49ers Head to USC; O'Neil Slated for NYC
TNF Team Heads North; Senior Thrower Heads East to USATFs February 26, 2002
Beach Head to USC This Weekend: This Saturday will mark the first time this season that The Beach will be able to qualify for conference, USATF and NCAA outdoor events, when they travel to the USC Trojan Invitational on Saturday. This weekend, The Beach will send a total of 70 athletes to the event.
The Coach: Director Andy Sythe is in his 13th season as director of both the track and field and cross country programs. During Sythe's tenure, 49er track athletes have achieved 73 NCAA qualifying performances, 55 conference champions, had 18 All-Americans, three Big West Athletes of-the-year, one NCAA national champion and another NCAA runner-up.
New York City!?!: Thrower Jon O'Neil (Fountain Valley) will head back East to compete at the USATF National Indoor Championships on Friday in the weight throw and shot put. O'Neil has set a school-record in both events this season, with a 66'11.50" toss of the shot put and a 66'1.25" toss of the 35-lb. Weight at the MPSF Indoor Championships last week.
Southern Hospitality: Connie Jerz (Tucson) and Jon O'Neil (Fountain Valley) both have a strong shot at competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 8 and 9 in Fayetteville, AR. Jerz' 13'3.50" pole vault mark at MPSFs ranks in the top-20 nationally. O'Neil is expected to compete in the shot put, and has a strong chance to also heave a winning mark in the weight throw.
Leap of Forsythe: Freshman Emily Forsythe (Montrose, CA) lept to fourth place finish at the MPSF Indoor Championships with a height of 5'8.75". With the jump, Forsythe was able to raise her personal-best by 4 inches from one week to the next.
Bating Them On: Fellow freshman Matt Bates (Los Gatos, CA) finished second in the 800m at the MPSF Indoor Championships. His time was 1:54.83. Bates had won his first two 800m races, before finishing second at the MPSFs.
Strong Performance at MPSFs: Brian Stehmeier (800m, 10th), Daniel Gerlach (long jump, 8th), Jessica Williams (400m, 10th), Hilly Lipscomb (long jump, 10th), Gladys Iwuaba (triple jump, 6th) Shannon Daniels (weight, 8th) and Kenya Jimerson (triple jump, 7th) all finished in the top-10 of their respective events at the MPSF Indoor Championsips.
CROSS COUNTRY: Drea Palacio (Fresno), with a 10th place finish (18:49.9) at the Big West Championship 5K on October 27 became the first all-conference runner for The Beach since 1993. The team's sixth place showing was also the highest since 1993. For the men, they finished eighth with Aaron Durham finishing in 28th place (27:22.4).
NCAA REGIONAL CROSS COUNTRY: This year the men finished 15th, while the women were 17th. | 
