by Julieta Ramirez
Staff Writer
It was a day to remember for the University of La Verne’s track team as it strutted its stuff at Saturday’s SCIAC Championship meet at Occidental College.
All in all, the ULV team scored well with the men’s team placing fourth and the women’s team placing third.
The highlight of the meet was the 4 x100m men’s relay team which broke a 25 year old SCIAC meet record of 41.54.
Juniors Anthony Rice, Liron Wilson, Anthony Hayes and Jason Neal broke the long-standing record set by Whittier College in 1971. The record was swiftly left in the dust as ULV’s all-star team clocked 41.40.
“I was very excited,” said head coach Pat Widolff, recalling Saturday’s record breaker.
Other high marks were made by Rice who won the men’s 100m with a time of 10.84. In addition, freshman Ordell Williams won the 400m at 49.75.
The team also took the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:20.43. The team was made up of Williams, Wilson, junior Roman Holston and sophomore Eric Gleason.
And, while the men’s team did well, the women’s team was not left behind. Junior Socorro Gonzalez placed first in the javelin throw at 122”4’.
Another high marker was senior Tori Bare, who won the women’s 200m and placed fourth in the 400m.
“She will be missed,” said Widolff of Bare.
Jacqui Zwissler, junior, placed second in the long jump, triple jump and the javelin. Freshman Eboni White also placed at this meet by taking second in the shot put and fourth in the discus.
“It [the meet] was phenomenal. These were the best performances La Verne has ever had,” said Widolff of the team’s overall performance. “Everyone that participated was very strong in their area.”
The men’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams, Rice in the 100m and the long jump all garnered SCIAC champion honors. For the women, Bare in the 200m and Gonzalez in the javelin are also SCIAC champions.
“We don’t have very many hurdlers,” said Widolff adding, “We are trying to rectify that.”
Members of the track team will compete tomorrow in the State Meet at UC Davis.
