The UCSD men’s and women’s track teams appeared in mid-season form at the March 8 San Diego City Championships, giving a strong follow-up to its mediocre performance the prior weekend at the All-Cal Challenge Cup on March 1.
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The men’s track and field team finished first, and the Triton women finished second at UCSD’s Triton Track & Field Stadium on March 8.
“”It was a good meet. I was very pleased with all of the performances,”” said UCSD head coach Tony Salerno.
Individual highlights for the men included freshman sprinting and jumping winners Brad Libuit, Peiman Lahsaei and Matt Horner.
Libuit had three first-place finishes in the high jump, the triple jump and the javelin. Lahsaei had wins in the 200-meter race with a time of 22.32 and in the 100 relay with Horner, who also dominated the 400-meter race by gliding to victory with a time of 49.69.
A victory of particular significance for the women was the one-two finish in the women’s 3,000 by Tritons Kathy Reed and Michele DiMeo, which underlines the strength of the UCSD distance squad.
Sara Alsup was also an important contributor to the Triton second-place finish, which saw her long throw of 151-7 in the discus translate to a National Collegiate Athletic Association Championship Provisional Qualifying performance. Alsup also had the sixth-best hammer throw in school history with a 143-8 heave.
The order of finishes on the women’s side was: SDSU (217.5), UCSD (206.5), Point Loma Nazarene (109), CSU San Marcos (70), USD (6) and Alliant International (1).
On the other side, PLNU (171.5), San Marcos (119.5) and AIU (38) followed UCSD (241) in the men’s competition.
“”The athletes really stepped it up across the board; seven or eight people made significant improvement, and some [athletes] were not challenged [by the competition offered],”” Salerno said.
At the previous weekend’s All-Cal Challenge Cup on March 1 at UC Riverside, UCSD recorded marks that fell short of its expectations. The team had strong individual performances that did not translate into a strong overall score for the men or women.
“”We were playing for pride, and had a few bad breaks that kept us from winning because we were within a few points of doing better,”” Salerno said.
On the women’s team, Sagrario Hernandez took center stage by winning the shot put and finishing a close second in the hammer throw.
Hernandez’s throw of 171-5 in the hammer throw is a school record. Both her throw and her first-place effort in the shot put were NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks.
Sophomore Kendra Canape finished first in the high jump at 5-6, which also tied the existing UCSD school record and met the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying standard.
Senior Jackie Vu catapulted to second in the pole vault with a leap of 11-3, also a NCAA Division II provisional qualifying performance.
Distance runner Audrey Sung’s performance in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 17:25.97 was her second NCAA Division II provisional qualifying performance.
Despite the individual efforts, the women were relegated to the fourth spot in the close competition after being narrowly beaten by UC Riverside.
The women’s teams finished in the following order: UC Irvine with 199 points, UC Santa Barbara with 159.5 points, UC Riverside with 155 points and UCSD with 142.5 points.
On the other hand, the men’s team did a little better, finishing third, close on the heels of UCI, which only scored nine points ahead of them.
Junior Butch Lerma was the sole event winner with a long jump of 22-8.
“”We could’ve been more effective, and [the athletes] could’ve beaten a lot of people, but they were scared,”” Salerno said.
UC Santa Barbara was the men’s champion with 195 points, followed by UCI with 167 points, UCSD with 158 points and UCR with 116 points.
Next week, the Tritons will face off at the San Diego State Aztec Invitational against a number of competitors at SDSU on March 15.
