Sports - The Beach Review

Chris Richardson running track

Chris Richardson, left, on his way to All-America honors at the NCAA championships in Sacramento.

On Track to Succeed

by Shayne Schroeder

Ending a 30-year drought by winning the 2006 Big West Conference men’s track and field championship came as no surprise to CSULB coach Andy Sythe, the conference’s Men’s Coach of the Year.

“It was a welcome expectation,” said Sythe of capturing the school’s first conference track and field title since 1976. “Our athletes did a wonderful job. They had times when they were down in the point chase, but they showed a lot of resilience. We had some tough knocks during the meet and exceeded every expectation the second half of the final day. Our athletes were just more determined to make it happen and obviously we liked the outcome.”

Overall, the 49ers had 11 conference champion athletes and a record 18 all-conference males and 12 all-conference females this year.

At the Big West meet, Temidara took home titles in the high and triple jumps, and Charles Lewis (400m) and Mario Cobian (800m) captured their events, respectively. Ed Cornell, Robert Jennings and David Sampson finished 1-2-3 in the discus and the 49ers won the men’s 4x400-meter relay.

Decathlete Chris Richardson scored 7,194 points to win the Big West competition. On the final conference day, he won the javelin with the second-longest toss in 49er history (219'9") and took the discus event.

The women's program finished third for the second consecutive year. Both the 195.50 points by the men’s team and the 152 points by the women are school records.

Four Beach women champions were Jill Reynolds in the pole vault, Katelyn Ciarelli in the discus, Kim Heinz in the javelin and Emily Forsythe in the high jump, while Jaime Cuthbert-Allen finished second in the heptathlon.

A trio of 49er track athletes went on to earn All-American honors at the NCAA national championships in Sacramento—John Temidara and Ronald Carter in the triple jump with third- and seventh-place finishes, respectively; and Chris Richardson, the 49ers’ first All-American decathlete, who finished third with 7,573 points. Their efforts gave CSULB a 16th place team finish at the NCAAs and its most All-Americans since 1976.

In addition to Sythe’s coaching honor, Richardson was chosen Big West Male Field Athlete of the Year, while the NCAA West Region named Dave Rodda an Assistant Coach of the Year.

In addition to Sythe’s coaching honor, Richardson was chosen Big West Male Field Athlete of the Year, while the NCAA West Region named Dave Rodda an Assistant Coach of the Year."

"This is the best team I have had in my time here," said Sythe, who completed his 17th season as the 49ers' head coach. "Without our staff, there is no way to get this kind of effort out of our team," he added.

The 49ers' success contined unti the summer when Alex Shaw was named a Junior USA Track and Field All American following an eighth-place finish in the javelin at the national championships for athletes ages 14-19. Richardson earned the decathlon gold medal at the North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association Under-23 Regional Championship in the Dominican Republic.