The Long Beach State Track and Field team will be splitting its roster once again this weekend as the team’s throwers and pole vaulters will be heading to La Jolla to participate in the UC San Diego Triton Invitational Friday and Saturday.
The 49ers will use this opportunity to further prepare themselves for the team’s home event, the Beach Invitational, and future conference meets.
“Really this is just an off weekend for us in our training plan,” head coach Andy Sythe said. “But the facility at UC San Diego is optimal for the discus and pole vault because of the wind direction, and is a really good environment for them.”
Last week, the 49ers had a particularly strong performance in the discus as seniors Charlie Vernoy, Josh Carr and sophomore Sebastian Coleman took second, third and fourth respectively, in the Big West Challenge. On the women’s side, junior Amanda Troung and senior Crystal Rodriguez took fifth and seventh.
The javelin will be the only throwers not represented as the javelin can be particularly stressful on the arm and shoulder, and the team has elected not to have them compete in back-to-back weeks.
While this event will be taking place on an off weekend, it is an opportunity for the athletes who will be participating, to compete against top athletes from across the country. And because of the ideal conditions, the team is expecting top performances of its athletes.
The 49ers are also looking to continue to develop the depth of their throwers and pole vaulters.
“There’s a whole group of guys that don’t get heard because some of our top guys shine a little bit more,” Sythe said. “But those guys are really important to the depth of our scoring at the conference meet, and so seeing them evolve and emerge right now is important to our plan.”
On the pole vault side, senior Kennedy Kreuger has been the top performer for the the women this year, currently holding the fourth best mark in the conference at 12’ 5.5”, and will be looked at to perform well in this weekend.
While the throwers and pole vaulters will be in San Diego, the rest of the team will continue to train and prepare themselves for the upcoming meets.
Looking forward to the Beach Invitational and coming up on the conference meets, the team will be more focused on their frame of mind as opposed to over exerting themselves physically.
“What we really need to do is just sharpen our mental skills,” Sythe said. “This is our last opportunity going into our conference meet to hit them with some condition so we can create a peak.”
As much as the team is excited for the top competition they will face this weekend, the talent and competition that will be present the following week at the Beach invitational is the priority.
“This will be a great competition discus and pole vault wise,” Sythe said. “But we come back here a week later and all that talent comes up here, and even better competition comes, so this is a good opportunity for us to compete at that level, but then we see it again a week later.”