These 49ers don’t know how to quit, as Long Beach State has another busy weekend with two meets on the road. The Beach will have a split squad with a small contingent of five athletes traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, for the 100th annual Drake Relays (April 23-25). The rest of the 49ers will make the trip south to compete in the UCSD Triton Invitational, April 24-25.
On Saturday, Alex Goldberg, Alex Freitas, Richard Crawford and Kenneth Medwood will look to defend LBSU’s title in the men’s sprint medley relay at the prestigious Drake Relays. Medwood will also compete in the 400-meter hurdles, along with Christopher Lawson.
The UCSD Triton Invitational features over 1,300 entries and 1,000 individual athletes in both open and invitational sections. The Triton Invite, which has traditionally been one of the nation’s stronger throwing competitions, kicks off with a few select events on Friday at 10 a.m. The field events will begin a full day of competition on Saturday at 10 a.m., while the track events get underway at 11 a.m.
“The Triton Invitational is one of the premier meets in the country for field events,” 49er head coach Andy Sythe said. “It will be extremely competitive and will feature a lot of top athletes.”
Beach Invitational Recap
Three 49er track and field athletes posted regional qualifying marks in Long Beach State’s lone home meet of the season at Cerritos College last Saturday.
Junior Kenneth Medwood won the 400-meter hurdles in 51.30 seconds. It was Medwood’s second NCAA West Regional qualifying mark of the season as he posted a lifetime-best 50.94 at the Cal-Nevada Championships on March 29. Junior Colin Dunbar (Hammer) and senior Patrick Smith (Javelin) rounded out the 49ers’ regional qualifiers.
Goldberg, Medwood, Crawford and Lawson recorded another strong performance for The Beach in the 4x100m relay, clocking in at 41.81 for fourth place.
On the women’s side, freshman Ashley Campbell topped her personal best in the 100-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 11.83 seconds to place third overall. Campbell, who recorded the seventh-best mark in school history, finished behind Cal State Fullerton’s Ciara Short (11.65) and previous world-record holder Christine Ohuruoga (11.37). Campbell had a record-setting weekend as she also posted her top performance of the season in the 200m (24.31) one day earlier at the Mt. SAC Relays.
Junior B.J. Triplett tied her career-low in the 100m (12.17), while posting a top 10 finish in the 200m at 25.08 seconds. Campbell and Triplett also combined with Jazmin Brooks and Amanda Rosencrantz to take third in the 4x100m relay with a season-low 47.14 seconds.
In the field events, freshman Destanie Yarbrough notched a career-long 43-03.75 in the shot put, while classmate Janelle Coulter took third in the high jump, tying her personal best of 5-07.00.
Dunbar and Smith Turn in Record Performances
Junior Colin Dunbar took third in the hammer throw, establishing a career-long distance of 190-10 to qualify for the NCAA West Regionals. Dunbar’s mark ranks him 10th on the 49er all-time charts and betters his previous lifetime best by 10 feet, six inches.
“Colin had a great meet last week,” Sythe said. “He has worked very hard to get to the level he is competing at now.”
Senior Patrick Smith also recorded a regional qualifying mark in the javelin with a personal-record 203-03, which was good enough for a runner-up finish. Smith’s previous lifetime best was 192-06.
Up Next
In their final tune-up before the Big West Conference championships, the 49ers will travel to Irvine to compete in the annual UCI/Steve Scott Invitational, May 2-3. The meet will be held at Anteater Stadium and will get underway with the field events on Saturday at 2 p.m. The track events are slated for a 6 p.m. start with the running of the women’s 5000m.
From LBSU reports