As the NCAA Championships inch closer, Track and Field athletes continue to improve their marks in the hope of clinching automatic qualifiers.
UCSD’s men’s and women’s track and field teams took part in the 37th Annual Aztec Invitational on San Diego State’s campus this past Friday and Saturday. Two weeks after dominating the San Diego Collegiate Challenge, the Triton athletes were trying to improve on their season records to get bids for the NCAA championships.
Senior Veronica Bradley was one of the best performers on the first day of competition for the Tritons. She put up great performances in the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash on Thursday, winning 751 points in both events. She completed her heptathlon on Friday, securing fourth place with 4267 points.
In other events of the day, freshman Kristin Semancsin came in sixth in the 800-meter race, with a season best 2:21.09. Senior Ellexi Snover came in third in the women’s 400-meter run, while sophomore Derek Van de Streek ran a 49.95 for the men’s 400-meter run and came in sixth.
Three Tritons, juniors Corinne Hinkle (19th) and Paige Hughes (24th) and sophomore Ella Verhees (25th) finished in the top 25 of the 1500-meter run invitational. For the men, senior Tanner Collins (11th), sophomore Terrence Luevano (15th) and senior Daniel Hauptman (16th) all had strong performances in the 1500-meter run.
On Saturday, three Triton athletes performed well enough for provisional qualifying marks for the NCAA championships.
In the women’s javelin throw,junior Haley Libuit finished third, behind Snover (who had a personal best of 143’5″) and grabbed a provisional qualifying mark. The second Triton to get a provisional qualifying mark was sophomore decathlete Dan Golubovic who hit a height of 15’9.25″ in the pole vault. Freshman Matt Bowen finished second in the men’s triple jump invitational, while Van de Streek finished fifth, with a personal best good enough for a provisional qualifying mark.
In the javelin throw, senior Nash Howe placed third with a throw of 220′. In pole jump, freshman Devin Stetson hit a personal best 11’8.5″, equaling the top score but finishing fourth based on her number of jumps.
Junior Jared Shahbazian and sophomore Nick Gastaldo finished first and second, respectively, in the shot put invitational. Freshmen Justin Hunter (10.84) and Paul Doan (10.86) also finished first and second, respectively, in the third heat of the 100-meter dash.
With Howe still the only Triton with an automatic qualifier for the NCAA championships after the Aztec Invitational, UCSD now boasts a list of 15 athletes with provisional qualifying performances after this past week’s performances.
UCSD returns home for its next meet, when it will host the California Collegiate Invitational on Saturday, April 4, a meet formerly known as the Cal-Nevada Championships.
