April 17, 2005

Day two and three at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational saw more great performances from the Gauchos. After a record breaking Friday at the Pomona Invite and at Mt. Sac, UCSB kept on rolling through Saturday and Sunday to finish off a historic weekend.

Sunday welcomed many elite athletes from around the world to compete at Mt. Sac. One of the first major Outdoor Track & Field meets in the world, it is an early arena for some of the best to showcase their talent.

Tetlo Emmen (Jr.) was set to roll in the Olympic Development 800m, the first of two fast heats in the Men's 800m. The NCAA Western Regional Champion, Emmen came into the meet ranked 10th in NCAA's and 6th in the West. In his race strong competitors from USC, including Duane Solomon, ranked 2nd in NCAA's with a 1:47.84, toed up to the line in what could be a preview of a great showdown in Eugene, Oregon at the Western Regionals in late May.

In a fairly large field for 800m standards of thirteen athletes, it was destined to be a pure race instead of a time trial type atmosphere that characterizes many meets during the year so that athletes could get qualifying marks. With the pop of the gun, the race went out in approximately 25-26 seconds through 200m. At 400m, Tetlo was mid pack coming through in 53 seconds. With a little jostling in the pack the race entered the backstretch a little congested. Emmen moved to lane 2 beginning his kick with 250m to go and simply overpowered the others in the home stretch to come away with a win and a new personal best of 1:48.72. He is now ranked 5th in the West and 1st in the Big West.

Also on Sunday, Matt Barkley (Fr.) in the Shot Put finished second tossing the shot 52-05.25, just missing the win by a quarter of an inch. Scott Anderson finished 7th with a throw of 51-01.50. Amy Haapenen, school record holder in the shot, disc and hammer throws did not compete on Sunday due to a family emergency. The Gaucho Family's thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.

On Saturday, the throwers and jumpers took center stage in Walnut, CA at Mt. Sac. In the Men's Hammer Throw Eugene Bradley (Jr.) threw over 60 meters for the second day in a row tossing the hammer 196-10 feet finishing 6th in a great competition. His personal and seasonal best stands at 199-0 feet. Going into the weekend Bradley was ranked 25th in NCAA's and 7th in a tough Western Region for the throws. Five competitors in each region will move onto the NCAA Div. I National Championships taking place in Sacramento, CA in early June.

In the Men's Javelin Throw, Gabe Mann (Jr.) threw another personal best, going for 199-00 feet. Mann is just three feet off of the NCAA Regional mark of 202 feet in his first year of competition after playing for the Gaucho Baseball squad his first two years at UCSB. In the Women's High Jump, Heather Hernandez (So.) took 3rd place jumping 5-05.75. Teammate Jennifer Kitzmann also jumped 5-05.75 feet finishing 4th due to more missed attempts at the height before clearing it.

All in all, three school records were broken this weekend, with four more athletes qualifying for the NCAA West Regionals, the Big West Championships and many more new Gaucho Top-10 marks added to the board. UCSB carries its momentum next to Fresno, CA for the Cal-Nev. Championships beginning on Friday morning.

Visit UCSBTrack.com for complete results and statistics.