by Damien Alarcon
Editor in Chief
In preparation for tomorrow’s Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships in Eagle Rock, the track team did not send a full squad, but still competed in last weekend’s Meet of Champions at Azusa Pacific University.
“This upcoming meet is really important,” said head coach Pat Widolff. “We rested a lot of people and let them get ready.”
Some of the schools participating in the event were USC, Cal State Long Beach, Santa Ana Community College, Chapman University, Golden West College and SCIAC opponents Whittier, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Redlands, Pomona-Pitzer and Occidental.
In spite of supreme competitors, some Leopards managed to have ace performances, boosting them to the top ranks of their event.
Junior Brandon Jones won his heat but was sixth overall in the men’s long jump with a leap of 22-9 3/4 feet, taking first place out of 33 competitors.
Freshman Bobby Vail was third overall in the men’s discuss with a throw of 132-3.
Freshman Dejuana Satchell became a provisional qualifier for Nationals in the women’s 100-meter dash with a time of 12.32 seconds. The automatic qualifying time for the women’s 100 is 12.16.
Freshman Demetric Brown took first in his heat in the men’s 100 (10.93), but was unable to place in the top three in the event.
Junior Kephyan Sheppard won his heat in the men’s 200 (21.88) and was second overall in the event out of 30 contenders. Sheppard’s time was .35 seconds off the automatic qualifying time for Nationals.
“We want to show everybody that we are better than what our record says,” said Sheppard.
Losses to CMS and Pomona-Pitzer removed the chance for the men’s team to capture a conference title. Both squad’s are just looking to peak in individual performances to show their capabilities.
The SCIAC Championships will run Saturday at Occidental.
