by Chrissy Zehrbach
Assistant Editor
The University of La Verne track and field team is gearing up for Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference competition by participating in All-Comers meets; the most recent was this past Saturday in Pomona.
Pomona-Pitzer hosted a non-conference, non-scoring meet that included SCIAC competitors California Lutheran, Claremont, Redlands and Whittier as well as non-conference competitors University of California Irvine, Westmont and University of California San Diego.
“It was decent competition,” said distance runner Kelly Wood. “We all did well, and we held our own against schools like that.”
Because the meet was non-scoring, final results were not compiled, but the Leopards fared well on an individual basis.
“Non-scoring meets make it easier for someone to focus on one event rather than many just to score points,” said senior thrower Bobby Vail. “You can do one or two events, really focus and do your best.”
“We had a lot of people hit personal records,” said sophomore thrower Gerlaine Kiamco.
Sophomore distance runner Cecilio Barrera placed first in the men’s 3,000-meter race with a time of 8:43.
Freshman distance runner Alexis Candelaria took a second place finish in the women’s 3,000-meter race, setting a new ULV record with her time of 10:41.
Senior Dimitri Watson fared well in the sprints, completing the 100-meter in 11.46 and the 200-meter in 22.75.
Senior sprinter Dejuana Satchel finished the 100-meter in 12.56 and the 200-meter in 25.94.
Junior jumper Christy DeLapp cleared the 5-foot-4-inch mark in the high jump, and junior Adrianna Ramirez threw the hammer 121 feet 7 inches.
“If it had been a scoring meet, I think our team would have won,” said sophomore jumper Lakia Sims.
This was the third meet which ULV has competed so far this season.
“It was a good early season meet for us,” said head coach Pat Widolff.
“We’ve progressed very well this season. I’d say we’ve been very smooth,” said assistant coach Will Darity. “It’s early in the year. We’re still trying to find where people are and what our strengths are, and we’re trying to get ourselves squared away for conference coming up. We’re right where we want to be right now.”
The Leopards have only suffered two minor setbacks so far this season, the main one being injuries, the other being poor weather.
“The throwers are suffering because we’re injured,” Kiamco said. “We’re helping healthy people find their strengths so we can have good athletes at each event.”
The Leopards performed well Saturday despite having to modify practice the prior week due to poor weather conditions.
“We had a lot of rain which messed up practice last week, but considering that, we did pretty well,” Widolff said.
The first scoring meet for the Leopards will be a SCIAC dual meet on March 1 in Claremont.
“March 1 will really determine what kind of team we have,” Widolff said. “Right now, we are trying to get people into the right events to score the best they can.”
This year’s team is comprised of mostly experienced returners, with a few new additions.
“We have a great mixture. There are a lot of returners and a handful of new people that will all contribute to the team,” Sims said. “It’s evenly balanced. We’ve got a good set of jumpers, sprinters, throwers and long distance runners. We’re strong in all areas.”
With such a strong team this year, the team goal is to win their conference, Widolff said. In the 2002 season, both the men’s and women’s teams took second place in SCIAC.
“(Saturday’s meet) was a good chance to see SCIAC competition and who we’ll be up against,” Vail said. “If everybody does what they can do, we’ll get it done.”
Widolff also said his own personal goal is to have 20 individuals qualify for nationals.
“We’re pretty strong for this early in the season. We did pretty well on Saturday, and we’re in pretty good shape to say the least,” Wood said.
This Saturday, the Leopards will compete against Cal Poly Pomona and University of California San Diego in Pomona.
“I think we’re looking forward to the meet against Cal Poly and UCSD,” Darity said. “It’ll be a good test against a couple of good Division II schools.”
“It’s a higher level of competition. Usually the team does better as the competition gets better,” Widolff said.
The team will face tough competition, but they are ready for the challenge.
“They’re two heavy hitters,” Sims said. “The competition is really going to keep us on our toes and make a big impact on our team.”
