Beach
on track, shine at Jack Rose
By Gina Ponce
On-line Forty-Niner
Breaking
two school records and setting several personal
bests, Long Beach State athletes opened
up the outdoor track season strong in the
62nd Jack Rose Relays.
“It’s hard to say how well we really did
because we went up against four colleges
and 13 junior colleges that we don’t usually
compete with,” junior Ami Goldhammer said.
Goldhammer competed for Long Beach State
in both the long jump and javelin events.
One of the first events to start off well
for Long Beach in the women’s category was
the 4x100 meter relay. They came in second
place with a time of 48.85 seconds after
Cerritos College edged out in front at the
end of the last leg.
“I consider this to be a real good start
for us,” head coach Andy Sythe said. “[Our
goal] was to really go out and perform well
on our home facility. I’m really pleased
with all the support we received from other
[Long Beach] sports teams.”
Shingo Suzumura took first place in the
men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 14.52.
The 4x400 meter relay was a success in both
the men’s and women’s competition for LBSU
with two first place wins. The men won with
a time of 3:16.23, and Jessica Williams
came from behind to finish the race first
for the women at 3:57.65.
The 49ers women’s sprint medley relay team
came in first with a time of 1:48.02.
“The sprinters on both the male and female
sides are starting to realize their full
potential,” Jamaal James, who anchored for
LBSU in the 4x400m relay, said.
The men’s distance medley relay team continued
to display LBSU’s strength by coming in
second with a time of 10:14.79. University
of Southern California finished just ahead
of the 49ers and took first place while
breaking the meet record.
Senior Frank Rodriguez took home a personal
best and a school record in the javelin
event with a throw of 214-feet 2-inches.
Goldhammer also broke the school record
for the women in the javelin finishing at
144-feet 7-inches.
Redshirt freshman Steve Holland threw 172-feet
in the men’s hammer for the win and a personal
best. Junior Samy Meredith finished third
with a career best throw of 161-feet .06-inches.
The long jump event was swept by The Beach
with Holly Lipscomb in first place (17-feet
04.75-inches), Aroline Neal in second and
Goldhammer in third. Megan Irey and Jasmine
Tolbert of LBSU finished first and second
respectively in the triple jump.
“We finally triumphed at our own relays,”
James said. “The track team excelled in
all venues.”
Sythe said the team is balanced out a lot
more this year having strengths in all areas
of competition. He said big goals are set
for the near future of this track program
and development is a key concept.
“This year we are planning to redshirt a
number of athletes to let them develop more
and let younger athletes catch up to them,”
Sythe said.
Sythe said this will allow Beach Track and
Field to have a full complete squad next
year that is balanced and has depth.
“We know we can’t win every event, but if
we can’t win we want to push the other teams
to be their best and give them competition,”
Sythe said.
|
