49ers Host Big West Challenge This Saturday
Beach Successful in Northern California Last Week April 4, 2002 Beach Host Big West Challenge: The 49ers will host the Big West Challenge this Saturday at the Jack Rose Track, a preview of some of the best athletes competing at the Big West Conference Championships in May. This quadrangular will feature The Beach, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and CS Fullerton. At this meet, LBSU features the top marks in 15 events, while UC Irvine has the top marks in eight others. Fullerton and UCSB each have seven.
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.
Success in NorCal: Two groups performed well at Stanford Invite, while the throwers exceled at the Cal-Nevada Championships last weekend. At Stanford, Meghan Atkinson finished first in the 400m race with a time of 57.21, while her counterpart, Rashaad Johnson was second in the 200m race with a time of 21.82 and fourth in the 400m race with a time of 47.50.
In the jumps, also at Stanford, Connie Jerz and Jimmy Camilo each finished second in their respetive pole vaults, Jerz with another school-record, at 13'5.25" , while Camilo finished second with a vault of 16'2.75". Anthony Colson was able to win his long jump with a distance of 23'1.75", while finishing fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 47'4.50". Down the road in Fresno, Stephanie Sampson finished third in the hammer with a provisional mark of 187'2.00", while Jon O'Neil tossed a shot 62'6.50" for second place. Cory Loebl finished third in the discus wiht a toss of 181'0.00".
Amongst the Nation’s Best: According to the latest NCAA rankings of provisional qualifiers, three out of the 49ers five athletes are ranked in the top five nationally. Jon O’Neil’s smark (62’6.50”) rank in the shot put ranks sixth, while his discus mark (190’9.5”) is fifth. Connie Jerz’ pole vault (13’5.25”) and Emily Forsythe’s high jump (5’10.50”) are also both fifth. Cory Loebl’s discus toss (182’4”) is 13th, while Stephanie Sampson’s hammer throw is 15th (187’2”).
Looking Ahead to Conference: Heading into this weekend, 35 men and 32 women have put forth qualifying marks for the Conference Championships. This season has also seen over 50 seasonal or lifetime bests and six school records broken.
Hitting the Books: Eight women and two men were named to the Indoor Academic All-MPSF team. For The Beach, triple jumper Kenya Jimerson (4.00 grad school), thrower Samy Meredith (3.714) and jumper Connie Jerz (3.575) each have cum GPAs over 3.5.
Traveling the Country: Jon O’Neil (Fountain Valley) and Connie Jerz (Tucson, AZ) racked up the frequent flyer miles to end the indoor season. After competing at the MPSF Championships in Flagstaff, AZ on February 21, the duo traveled to New York City the next week for the USATF Championsips, followed by a trip to the NCAAs, hosted by Arkansas the week after.
At the USATFs, O’Neil finished 10th in the shot and 17th in the weight, while Jerz was fifth in the pole vault. Jerz finished 15th at her third NCAA event the following week, while O’Neil was 14th in the shot put at his fourth NCAA Championship.
MPSF Indoor Championship Top-10: Brian Stehmeier (800m, 10th), Daniel Gerlach (long jump, 8th), Jessica Williams (400m, 10th), Holly 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. The MPSF is one of the nation’s toughest conference’s, featuring the Pac-10, WAC and Big West.
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 XC: This year the men finished 15th, while the women were 17th. OUTDOOR NCAA PROVISIONAL QUALIFIERS
Emily Forsythe High Jump 5'10.50"
Jon O'Neil Shot/Discus 61'6.25" / 190'10"
Cory Loebl Discus 182'4"
Connie Jerz Pole Vault 13'5.25(SR)
|Stephanie Sampson Hammer 187'2" (SR)
TOP-5 AT BIG WEST CONF. OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 15-18, 2002 33 men, 32 women qualifying marks
INDOOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS (Fayetteville, AR)
Jon O'Neil Shot Put 60'7.25" (14th)
Connie Jerz Pole Vault 12'11.50" (15th)
USATF INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS (NYC, NY)
Jon O'Neil Shot Put 59'0.25" (10th)
Jon O'Neil Weight Throw 58'7.25" (17th)
Connie Jerz Pole Vault 12'11.75" (5th)
TOP-5 AT MPSF INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS (Flagstaff, AZ)
Emily Forsythe High Jump 5'8.75" (4th)
Connie Jerz Pole Vault 13'3.50" (5th)SR
Matt Bates 800m 1:54.83 (2nd)
Jon O'Neil Shot Put 60'11.50" (5th)SR
Jon O'Neil Weight Throw 66'11.25"(2nd)SR
SCHOOL-RECORDS BROKEN IN 2002
Jon O'Neil Shot Put 60'11.50" (indoor)
Jon O'Neil Weight 66'11.25" (indoor)
Connie Jerz Pole Vault 13'5.25" (indoor)
Connie Jerz Pole Vault 13'4.25" (outd.)
Jennifer Yadon Steeple 11:57.06 (outd.)
Steph. Sampson Hammer 187'2" (outd.) | 
