by Vince Wetzel
Sports Writer
With a cold wind and cloudy skies overhead, the ULV men’s and women’s track teams flourished last Saturday by turning in their best performances ever at the 1995 SCIAC Track and Field Championships.
In the meet, which La Verne hosted, the men finished in fourth place, behind Claremont-Mudd, Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer. Meanwhile, the women placed third overall in the meet behind Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer.
“The weather did not make too much of a difference,” said Track and Field Head Coach Pat Widolff. “It is not going to affect the good competitors. We had good marks. Everybody had good marks. If there was better weather, there may have been better marks, but it was not that big of a hindrance.”
La Verne was able to put its young all-weather track to good use at this year’s SCIAC championships; 1995 marks the first time that La Verne has ever hosted the event.
“We never hosted the championships before,” said Widolff. “The schools of the SCIAC rotate every eight years. However, before when we had it, we would have the meet at another college.”
Widolff believes hosting the meet was an enjoyable experience, due to the amount of help contributed. Athletic Director Jim Paschal organized the meet and got volunteers for the meet.
“It was exciting. There weren’t any problems,” said Widolff. “Jim Paschal did a great job getting a lot of help.
Students from other sports as well as coaches helped out. You need a lot of people to host a meet like this and Jim got a lot of people to work.”
The women finished with 57 points. CMS accumulated 165 points and Pomona-Pitzer earned 142. The men finished with 60 points, behind CMS’s 192, Redlands’ 125 and Pomona-Pitzer’s 99.
“We did pretty well,” said Widolff. “We moved up a lot from previous years and it was the most points we have scored.”
For the men, senior Kelly Mattson picked up two first places—one in the discus, with a throw of 45.68m, and one in the shot put, with a throw of 15.39m. Sophomore Chris Malone finished third in the 400m with a time of 49.77, setting a new school record. The 4x100m relay team, consisting of Malone, sophomore Bart Evans, freshman Mike McClendon and freshman Marc Tyler also picked up third place with a time of 42.87.
“Our people did as well as they could have,” said Widolff. “For example, Erika Spencer was supposed to win the high jump and she did.”
Spencer won the high jump with a jump of 1.55m. She also took second place in the javelin, throwing for 35.18m. Sophomore Jacqui Zwissler placed third in the triple jump with a jump of 10.24m. The women’s 4x100m relay team, consisting of freshman Lakesha Wilson, junior Tori Bare, freshman Aundraya Ross and junior Kari Trotter, picked up a school record with its time of 50.48 and finishing second. That same team also competed in the 4x400m relay and placed third with the time of 4:12.63. Bare broke the school record in the 400m with a time of 59.64 and finishing fourth. She finished second in the 200m with a time of 26.47.
Vince Wetzel
