SportsTrack & Field

La Verne shows up strong

Focused on the finish line, defending Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference 100-meter hurdles champion, Lakia Pearson, a senior at the University of La Verne, finished ninth in 15.70 seconds at the Rossi Relays held in Claremont Saturday. ULV competed against Division I and NAIA schools such as the University of Southern California, UC San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene University. / photo by Chrissy Zehrbach
Focused on the finish line, defending Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference 100-meter hurdles champion, Lakia Pearson, a senior at the University of La Verne, finished ninth in 15.70 seconds at the Rossi Relays held in Claremont Saturday. ULV competed against Division I and NAIA schools such as the University of Southern California, UC San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene University. / photo by Chrissy Zehrbach

Adrian Medrano
Staff Writer

The University of La Verne men’s and women’s track teams competed at a higher level of competition, facing many National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I teams at the Rossi Relays in Claremont on Feb. 26.

A pair of University records were broken by the women at the relays as Chelsea Sherier completed a leap of 11 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault, resulting in a fourth place finish.

The Leopards’ harrier Alexis Candelaria also broke a La Verne record as she complete the 3,000-meter race with a mark of 10:28, respectively placing her in fifth place.

Lakia Pearson was one of the top competitors for the women as she finished in second place in the triple jump with a mark of 37 feet, 3 inches, and took third in the long jump with a mark of 17 feet, 2 inches.

Pearson was joined by her freshman teammate Lauren Johnson who ran a 12.44 in the 100-meter dash to accommodate her third place performance. Johnson finished slightly ahead of Krystle Luckey, who ran a 12.51, finishing in fourth place.

The women also had a pair of throwers to place in the relays. Senior Ellen Soakai placed third in the shot put with a mark of 40 feet, 8 inches and freshmen Danielle Lampkin placed fourth in the discus throw with a mark of 128 feet, 1 inch. The sprint medley relay team, consisting of Luckey, Johnson, Monique Chambers and Deonne McLean finished in third place with a time of 1:48.90.

The men had notable efforts, as sophomore Darnell Gilbert, one of the team’s top sprinters, finished in third place in the 100-meter dash with a season-best time of 10.94.

Junior Phillip Craig placed third in the triple jump with a mark of 44 feet, 6 inches.

The men’s 4×100-meter relay team placed third overall.

“I thought we did well,” Craig said. “We just need to keep training hard and keep a winning mentality.”

USC and UCSD were serval of the NCAA Division I and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics teams competing at the relays. The Leopards have faced such teams earlier this season at the Mountain T’s Invitational in Ariz.

“It was good to have D-I schools there,” Craig said. “They pushed everyone a lot harder.”
Despite some of the Leopard’s success, the presence of USC dominated the higher placings, finishing first in multiple events.

The Leopards, however, look at the tough competition as a way to prepare them for competition against Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams.

“It’s good to compete against tougher competition than we’ll face in SCIAC,” Gilbert said. “We need to stay focused on our goals and continue to work hard, the way we have been since October.”

The men and women will continue at the Pomona-Pitzer All-comers meet in Claremont tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Adrian Medrano can be reached at amedrano@ulv.edu.

Adrian Medrano
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