Track and field qualifies seven Tritons

    UCSD track and field will send seven athletes — two men and five women — to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Championships at the Angelo State University Multipurpose Sports Complex in San Angelo, Texas on May 23 to May 25.

    Guardian file photo

    Earlier this week, after announcing those teams officially selected to advance to nationals through automatic qualification, the selection committee pooled together all of the provisional qualifiers accumulated during the course of the season and picked the top marks in order to fill in all of the event fields. The announcement came soon after the Tritons won All-California Collegiate Athletic Association honors for 12 athletes at last week’s CCAA Conference Championships at UCSD, where the women placed second and the men placed fifth overall.

    “”Yes it was [along the lines of what we expected],”” said head coach Tony Salerno. “”Some were nice surprises. It was pretty much what we had expected; we actually got more women in than we expected but it’s been that kind of year for the women’s team.””

    Leading the UCSD competitors is Rob Ewanio, whose school record of 60’4.5” in the men’s shot put at conference championships not only won him the conference title, but also earned him the second seed in this weekend’s nationals. Also, his win last week came over Taras Rohde of Cal State Los Angeles, the top seed because of the 61′.75” mark he posted earlier this season. Ewanio, who placed fifth at last year’s meet, earned UCSD’s only automatic bid to the national championships.

    Also representing the men is Jon Wong in the 1,500 meters, the 19th-seeded runner with a time of three minutes, 52.22 seconds. Last season Wong finished 13th during preliminaries in the 1,500 meters, just barely missing a berth in the finals field of 12. Wong had an NCAA provisional qualification mark in the 800 meters as well, but was not able to make the cut for nationals.

    On the women’s side, the highest-seeded qualifier is Audrey Sung in the 3,000 meters, a 2001 All-American in the same event. Sung’s time of 10:01.41 earned her a sixth seed in the race, where she took sixth place to score all three team points last year. In their other track event, the women will be represented by Clara Wilson in the 400-meter low hurdles, who will race as the 16th seed with a qualifying time of 62.52 seconds.

    In the field events, Sara Allsup has the seventh seed in the women’s discus, having posted a throw of 155’02’. Megan Bergin, with a 166’11” mark in the women’s hammer throw last weekend, will compete as the 14th seed. Bergin’s throw at the conference championships was both a school and personal record. Finally, Minnie Hernandez, whose 45’9” in the shot put at the CCAA Championships eventually became her NCAA qualification throw, was a pleasant surprise, according to Salerno.

    “”For some of them, the sky is the limit,”” Salerno said. “”For Audrey, she certainly has a good chance of doing real well in the 3,000. She’s quite a competitor. She’s got a real good chance of improving [on last season’s performance at nationals] this year. She and Rob are certainly our top athletes from each gender.””

    Having completed their regular season last week with two new school records and a handful of top-10 all-time finishes, the Tritons will head back to the national championships looking to improve on last year’s 29th place on the men’s side, and 50th place standing on the women’s.

    “”The way we competed at conference championships, it makes you hungry for more,”” Salerno said. “”I think we’re ready to step up. With us, it’s a real sense of confidence and most athletes headed into nationals have fear and trepidation. I’m really excited and looking forward to seeing what happens.””

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