With the regular season almost over, it would be easy for the UCSD track and field team to ease up and try to catch its breath before heading into the California Collegiate Athletic Association Conference Championships. However, head coach Tony Salerno guaranteed that his team would have to keep its focus by scheduling the two toughest meets of the year at the end of the season. Last weekend the Tritons went up to UCLA to participate in the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Kersey Invitational, and this upcoming weekend, his team will host the prestigious Triton Invitational.
The UCSD women’s team earned two first-place finishes in the long jump and discus heats while the men also took a victory in the high jump at the UCLA Invitational on April 13 and 14.
With schools such as Stanford University, Washington State University, UC Santa Barbara and Rice University, the UCLA Invitational tested the ability and endurance of the Tritons, and although neither the men nor the women placed, many individuals did well.
The lone victories for the UCSD women came from sophomore jumper Leah Murphy with a distance of 18 feet, 8 inches in the long jump and sophomore thrower Jillian Sola’s throw of 146 feet, 4 inches in the discus. Junior jumper Whitney Johnson took sixth in the triple jump, finishing behind a cluster of Pac-10 athletes. Johnson welcomes these types of meets, which always challenge the Tritons with some of the top competition in the nation.
“”It brings out our competitive edge and our spirit,”” Johnson said. “”We have to go into these races with the same mentality as we do all of our races. Going against these tougher teams really prepares us for our conference meets. We treat the conference teams as if they are these top-level teams, which really keeps us on top of our game.””
On the men’s side, sophomore jumper Scott Tsuda paced the Tritons, taking second in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump with distances of 45 feet, 7.75 inches and 22 feet, 11 inches, respectively. Freshman jumper Casey Ryan took first in the high jump with a height of 6 feet, 6.75 inches despite breaking his streak of extending his season’s best mark at every meet.
While the UCLA meet was a good warmup for the conference championships, this weekend’s Triton Invitational will make the previous meet seem like an elementary school playground race. The annual competition, hosted at the Triton Track and Field Stadium, attracts some of the top competition in the nation.
Salerno is well aware of the magnitude of the meet and expects his team to rise to the challenge.
“”This will be a big one; we expect over 1,000 athletes,”” he said. “”Most from D-I schools as well as elite Olympic-caliber athletes from the Olympic Training Center. This will be one of the top track and field meets on the West Coast for the year and should produce some of the top performances in the world for this point in the season.””
Aside from the best collegiate athletes, the meet will also include two Olympic medalists. Monique Henderson, who won the gold medal in the 4×400 relay in Athens, Greece, and the American record-holder in discus, Suzy Powell, will be in the spotlight all weekend. The Triton athletes understand the caliber of their competition, but aren’t intimidated by the pomp and glamour.
“”We can compete with and keep up with all the top athletes,”” Murphy said. “”Hopefully, we can improve from last week’s good performances and build off of it. All we can do is get out there and give it our all by having the same mindset no matter who we’re going up against.””
Johnson agreed that the Triton athletes are on a level playing field when it comes to talent and determination.
“”All of our athletes have the capabilities to beat any of these top competitors on any given day,”” Johnson said. “”It just depends on who comes better prepared that day. And we always do well at home, so it should be a really exciting meet.””
No matter what the results are when the dust settles from the meet on April 22, the Tritons will be more than ready for the fierce competition they will surely face in their division rivals at the CCAA championships, which start in San Francisco on May 3.
