Friday, May 13
Davis, Calif.
All Day
Long Beach State University
at
Big West Championships
LBSU Captures Five Individual Titles on Day One of Big West Championships
5/13/2022 8:33:00 PM | Track and Field
The women’s team ended the day in second place in the team standings while the men sit in fourth.
DAVIS, Calif. – Long Beach State had a tremendous first day of competition at the Big West Championships, capturing five individual titles. In the team standings, the women's team currently sits in second with 39 points while the men are in fourth with 40 points.
Marcos Gonzalez got the Beach off to their torrid start claiming the title in men's Javelin. His throw of 70.85m (232-5) shattered his previous lifetime-best by 21 feet and moved him into third on Long Beach State's all-time list. It was also just two feet, nine inches shy of the meet record as he became the first conference champion in the event for the Beach since 2014.
Reigning Big West Field Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Meet, Jason Smith, looks poised to claim them again by defending his titles in both men's Long Jump and High Jump. His day started in Long Jump where he launched himself 7.75m (25-5.25) in his second attempt on his way to victory, not needing another attempt. Not long after, he cleared the bar at 2.11m (6-11) in High Jump for his second title of the day.
With the two wins, the San Bruno native becomes the first athlete in Big West history to claim both the Long Jump and High Jump championships twice in a career. The Long Jump win also marks the seventh consecutive event men's Long Jump title.
Later in the day, Kaitlyn Williams gave Long Beach State a Long Jump sweep as she claimed the top spot for the women's team. Her jump of 5.77m (18-11.25) was the best as she led a group of four Beach jumpers that scored points for the team in the event. The other three point scorers behind were Rahni Turner in fifth (5.71m, 18-8.75), Tayah DeSousa in sixth (5.56m, 18-3), and Maddie DeBorde setting a new PR in eighth (5.49m, 18-0.25).
The fifth event victory for the Beach came out in the first track event of the weekend as program record holder Ryley Fick claimed the top spot in women's 3000m Steeplechase. The junior posted a time of 10:23.14 winning by five seconds and was just 0.13 seconds shy of the meet record.
Keeley Rasmussen had a fantastic effort that actually started the day for Long Beach State. In the first event of the day, the sophomore transfer posted a throw of 55.93m (183-6) to finish fourth in women's Hammer. The mark surpasses her previous PR by four feet and moves her into number six in the program record books.
Other point scoring performances on the day including a second place finish for Charlie Vernoy (16.88m, 55-4.75) and eighth place finish for Sebastian Coleman (15.57m, 51-1) in men's Shot Put. In women's Pole Vault, Maggie Lear finished fourth, clearing the bar at 3.74m (12-3.25) and Brianna Uipi finished eighth in women's Shot Put with a throw of 12.78m (41-11.25).
Out on the track, it was mostly prelim races on Friday afternoon. In total, LBSU had 22 qualifying times including a pair of event victories on the day.
The first of those two victories came in the men's 1500m Run as Michael Phillips posted the fastest time at 3:50.21. Teammate, Alex Kalmar, was right on his heels with a time of 3:51.10 to also qualify as the Beach finished one-two.
The second of the two top qualifying times came from Rahni Turner in the women's 100m Hurdles. The true freshman dominated with a 13.80 running into the wind for the best mark of the day. Hailey Fune also qualified for the event final with the third fastest time at 14.19.
The other qualifiers for tomorrow's finals include:
Long Beach State will wrap up the Big West Championships tomorrow in Davis. The field events will begin at 9:00 a.m. and the track events will start at 1:00 p.m.
Congratulations to our Big West Champions who competed in Day 1 of the Conference Championship in Davis, CA ??????? #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/h2Y36k9plv
— LBSU Athletics (@LBSUAthletics) May 14, 2022
Marcos Gonzalez got the Beach off to their torrid start claiming the title in men's Javelin. His throw of 70.85m (232-5) shattered his previous lifetime-best by 21 feet and moved him into third on Long Beach State's all-time list. It was also just two feet, nine inches shy of the meet record as he became the first conference champion in the event for the Beach since 2014.
Reigning Big West Field Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Meet, Jason Smith, looks poised to claim them again by defending his titles in both men's Long Jump and High Jump. His day started in Long Jump where he launched himself 7.75m (25-5.25) in his second attempt on his way to victory, not needing another attempt. Not long after, he cleared the bar at 2.11m (6-11) in High Jump for his second title of the day.
With the two wins, the San Bruno native becomes the first athlete in Big West history to claim both the Long Jump and High Jump championships twice in a career. The Long Jump win also marks the seventh consecutive event men's Long Jump title.
Later in the day, Kaitlyn Williams gave Long Beach State a Long Jump sweep as she claimed the top spot for the women's team. Her jump of 5.77m (18-11.25) was the best as she led a group of four Beach jumpers that scored points for the team in the event. The other three point scorers behind were Rahni Turner in fifth (5.71m, 18-8.75), Tayah DeSousa in sixth (5.56m, 18-3), and Maddie DeBorde setting a new PR in eighth (5.49m, 18-0.25).
The fifth event victory for the Beach came out in the first track event of the weekend as program record holder Ryley Fick claimed the top spot in women's 3000m Steeplechase. The junior posted a time of 10:23.14 winning by five seconds and was just 0.13 seconds shy of the meet record.
Keeley Rasmussen had a fantastic effort that actually started the day for Long Beach State. In the first event of the day, the sophomore transfer posted a throw of 55.93m (183-6) to finish fourth in women's Hammer. The mark surpasses her previous PR by four feet and moves her into number six in the program record books.
Other point scoring performances on the day including a second place finish for Charlie Vernoy (16.88m, 55-4.75) and eighth place finish for Sebastian Coleman (15.57m, 51-1) in men's Shot Put. In women's Pole Vault, Maggie Lear finished fourth, clearing the bar at 3.74m (12-3.25) and Brianna Uipi finished eighth in women's Shot Put with a throw of 12.78m (41-11.25).
Out on the track, it was mostly prelim races on Friday afternoon. In total, LBSU had 22 qualifying times including a pair of event victories on the day.
The first of those two victories came in the men's 1500m Run as Michael Phillips posted the fastest time at 3:50.21. Teammate, Alex Kalmar, was right on his heels with a time of 3:51.10 to also qualify as the Beach finished one-two.
The second of the two top qualifying times came from Rahni Turner in the women's 100m Hurdles. The true freshman dominated with a 13.80 running into the wind for the best mark of the day. Hailey Fune also qualified for the event final with the third fastest time at 14.19.
The other qualifiers for tomorrow's finals include:
- Natalie Tolento, Women's 400m (2nd, 55.84)
- Jaelyn Predium, Women's 400m (4th, 55.95)
- Austin Brown, Men's 400m (4th, 47.68)
- Kaitlyn Williams, Women's 100m (3rd, 11.86)
- Mekhi Mays, Men's 100m (5th, 10.52)
- Anthony Palumbo, Men's 100m (8th, 10.70)
- Brieanna Tafoya, Women's 800m (4th, 2:12.86)
- Bronwyn Bunnell, Women's 800m (8th, 2:13.35)
- Mohammed Mohamed, Men's 800m (5th, 1:52.66)
- Connor Phillips, Men's 800m (7th, 1:52.66)
- Justin Watterson, Men's 110m Hurdles (4th, 14.66)
- Justin Watterson, Men's 400m Hurdles (2nd, 53.81)
- Kaitlyn Williams, Women's 200m (4th, 24.51)
- Jaelyn Predium, Women's 200m (5th, 24.63)
- Mekhi Mays, Men's 200m (7th, 21.48)
Long Beach State will wrap up the Big West Championships tomorrow in Davis. The field events will begin at 9:00 a.m. and the track events will start at 1:00 p.m.
Players Mentioned
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Jumps/Sprints
/ Track and Field
Multis
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Multi
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Sprints/Hurdles
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Sprints/Hurdles
/ Track and Field
Sprints
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