PALO ALTO, Calif.- The Lumberjack track and field elite made the most of day one of the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto Friday by claiming seven new NCAA regional marks. The distance runners made their season debut in events ranging from 1500 to 10,000 meters coming away with national marks in every event.

David McNeill took to the track for the first time in 2009 running a shorter race than usual. The 2008 All-American at 3000 and 5000 meters made a splash in the 1500 meter race with his fourth place finish at 3:42.78. The third collegian to finish, McNeill was 1.16 seconds off the leader, and more than six seconds below the regional qualifying time.

Lumberjacks were equally represented in the 3000 meter steeplechase by Nell Rojas and John Killian. Rojas ensured her third regional appearance in as many years when she finished in 10:19.67, over 30 seconds beneath the standard. Killian also qualified with a personal best 9:03.86.

At 5000 meters Veronica Pohl passed the standard by over 45 seconds with her time of 16:06.67. In the men's race Diego Estrada and Ben Ashkettle qualified at 13:47.37 and 13:59.67, respectively. Both Pohl and Estrada were the sixth colligate finishers in their races.

In the last event of the late night, the men's 10,000 meters saw 18 men reach the NCAA provisional mark. Seventh among the group was NAU's Mark Fruin. The senior was the fifth NCAA athlete with his time of 29.04.84, easily beating the provisional time of 29:30.00. NAU's Ahmed Osman just missed the mark at 29:36.32 finishing 20th overall, but met the Big Sky standard by over two minutes.

New Big Sky qualifiers coming out of Stanford include Rodney Overton, who ran a 47.86 in the men's 400, as well as Vanessa Hancock and Haley Lawrence in the 1500 meters.

Javier Villarreal threw another regional mark in the shot put, but did not improve upon his previous qualifier.

Concluding the meet Saturday will be Overton in the 200 meters, Mike Washington in the triple jump, and Pascal Tang competing in the hammer throw.