TRACK ‘amp; FIELD ‘mdash; Even while resting during the week before conference championships, the Triton track and field squad managed to place more athletes in the school’s record books.
With conference coming up this week, the coaches decided to sit many of the athletes at the invitational in order to put forth the team’s best effort when the races count the most.
‘We leave on Wednesday for conference, and some of the athletes compete as early as Thursday,’ head coach Tony Salerno said. ‘We had people compete selectively or not at all.’
Nevertheless, competing in the last invitational and last home meet of the season, the Tritons performed admirably against stiff competition at the UCSD Triton Invitational on April 24. The competition featured athletes from Division-I programs in the Pac-10, Big-12 and Southeastern Conference.
The 4×100 meter relay team, consisting of junior Christine Merrill, senior Katie Skorupa, sophomore Kelly Fogarty and senior Laiah Blue led the women’s team. The four sprinters finished in 46.50 seconds to set a new record for UCSD and record the seventh fastest time nationally in Division II this season.
Merrill also competed in the 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles as one of the few Tritons to participate in three events. She placed third in the 100-meter event and won the 400-meter hurdles ‘mdash; an event in which she is ranked third nationally.
Merrill’s strong races at the Triton Invitational come at a good time in the season.
‘This helps me gain momentum for conference,’ she said. ‘It’s really exciting because our 4×100 [team] ran so well and we can still improve. There are a lot of school records on the team this year. Everyone pushes each other, and if one person does well it helps everyone else do well.’
Skorupa, who ran the second leg in the 4×100 relay, also competed in the 200-meter dash. She recorded a time of 25.70, which was good for third place in the race and 10th fastest in school history.
Junior thrower Danielle Thu also performed well for the Tritons, breaking her own school record in the hammer throw by an inch, with a mark of 189’6”. Thu placed sixth in an event featuring a former Olympian and Division-I champion. Fellow thrower sophomore Theresa Richards placed fifth in the javelin throw, with a mark of 132’01’, her personal best.
On the men’s side, junior hurdler Leon Baham, junior thrower Fred Cook and freshman thrower Nick Howe led with a trio of NCAA provisional qualifying marks.
Howe placed sixth overall in the javelin throw with a mark of 193’10’, good for second in school history.
‘This is really extraordinary because the javelin throw is an event that usually takes a while to develop,’ Salerno said of Howe’s immediate success.
Baham had a strong showing in the 400-meter hurdles, placing fourth with a time of 53.10.
In a meet known for the quality of its throwing events, Cook placed 17th with a mark of 181′ in the hammer throw.
Junior Casey Ryan had a strong performance in the high jump, clearing 6’10.75′ to place third overall. Ryan had some of the stiffest competition in the meet, and finished behind only University of Nebraska’s Paul Hamilton and University of Tennessee’s Brenard Wilson.
Despite the team’s success this season, Salerno stressed that conference will not be easy.
‘We have possibly one of the toughest conferences in Division II,’ he said. ‘We almost need the Division I meets to get ready for a conference like ours.’
While not all of the team will mov
e on to conference, Salerno emphasized the importance of every athlete.
‘Everyone who’s out there laying it on the line has a role in getting other people to nationals,’ he said. ‘That’s something that I think has been a huge thing for us ‘mdash; the level of commitment that we’ve seen in the program has grown immensely.’
The Tritons will begin conference championships on April 30 in Chico, where the Triton women will attempt to capture their fifth straight title.
Readers can contact Liam Rose at [email protected].