Leos prep for national competition

by Jonathan Corral
Assistant Editor

With Nationals right around the corner, the University of La Verne track and field team gave it one last shot at earning berths to the national championship meet, to be held May 27-29 at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., by competing in the Claremont Classic last weekend in Claremont.

James Chambless stole the show for the Leopards as he set a new school record in the 110-meter high hurdles and moved up the all important time list to see who goes to nationals.

Chambless’ time of 14.70 broke the record by three tenths of a second. The previous record, set in 1998, was held by Sam Dodd with a time of 14.73. Chambless has earned a provisional mark to the nationals but has to wait and see if he qualifies.

“I got a slow start, but once I got going I felt smooth,” Chambless said. “All my training finally paid off and the race felt great.”

Distance runner Frank Huerta also broke the school record in the 10,000 meters with a time of 34:23. Huerta now holds the school records in both the 5,000 and 10,000.

On the women’s side, Lakia Sims tried to improve her marks for nationals by competing in the long jump and triple jump.

Sims finished third in both events with jumps of 18-4 in the long jump and 38-4 in the triple jump. Similar to Chambless, Sims has earned provisional marks to the national meet but has to sit and wait, hoping for good news. Sims has earned provisional marks in the long and triple jump along with the 4x100-meter relay.

Other athletes who have earned provisional marks for the national meet include Eje Ash, Erica Holmes, Deonne McLean and Sims in the 4x100-meter relay. Also included are Gerlaine Kiamco in the hammer, Lori Waters in the shot put, Ellen Soakai in the discus as well as Lisa Mila and Amy Smith in the javelin.

In order for these athletes to earn a berth in the national meet, they have to be in the top 16 of their respective events as of next week.
As of May 18, some of these athletes remained in good standings with a week left before nationals.

Sims holds the No. 9 ranking in the long jump and is No. 10 in the triple jump. Other athletes in good shape include Waters, who holds the No. 7 spot in the shot put, Amy Smith No. 13 in javelin and Soakai No.15 in the discus.

“Just having a mark is good enough for me,” Kiamco said. “Even if I do not finish in the top 16, I have still accomplished a lot and I am still being recognized along with all of my teammates.”

Also competing in the Claremont Classic was Frank Partida, who finished 16th in a very elite 1500-meter field with a time of 4:09. Blaine Bacher finished the 400-meter hurdles in 57.15 and Donte Witherspoon leapt to 20-5 in the long.

“It was a good season,” head coach Pat Widolff said. “We had a lot of all-conference athletes and we are returning a lot of them, I think we are only losing a few seniors. As a team we have been pretty consistent throughout the past six years and I am really proud of that.”