The
Beach takes 10 events at Long Beach State
Collegiate Classic
By Michael Bower
On-line Forty-Niner
 It
was a picturesque day for the annual Long
Beach State Collegiate Classic hosted by
Long Beach State on Saturday. The field
included The Beach, Cornell University,
Colgate University, Army, Weber State, and
the Princeton women’s team.
 Senior
Cory Loebl led the way for The Beach as
he won all three throwing events. Overall
The Beach won 10 events but Cornell took
home the men and women’s team titles winning
14 events. Cornell ousted The Beach for
first by two points on the men’s side while
the women settled for third place.
“On the men’s side it’s almost a moral victory
for us in the sense that Cornell won their
indoor conference meet and had a strong
showing in the NCAA championship meet,”
head coach Andy Sythe said. “For us to be
in a battle with them and for us to be in
it to the last jump against them was great.”
Loebl, named the Big West male athlete of
the week, carried the men’s team by winning
in the Shot Put, Discus and Hammer events.
Loebl posted a 56-foot 8-inch throw in the
Shot Put, 180-foot 10-inch toss in the Discus
and a hammer throw of 190-feet 9-inches.
Loebl has already qualified in all three
events for the NCAA Regional and the conference
championship meet.
Senior Frank Rodriguez saw his unbeaten
season in the Javelin come to an end as
he took third place with a throw of 204-feet
2-inches. Rodriguez is a qualifier for the
BWC Championship and the NCAA West Regional
with victories at the University Southern
California Invite and the Long Beach Relays
earlier this year
“He struggled,” Sythe said. “He had a tough
day. It’s unexplainable because that is
not typical of Frank.”
Sophomore Haben Hagos took home the High
Jump event title with a jump of 6-feet 7.25-inches.
Hagos competed in the Long and Triple Jumps
as well placing seventh in the Long Jump
and fifth in the Triple Jump.
 Kenny
Lawrence had an incredible race in the Steeplechase
for the men as he came from behind the last
100-meters to win with a time of 9 minutes,
18.47 seconds.
“To literally steal that race in the last
100-meters was a huge thing for Kenny and
a great thing for our program,” Sythe said.
“My hats off to him, that was the finest
performance of the day for our men.”
Among other winners for LBSU on the men’s
side was Nathan Enriquez in the 400-meter
hurdles and the men’s 4x400-relay team.
Kristin Hambaroff, Stephanie Sampson and
Gladys Iwuaba led the way for the women’s
team as they all placed first in their respective
field events. Hambaroff in the Pole Vault
competition with a vault of 11-feet 0.25-inches,
Sampson in the hammer throw with a toss
of 178-feet 9-inches and Iwuaba in the Triple
Jump with a mark of 39-feet 3-inches.
Also performing well for the women were
Charlene Deardoroff in the 100-meter dash.
Deardoroff placed second with a time of
12.16 seconds. Jennifer Yadon picked up
the school record in the 3000-meter Steeplechase
event with a time of 10 minutes, 53.99 seconds.
Sythe said the women on the track had to
overcome two key injuries. One of the injuries
was to Jessica Williams who is a key component
to the relay teams. Despite her absence
the women placed second in the 4x100-meter
relay and third in the 4x400-meter relay.
“I am so proud of our girls on the track
for what they did and what they had to overcome,”
Sythe said. “I am so proud and so excited
that we had that kind of depth.”
The track and field team will be back in
action on Friday in the Stanford Invitational
in Palo Alto, Calif.
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