ULV track prepares for Cal-Nevada

photo by Adam Omernik

Will Lawson of ULV finishes second in the first heat in the 100-meter sprint behind B.J. Adams of Biola. Dimitri Watson of ULV pulled away with first in the 100-meter dash Saturday. The Leopards dominated the sprinting events, winning 13 of 14 races in men's and women's competition. Biola University, Middlebury and Colby were all present as ULV's Ortmayer Stadium hosted its final conference quad meet.

by Lacy Cascadden
Staff Writer

It was a beautiful Saturday morning with the sun shining brightly on Ortmayer Stadium. The echo of gunshots signaled the beginning of the races. The University of La Verne men and women's track and field teams faced off against Biola, Colby and Middlebury.

"The marks were not that good, except for a couple of exceptions," said head coach Pat Widolff.

Those exceptions included taking each of seven sprinting events for the men's team. Dimitri Watson, Eric Thomas, Blaine Bacher, Kenny Colby and Will Lawson all won their events.

But the real winner was Cecilio Barrera with his 1500-meter time of 4:02.77, breaking his second school record; Barrera also set the record for the 800-meter.

The men's team won both relay events. Other winners included Brandon Tedrow, Bobby Vail, Pierre Campbell and Carmen Hurst.

It was an equally successful day for the women's team with Ellen Soakai breaking the school record in discus with a throw of 139'9". Soakai also made the NCAA provisional qualifying list.

"It was good. It came out of nowhere," Soakai said. "I usually throw 120. It felt good."

Likewise, Lakia Sims exceeded provisional marks and set a personal best with a triple jump of 38'5.5".

In addition, Liz Lucsko made provisional marks in the triple jump, and Deonne Mclean was a two-time winner for the day.

Coach Widolff felt the team didn't perform their best due to preparation for this weekend's match up against Claremont Mudd-Scripts.

"They were not excited. They are getting ready for this weekend," Widolff said.

ULV remains undefeated in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and will try to take conference tomorrow when they match up against CMS, the University of Redlands and Caltech at Redlands. Their biggest competition will be CMS, who is also undefeated in SCIAC.

"It should be even,"Widolff said. "The scores should be very close. It depends on who is good that day. This is for conference against CMS."

"We have a good team with talent and potential. We should take SCIAC," Soakai said.

ULV will travel to Redlands to try and win conference tomorrow.

Next weekend, ULV will compete in the Cal-Nevada Championship in San Diego.