In the first day of competition, Thursday, May 2, senior Nick DeBeaubien took fifth place overall with a score of 6046 in the decathlon.
“I really think I could have done so much better,” DeBeaubien said. “When I cramped up in the hundred on the first day, I just knew it wasn’t gonna be pretty.”
On Friday, the men’s field events started strong, as junior Ryan Eckert finished second in the shot put at 15.62m.
“It was fun to throw that just wasn’t good enough for nationals,” Eckert said. “On the day though, it was good enough to place well for the team and help with points. It was really just the start of what I need to finish at the [CSU Los Angeles Last Chance Qualifier] meet next week to get to Nationals.”
On the women’s side senior Shana Emile tossed the hammer far enough for second place at 48.84m. Her throw was a lifetime personal record.
Going into the last day of competition, both the men and women’s squads trailed CSU Los Angeles and Chico State.
On Saturday the Tritons came out with all guns firing. Sophomore Aletha Vasilakis and junior Jessica Miklaski started off the day with huge season bests, with throws of 40.06 and 42.35m, respectively. They placed second and fourth to garner twelve points for the Triton women.
Senior Jackie Rose led the women in the track events. The senior sprints captain won the 400m with a time of 54.70 but was still disappointed that she could not claim the CCAA record. Rose came back less than five minutes later and ran fast enough for sixth in the 100m, and then again lined up for the 200m.
“I’ve only run four 200m races this year so I wasn’t very well prepared for the 200m,” Rose said. “The thing that was on my mind was how last year at Nationals, there was a girl who won the 400m and the 200m even though the events were back to back. I want to be that girl this year, and I put everything out on the line and I won.”
Rose’s wins didn’t stop with the 200m as she anchored the winning 4x400m team of junior Deyna Roberson, sophomore Lauren Irish and freshman Sabrina Pimentel.
For Rose’s efforts — running and winning more than a mile of sprints events — she was awarded CCAA Track Athlete of the Year. She is the most recent of a string of great UCSD runners to win this award following Sri Lankan Olympian Christine Merrill and professional runner Kelly Fogarty.
Pimentel also had a great day, receiving Freshman of the Year honors for her 2:16 800m time while also medaling as part of the 4x400m team.
Stemming Chico’s usual dominance in the distances was sophomore Chia Chang who came into the 10k ranked eighth. Chang battled for second place on only her second 10k race ever.
The Triton hurdlers were out in full force in the finals in the 400m hurdles as senior Caitlin Meagher took second, junior Lauren Irish fourth, senior Deyna Roberson fifth and junior transfeer Raquel Ornsbey took sixth. Meagher also took second in the 100m hurdles while Ornsbey took seventh.
For the jumps, senior Erin Langford managed third place despite having a torn quadricep in her takeoff leg. She also managed seventh in the long jump. Freshman Veronica Bradley took third in the long jump and second in the high jump at 5-foot-4.
On the men’s side senior Ka Wai Ng won the triple jump with a new school record of 50’5.5”. Ng was the first Triton to ever breach the 50’ mark.
Freshman Keith Rose — the younger brother of Jackie Rose — took fourth in the 200m while also breaking the school record with a time of 21.59s. Rose took fifth in the 100m with a 10.78, just .04 seconds off the current school record in that event.
Fellow freshman Jake Herbold took fifth in the 400m hurdles, while senior Jeff Head took third in the long jump with a personal record of 23’4.5”.
Going into the final event on the men’s side, the Tritons stood in fifth place. But the Tritons bridged the gap on the backs of their javelin athletes. Brothers senior Nick and freshman Nash Howe, along with senior Kylie Libuit, boosted the men into third place.
Nick Howe won the competition for the fourth time in a row, while Nash Howe recorded a personal best of 199’1” to take second place. Libuit placed fifth for a total of 22 points out of the javelin. Nick Howe received Field Athlete of the Year for his 219’10” performance.
The UCSD Track & Field team now looks to the Last Chance meet to be held at CSU Los Angeles on May 12 before heading to nationals in Pueblo, Colorado on May 22.
