May 14, 2005

Stats

For the first time in some years the Gaucho women find themselves atop the leader board at the Big West Track & Field Championships. With 61 points, UCSB is ahead of Cal St. Northridge by six points going into the final day. Utah St. is third with 33 points. With a lot of finals remaining on Saturday however, the women will be fighting off a tough Northridge team. The Gauchos last finished in the top three in 1996.

The Women's Hammer Throw started off all competition at noon. Heather Quinn (Jr.) had the pressure of setting the tone by throwing first. Going in ranked 4th she got off to a good start throwing 178-10 feet. Amy Haapanen (Jr.) was the clear favorite of the competition as the Big West Conference Record Holder at 196-02 set in 2004. She had gone for 187-04 in 2005.

Failing to qualify for finals in 2004, Haapanen again on her first throw this year started a little off throwing the hammer out of bounds. With the passing of her father approximately two weeks ago, Amy has undergone an emotionally tough time and it was unknown how she would react in today's competition. With teammate Quinn launching a 180-08 foot toss on her second throw, Amy rallied and got one off herself throwing 178-05. Both were now assured a spot in the finals standing in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

A foul on Quinn's third throw kept her in second position. Haapanen next up for the Gauchos walked into the ring for her third and final throw of the preliminaries and like a hand coming down from heaven launched a 191-06 throw to move into the lead and setting a new Conference Championship meet record. That throw was her first over 190 feet for since the 2004 season.

In finals she would throw over 190 feet two more times, upping her meet record to 194-10 on her fifth throw. Quinn stayed in third until Vakalahi from CS Northridge on her fifth throw tied her 178-10 mark she set in the prelims; only to throw a farther mark on her sixth and final throw bumping Quinn to fourth. The Gauchos left the Hammer with fifteen more points.

The next final was the first track event of the meet, the 3,000m Steeplechase at 3:00pm. School Record holder Bethany Nickless (Fr.) was the highest seed for the Gauchos at 4th. After a great start, Nickless fell on the second water barrier putting her out of the lead pack. Harnessing a bummed right quad after the fall, she kept reeling others in finally settling into 4th after 5 laps. Maintaining her position through the finish, she would go onto lower her School Record to 10:43.71.

A little farther back, Rebecca Zamolo (Sr.) competing in her final competition for the Gauchos came in ranked 9th with a personal best 11:27.21. Picking off runners lap after lap, she found herself in scoring position and on pace for a great time. Running possessed she would go onto finish 7th with a personal best 11:12.27. That time is 6th on the Gaucho All-Time Steeplechase list.

In the Women's High Jump final, Jennifer Kitzmann (So.) was ranked 10th with a seasonal best of 5-05.75 foot jump. Entering competition at 5-01 things were looking bleak as she missed her first two attempts. She then cleared her third and final attempt at 5-01 keeping her in the Championship. At the 5-03 and 5-05 feet heights Kitzmann cleared them easily putting her in scoring position. Unable to clear the next height at 5-07, along with six others, she nonetheless finished in 7th place due to the number of misses other athletes had.

Moving on to the last women's final out on the field for Day 1, the Women's Discus featured two Gauchos ranked Haapanen and Quinn ranked 1st and 2nd for 2005 in the Big West. After a great Hammer competition, Haapanen fouled two of three throws in the preliminaries keeping her out of the finals. She would finish a disappointing 13th place. Quinn however, continued her consistency putting up two throws over 155 feet in the prelims, placing her in the finals.

With Dixon of Long Beach St. ahead of her by approximately four feet, it would take a big throw for Quinn to pull off the Championship. As in all throws, it only takes one big effort, and Quinn gave the Gauchos just that. Her first throw of the finals soared past the 160-foot mark, falling at 160-05 feet thrusting her into the lead. Three more throws for Dixon were not enough, as Quinn would walk out of the ring as 2005 Big West Champion.

The Gauchos were not done winning however with Quinn. The last women's track final of the day would see one for Championship. The 10,000m saw eight Gauchos scheduled to start the race. A powerful distance force as the distance squad finished 17th in NCAA Div. I competition in Cross Country, there was an opportunity for them to score big team points. Megan Lewis (So.) entered the race as the favorite with the fastest 5,000m time.

After two miles crawled by above the twelve minute mark, Kramon of Long Beach began to open things up with successive 87's and 88's. A front pack composed of Kramon, Lewis, three other Gauchos (Martin, Moser, Rothstein) and Magdaleno of Cal Poly SLO broke away. Continuing the increased pace, Lewis and Kramon eventually built a lead on the others with the UCSB pack of three sandwiching Magdaleno at 90's.

Martin, Moser and Rothstein maintained their pack helping each other out during this 25 lap race. Rothstein racing for the first time in over a month had spent four weeks in the pool nursing an injury. The Gaucho love was in the air though as she fought to stay with the others.

With a mile to go up front, Lewis had had enough dropping an 80 second lap breaking Kramon. She would continue to push the pace increasing her lead over the flailing 49er from Long Beach. Lewis would go onto win the Big West 10,000m crown in her first attempt at the distance with a time 36:15.06, 4th All-Time at UCSB. Kramon would finish 2nd in 36:33.87.

The Gaucho three pack a little behind continued to fight off Magdaleno eventually also breaking her. Moser would go onto finish 3rd grabbing the final All-Conference spot in 37:22.84. Rothstein was right behind her in 4th in 37:27.30 and Martin finished 5th with a 37:33.86.

The conclusion of the 10,000m and their 25 points placed the Gauchos ahead of Northridge after Day 3. Key qualifiers out of prelims into tomorrow's finals include - Kylie McCuen (Jr.) in the 200m and 400m dashes; Kerry Gamble (Fr.) in the 400m and Lauren Christman, Lindsay Christman and Cosette Smith in the 1500m. Finals in the field on Saturday include the Javelin, Pole Vault, Triple Jump and Shot Put.