The Long Beach State track and field team defeated UCLA in a dual meet Saturday at the Jack Rose Track.
The men’s team had an overall score of 98 points to UCLA’s 71 and the women came out on top 100.50 to 86.50.
It was the first outdoor meet of the season for The Beach, as well as its first event at home.
“It’s great to have a home crowd, and I just can’t tell you how much that means,” Long Beach State head coach Andy Sythe said.
For the men’s team, they took first in the three distance events and in three jumps events.
Notable performances came from freshman Braeden Kraft in the 800m run, senior George Martinez in the 1500m, sophomore Josh Carr in the discus throw, senior Robert Marlow in the hammer throw and sophomore Kemonie Briggs in the long jump.
Briggs set a personal record in the long jump with a 7.99m mark.
“I had a little extra support from the crowd so that really helped me get in my groove … I really just wanted to come out and have fun since it was our first outdoor meet at home, so why not show out a little bit,” Briggs said.
Sythe made it a point to compliment the sophomore’s feat.
“Kemonie is the kind of guy that responds to competition and we talk a lot about having to breed competition in our own program to get better,” Sythe said. “I’m really proud how he responded to today and that he could jump a lifetime best.”
On the women’s side, the jumpers were successful in three out of four events and the sprinters won five out of their seven events. Also, The Beach women took first in the long jump, triple jump and high jump events.
Notable performances from the women came from sophomore Bria Palmer in the high jump, sophomore Allison Foster in the long jump, the 4x100m relay team, freshman Anaya Alexander in the 400m and senior Taylor Lorack in the 400m hurdles.
“Good things are coming and we are going to set the bar really high,” Sythe said.
Sythe also mentioned that there were several UCLA starters that didn’t compete, but didn’t downplay the play of his team.
“They sat out some of their better players today who are going to the NCAA Indoors next week,” Sythe said. “We sat out one guy and a few others for injuries. I’m humbled because very few times do you see a [win] for any school in front of UCLA.”
Long Beach State will head to the Ben Brown Invitational at Cal State Fullerton this weekend for its second outdoor meet of the season.