p.m.

Collins is in the final three events for the heptathlon Friday. Her 5,512 points is a school record. She initially broke the previous record at the Mt. SAC Relays April 11-12 at Azusa Pacific University with 5,446 pionts. She also has the school record in the high jump, at 5-11 1/4 . Both records had stood for at least 20 years.

The outdoor heptathlon features the 200 meters, the 800, the high jump, the 100 hurdles, the long jump, the shot put and the javelin throw.

— From staff reports