Throwers shine in Sagehen invite
Campus Times
February 21, 1997
Senior Socorro Gonzalez breaks her own record of 133' 6" with a
javelin throw of 138' 5" at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational last Saturday.
The team's first SCIAC meet is March 1 at Ortmayer Stadium. Gonzalex won
the event with her throw.
Senior Beverly Wilson placed 26th in the women's 3,000m run at the Pomona-Pitzer
Invitational. Wilson often runs both the 3,000m and the 1,500m.
by Scott Harvey
Assistant Sports Editor
Returning as a contender for the NCAA Division III title, the University
of La Verne track and field team returned to competition as it faced the
first challenge of the season at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational Saturday.
The Leopards entered the invitational as a top 10 team in NCAA Division
III and returned this season with most of last year's award winning team.
Topping the list of key returners is senior sprinter Anthony Rice.
In addition to being the Leopard's all-time leading rusher in football,
Rice also earned the right to be called an All-American in track and field
last year. His success as a runner came as he helped the men's 4x100 relay
team of Liron Wilson, Jason Neal and Anthony Hayes, earn an NCAA National
Championship in that event.
Another key returner is Jacqui Zwissler who placed seventh in the triple
jump to earn All-American honors.
The Pomona-Pitzer Invitational would be a much tougher challenge for
the track and field team as it faced some of the top schools from the Southern
California area, including Azusa Pacific, Pomona-Pitzer and NCAA athletic
powerhouse University of Southern California (USC).
"The teams had some great talent," said senior Carl Caston,
a javelin thrower and long jump contestant.
La Verne's strength came from the sprinters at the invitational as it
placed five runners in the top three of the 100m heats in both men and women's
competitions.
Wilson was the top sprinter for the Leopards finishing first in his
heat and won the 100m event in an impressive 11.11 seconds. Another strong
finish for La Verne featured sprinter Stan Marwin as he overcame a large
time differential to finish second in the 110m hurdles.
The standout for the women sprinters was freshman runner Leslie Wood,
finishing fifth in her individual heat in the 100m in 14.27 seconds.
"Leslie had a good day considering the tough sprinters she was
up against," said Widolff.
In the field events, the La Verne team competed well also.
The javelin throw is where La Verne shined on Saturday as Jose Davila
won his section with a throw of 176-10. Caston and Michael Bailey took second
and third in their section and were only beaten by 10 feet as the top throw
measured 186-7. Caston threw for a mark of 172-11 and Bailey threw 170-7.
The women's team also shined in the field as the Leopards swept the
top three positions in the discuss throw and captured the first and second
places in the javelin throw and shot put.
Senior Socorro Gonzalez was the top field competitor for the women beating
her personal best [133-6] in the javelin throw and winning the event with
a throw of 138-5.
In the discuss throw the women were anchored by sophomore Eboni White
with a toss of 122-10, a new school record. White also tied for first in
the shot put event with teammate Rhiannon Jenson on a throw of 36-6. Katie
Holmes finished second in the discuss, 121-3, and Veronica McClendon finished
third, 115-7. Rhiannon Jenson tied
In the longer runs La Verne had a little more trouble staying with the
competition, but the Leopards made up for the deficit in the 800m event.
Junior Stephanie Castillo came through in a big way for La Verne capturing
fourth in the 800m and setting the new school record for that event with
a time of 2:28.65. Zwissler finished second in her heat at 2:34.13 and Rosa
Sanchez's 5:00.86 captured second place in 1,500m heat.
Other athletes that placed in various events included the women's 4x400m
who won the event with a time of 4:12.66, and Zwissler who leaped in front
of the competition to win the triple jump with a jump of 35-10.
"The invitational at Pomona-Pitzer was really only a warm up for
our team. The real competitive meets will start as we enter SCIAC on March
1," said Widolff.
The teams will start conference meets on March 1 at the SCIAC Quad at
La Verne.