Track has eventful weekend 

The Long Beach State track team faired well this weekend, despite being pulled in three directions to compete in three different meets.

Sophmore high jumper Tayyiba Haneef tied for seventh place overall at her first national championship at the USA Track and Field National Indoor Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

"She had a great meet," said track and field Head Coach Andy Sythe. "She handled the pressure well."
 

Haneef's mark of 5-9 3/4 was good enough for second place among the collegiate athletes and qualifying her for nationals.

The Beach did a great job at the University of Idaho Indoor Invitational with Borya Celentano placing first in the pole vault with his jump of 17-9, qualifying him for NCAA Nationals next weekend. Celentano and Haneef will be the only two LBSU athletes going to nationals.

Kashus Perona took second in both the 400-meter dash with 47.65 seconds and the 200 with a time of 21.92, but did not qualify for nationals.

Long distance runner Larry Henderson ran the non-qualifying time of 1:51.82 in the 800 placing third in the event.

Long jumper Marion Reneau started the event well, with a jump of 19-2, but withdrew from the competition because of a strained hamstring.

"We hope she will be active by the end of the week," Sythe said.

Several LBSU athletes placed first at the USC Trojan Invitational and many personal bests were broken.

"The athletes had a lot of fun and performed well," Sythe said.

Sophomore Richard Christensen had an impressive finish placing first in the 200 with a time of 21.70. This is the first time he ran the 200 in collegiate 
competition.

"He came off the turn two meters behind," Sythe said. "He ran him down on the home stretch. It was very exciting."

Senior Johann Appell took first place in the 1,500 with a time of 3:59.02 using a bit of race strategy.

"The race started out slow with a battle for position," Sythe said. "The last 100 meters he really extended himself to beat out USC's top runner."

Thrower Jon O'Neil had a great meet, placing 1st in the shot put (55-8), making this his outdoor lifetime best. O'Neil also took second in the discus throw (177-8) and third in the hammer throw (169 feet).