49ers Stumble Onto Sprinter
by Kirby Lee, Long Beach Press-Telegram
April 3, 2005
Long Beach State may have the found the 100-meter sprinter that it has been lacking with Charles Lewis.
The sophomore quarter-miler dropped down to the 100 to win in a wind-aided 10.65 seconds in the Big West Challenge at Long Beach State's Jack Rose Track on Saturday.
The Carson High graduate also won the 200 in a wind-aided 21.45, ran the second leg on the 49ers' victorious 400 relay with Brady Douglas, Sam Hogan and Ryan Kroll that timed 41.76, and anchored the 1,600 relay to a runner- up finish in 3:16.65.
Lewis' efforts, though, weren't enough for Long Beach, which was edged by defending champion UC Irvine for the team title, 185-183. UC Santa Barbara was third with 154 and Cal State Fullerton was fourth with 120.
UC Santa Barbara won the women's title for the second year in a row over Long Beach State, 202-189. Fullerton was third with 135 and Irvine was fourth with 94.
The men's title was determined in the final event, the 1,600 relay, with the Long Beach men clinging to a 176-175 lead. Irvine emerged victorious, 3:15.90 to 3:16.90, after Lewis came up short of overtaking Irvine's Dayne Comrie to erase a 20-meter lead on the anchor.
The 49ers were without sprinter Austin Fourley, who strained a hamstring in practice on Wednesday. The injury led Long Beach State coach Andy Sythe and sprints coach Yvonne Scott to place Lewis in the 100 in an effort to score points on Saturday. It was Lewis' first 100 since his junior year in high school.
"I was getting ready for the 400 but I just had to make up slack where we were lacking,' Lewis said. "I wanted to run whatever they wanted me to run. If they think that I can go further in the 100, I'll do it.'
Long Beach will get another shot at Irvine on the Anteaters' home track in the Big West Championships on May 13-14.
"We're going to see these guys later on,' Lewis said. "They ran a good race and won. We were missing some things that we'e going to have for conference. When we get those things back, they'll be thinking that track meet in Long Beach where (they) got that trophy really didn't mean anything.'
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