| 49ERS TRAVEL TO MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS
14 Men and 14 Women Will Head to Boise, ID for Conference Championship LONG BEACH, CA -- The track team will head to Boise, ID to compete in the MPSF Indoor Conference Championships this weekend. Several athletes are ranked in the top 10 in the conference going into the meet. They include: Shingo Suzumura in the 60m hurdles (9th), Jamaal James in the 400m (10th), and Serena Boykin in the shot put (7th). Both the men's and women's 4x400m relays teams are ranked eighth, while the women's distance medley relay team is ranked fourth. A complete list of rankings can be found on the MPSF website (www.mpsports.org). The top-eight are named all-conference.
The MPSF Championships will be held over the course of two days, Friday-Saturday February 21-22. Preliminary races will be ran on Friday, with finals on Saturday. Field events will have preliminaries and finals on the same day.
Coach Sythe's Expectations for the Meet: "We plan to take advantage of the pressure that comes with championship competition and produce high marks. Our goal is to qualify for the finals in each event we are entered in and than push to score in those events. Being on the West Coast puts our team at a disadvantage because for some athletes this is only their second meet of the season. It is hard to prepare in such a short amount of time, but we feel that the athletes we are traveling can step up and score in all the event groups. We will also try to pursue more national qualifying marks for the NCAA Championships. For many athletes, this will be the last team competition of the year due to a redshirt season. We are looking for them to finish strong in the indoor championships."
Junior Serena Boykin has already qualifed for the USATF Indoor National Championships held in Boston on February 28-March 1. Boykin is one cm. away from qualifying for the NCAA Indoor National Championships and will look to hit that mark and higher this weekend.
All-Time Top 10 Rankings: Several 49ers are ranked in the Long Beach State all-time top 10 this indoor season. They include: Serena Boykin in the shot put (1st), Stephanie Sampson in the weight and shot put (1st and 4th), Meghan Irey in the triple (5th), Meghan Atkinson in the 400m (5th), Jamaal James in the 400m (6th), Cory Loebl in the weight and shot put (2nd and 3rd), and Shingo Suzumura in the 60m hurdles (1st). |
