Equestrian heads to Nationals
The UCSD equestrian team sent three riders to compete in individual events at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association 2004 National Horse Show in Murfeesborough, Tenn. The three riders, senior Linda Torres, junior Shannon Ward and junior co-captain Marce Evans, qualified for Nationals after finishing in the top two of their respective classes in the Western Zone.
Torres finished third in Intermediate Over Fences (2 feet, 9 inch jumps) after having won her class at both the UCSD-hosted Southern California Regional Finals in March and West Coast Zone Finals last April in Twin Falls, Idaho. Ward was ninth in her Walk-Trot-Canter class after also winning first place at both Regional Finals and Zone Finals. Evans also rode solidly in Novice Over Fences (2-6 jumps) after winning her class at Regional Finals and placing second at Zone Finals.
It was a whirlwind three days for all three riders, it being their first time competing at the National Horse Show.
After finishing the 2003-04 season as the No. 2 team in both Western (losing to Cal Poly Pomona) and English (to University of San Diego by just two points) competitions, the UCSD equestrian team hopes to send both a team and as many individuals as possible to the annual Western Zones competition in 2005, which will be held in Oregon, and the national competition, which is scheduled to be hosted in Ohio.
Triathlon
On May 2, the UCSD triathlon team participated in the grueling Wildflower Triathlon, held annually at Lake San Antonio, Calif. The world-class course included a 1.5-kilometer open-water swim, a 40K bike course over loping hills, topped off by a 10K run. The best college triathletes from around the country competed for both individual and team honors.
On the men’s side, John Burke finished in 13th place with an overall time of 2 hours, 17 minutes, 3 seconds. Burke’s 10K run time of 35:47 was the best posted time of the day.
UCSD teammate Brendan O’Brien was close behind, finishing 23rd with a time of 2:24:12 after running into problems during his first transition from the swim onto the bicycle.
John Romais was the third finisher for UCSD, posting a time of 2:37:52.
The Triton women had a solid showing, with Natasha Cridler finishing fourth overall in a time of 2:35:45 and Emily Vala-Haynes crossing shortly behind and taking eighth place in a time of 2:40:52. Sharon Bergquist finished soon thereafter, completing the course in 2:45:35.
UCSD’s combined team time of 15:21:19 was fast enough to earn the Tritons fourth place overall among the eight-school field.
The Triton triathlon team continues the season throughout the summer starting with their next competition at the San Jose International Triathlon on June 13 at Lake Almaden, Calif..
