Running, jumping or throwing. There hasn’t been one skill that the men’s track and field team hasn’t been able to excel in all year.
The team will be enjoying a two-week break before traveling April 9 to the Mt. San Antonio College Relays.
“This meet should be very competitive,” coach Dean Lofgren said. “This meet will be the last meet for most competitors prior to the conference championship.”
Last Saturday, the men returned to Long Beach for the Long Beach City Open.
The men had good individual standings despite running against stiff competition such as Long Beach, Riverside and San Bernardino.
In the 100-meter, Roy Alugbue captured first place setting the second fastest time record in Southern California with a time of 10.70. Alugbue also captured fourth in the 200-meter with a time of 21.46 which automatically qualifies him the Southern California Finals at Compton.
“It feels so good to know that all the hard work I have done through out the year has paid off,” Alugbue said. “It now means that I can rest easy knowing that I qualified for the state finals.”
Another outstanding performance came from Kyle Montgomery, who captured second place in the hurdles with a time of 16.06.
Kendall Lopez finished first in the 5,000-meter with at 16:26.62. In the 1,500-meter, Jason Hanakeawe captured first as well with a time of 4:07.88.
During the high jump, Amir Fisher captured third with a leap of 6-4, and recorded 42-8 in the triple jump.
The Warriors will then head out to the Long Beach State Invitational, where only the team qualifiers will be allowed to compete.
“Only a few athletes will compete at Long Beach,” Lofgren said. “This group will be composed mostly of those who do not have a very hard conference preliminary on April nineteen.”
The team will get ready for the South Coast Conference preliminaries and finals, which will be at Compton, April 19 and April 23 respectively.
Even though they have roughly a two-week break from any competition, the Warriors know they need to work hard in order for them to do well in the SCC finals and the Southern California finals, and state finals.
“Most of our training is still catered toward getting our primary qualifiers through to the Southern California and state championships, which are still six to eight weeks away,” Lofgren said.
“Everyone is looking forward to the break; we really deserve one by now, but we are still going to keep practicing hard for the SCC finals and state finals,” Alugbue said.
“I’m looking forward to the break; the breaks mean I have some alone time,” Alugbue said.
