by Laura Czingula
Staff Writer
Just being able to qualify for Nationals is an achievement in itself, but for the University of La Verne Leopards track 4×100 relay team, just qualifying was not enough.
The team consists of Anthony Rice, Jason Neal, Liron Wilson, and Anthony Hayes, all seniors.
ULV was ranked 8th in the men’s outdoor track and field in the country. They also came in first place last May with a time of 41.15 seconds at the National meet, and broke a ULV record in the preliminaries with a time of 40.76 seconds, setting the SCIAC record.
“I was confident they were going to do well. Hopefully the 4×100 team will serve as a spring board for even better things, higher expectations for next year,” said assistant coach William Darity.
Senior Jacqui Zwissler was the only female athlete to go to Nationals. Zwissler placed seventh in the triple jump, jumping 35 feet and 11 1/2 inches.
It was Zwissler’s first time qualifying for Nationals in track.
“At first it was scary but it ended up being a lot of fun. I was excited to go to Nationals because my family was out there,” said Zwissler.
Rice also placed third in both the 100m with a time of 10.73 and the 200m, with a time of 21.80, qualifying for All-American.
