|
sports:
track and field
BWC Championships
off and running
By Alexander Gordon
On-line Forty-Niner
The Big West Track
and Field Conference Championships got underway on Wednesday
at Jack Rose Track with freshman Nina Grubbs of Long Beach
State holding on to first place in the heptathlon for Day
1 of the seven-event competition.
Grubbs took second
place in three of the four events on the day, including the
100-meter hurdles (14.97 seconds), the high jump (5-4 1/4)
and the shot put (37-5 1/4).
Her Day 1 point
total was 2,913; three points ahead of second place Dacia
Fernandez of the University of Idaho.
"Nina has
two strong events tomorrow, her long jump and her javelin
events," Head Coach Andy Sythe said. "She is capable
of being much better than she has even shown so far. The potential
for her to win this is there and this would be a fantastic
achievement for a freshman."
Grubbs is optomistic
about her chances in Day 2 of the heptathlon.
"The event
I'm looking forward to tomorrow is the javelin," Grubbs
said. "My last heptathlon I was in was at Mt. SAC and
I did mediocre in my second day. But this one I feel I can
do better and probably end up getting a close second or first
place."
In the decathlon,
LBSU junior Rich Christensen finished Day 1 of competition
in fourth place through five events. Jereme Richardson of
Idaho is currently in first place with 3,788 points.
Christensen won
both the 100 with a time of 10.95 and the shot put with a
throw of 44-4 1/4. The junior totaled 3,574 points by the
end of the day, although he hasn't competed in a decathlon
all season due to knee and hamstring injuries.
"He's had
some injuries this season," Sythe said. "He almost
red-shirted this year. It wasn't until April that he actually
ran his first race...he did this [the decathlon] his freshman
year. Two years ago was his last decathlon and he scored 6,008
points to place eighth in that meet. So now he's coming back
a little stronger, a little wiser and hopefully ready to go
for the top three here."
Freshman Ami Goldhammer
is currently in sixth place in the heptathlon with 2,599 points.
Goldhammer took second place in the 200 with a time of 26.43.
Today, both the
decathlon and heptathlon will conclude. The men will compete
in the 110 high hurdles, the discuss throw, the pole vault,
the javelin throw and the 1500. For the women, Day 2 consists
of the long jump, the javelin throw and the 800.
On Friday and Saturday,
individual events for the conference championships will get
underway.
|
