Long Beach State University Athletics
Beach Track & Field Set For Steve Scott Invitational
4/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
LONG BEACH, Calif. -
The Long Beach State track & field team will head to Irvine, Calif. for the Steve Scott Invitational this weekend, Fri-Sat, May 1-2.
"In looking over the entries, this is going to be a big meet," head coach Andy Sythe said. "There's going to be a lot of outstanding performers. I think it's going to be a very dynamic meet, and one that should produce the kinds of things we're looking for going into conference."
MORE ON THE MEET
The 49ers will be back at Anteater Stadium for the Steve Scott Invitational this weekend. The Beach will send 72 athletes (37 men, 35 women). Friday's events will begin with the women's pole vault at 2 p.m. and the track events begin at 7:45 p.m. for the Beach with the women's 5000m. On Saturday, men's shot put kicks things off at noon. The track events also start at noon with the women's 4x100m relays.
"There's going to be a lot of outstanding performers - international, some club," Sythe said. "We've got teams coming in from as far away as Michigan, Northern Arizona, Nike. Some teams are going to take advantage of some better weather and conditions to perform."
MARTIN MOVING UP
Victor Martin has improved his personal best in the shot put for the third week in a row with last week moving up to third all-time in LBSU history with his mark of 60-06.75. Martin also repeats as the Big West Men's Field Athlete of the Week. Martin ranks first in the Big West and 17th in the NCAA West Region.
"Victor Martin, he's taking matters into his own hands," Sythe said. "He's been just leaps and bounds getting better and better. His big PRs that started off the season were at Irvine, and the energy at that event, we're going to have the top three shot putters in the conference throwing again at Irvine this weekend. Who knows what might come out. These guys might just light it up. We're excited about just the environment we're going to be in, too."
VAULTING TO SUCCESS
The men's pole vault team has won every competition so far this year. Michael Montgomery and Conner Rouse have led the group, pushing out the same marks while at the top. Paul Thenard has also won one. Rouse rested last week and will be back in action this weekend.
"There's a lot of confidence right now in this group, but they're going to be going against one of the guys who's a national leader a couple of years ago," Sythe said. "They're going to be going against some guys that have been vaulting very well lately. It's been kind of fun for them. They're really taking a lot of pride in that. These guys want to keep that streak going."
COACH SYTHE'S COMMENTS
"This is an important weekend for us, and it's important on two fronts. It's an opportunity for athletes to advance themselves up the national, the regional and the conference rankings so they can earn qualifying marks that take them to those meets. It's also in that time of a fine line between whether to really run or to back off."
"We have some people that have hit some marks. We have some people who have been running a pretty tough schedule since day one outdoors, and it's time to rest them a little bit. We are dancing that fine line whether to run, so we will back off some athletes this week. At the same time, we have to go full war with some others to get those marks that they need to have."
"We're going to be running some relays this weekend. Those relays will not be our `A' teams. We're giving some other athletes some individual experience. We'll be running some key people like Cameron Glasgow in his primary event, but we're also going to be running Michael Perez-Rogers in a non-primary event. Sometime what we try to do at this point is to let our kids kind of come down and run some shorter distances and get a little bit more turn over. That's what Michael will be doing this week.
"On the women's side, it's just a matter of getting stronger and more confident. They just need to get some racing under their belt and gain some confidence from that. Not that this weekend's a make or break, but certainly if they perform well, it gives them the much needed confidence that you want to carry into the conference meet. We'll be looking for some good things.
"On the field events side, we've been constant and steady in our performances all year long. We haven't seen a lot of recent jumps and marks, and that's okay because we've been pounding away at their best marks but not quite getting ahead. That means we're just ready for something big."
UP NEXT
Next week, Long Beach State will take part in the Big West Multi-Events before participating in the Big West Championships the following week. Both are at Riverside, Calif.
Players Mentioned
