There are a hundred different reasons why winning while not forcing the body to go 100 percent is a positive, but for sophomore Jacob Weintraub, it’s still a big disappointment.
Despite admitting to having a only a “so-so” performance, Weintraub’s throw of 53-9 feet was more than enough to win in the shotput at the Moorpark Invitational on Saturday.
“I was disappointed because one of the top throwers that I was supposed to throw against ended up pulling out of the event,” Weintraub said. “After I found out, I knew I had lost some of my adrenaline.”
Despite Weintraub’s lack of adrenaline, he was able to bring together his third consecutive win of the season in the shot put.
“Even though I won the event, I had higher expectations in the meet and I feel like I let myself down, “Weintraub said. “I wanted to throw at least a fifty-five, but it just wasn’t the case.”
Coach Darryl Guerin was also disappointed in the intensity of Weintraub’s throwing attempts.
“His throwing and technique was good, but he didn’t have the explosion that I wanted him to have,” Guerin said. “I think he’ll perform better at the upcoming Irvine meet.”
Roughly a third of the Track and Field team will represent the Warriors at the UC Irvine Invitational this Saturday. The meet will be composed of top-ranked universities and community colleges and is considered to be a very high quality meet.
This year, the university’s that will be competing include Cornell, Princeton, Westpoint, Columbia, Southern Utah, Yale, George Fox, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and Cal State Fullerton.
Weintraub won the shotput event in the same meet last year.
“This year, I have to have a huge throw and blow everybody away,” Weintraub said. “I can’t wait.”
Guerin is anticipating that the meet could possibly be Weintraub’s best throw of the season. He commented that Weintraub is notorious for throwing well when the competition is within range.
“(Weintraub) uses the other competitors as his motivational tool,” Guerin said. “If he knows that there is someone in the field who can rival him, he’ll pump himself up and will usually throw extremely well”.
Freshman Max Goldberg recorded a season-best in the discus with a throw of 138-5 feet. This distance has marked his fourth consecutive personal record for the season. Goldberg will also be competing in the discus event at the UC Irvine Invitational.
“If I work hard in practice, I’ll know I be where I need to be at the meet,” Goldberg said.
Guerin also acknowledged his steady increase in distance in the discus.
“(Goldberg) started this season throwing only one-hundred and twenty feet, but now he’s at one-hundred and thirty-eight and still climbing,” Guerin said.
Other throwers that will compete in the UC Irvine Invitational will be freshman Salina Ropati, shotput, sophomore Na’I Leni, shotput and discus, and sophomore Vinny Iaia, shotput.
As planned this week, some of the runners took a break from their normally scheduled events and were given variety in the form of different events.
“At Moorpark, we wanted to give our runners a chance to compete in an event that is different from their usual event,” coach Dean Lofgren said. “It gives them a chance to get their mind off their normal events, which can be a good thing sometimes.”
Freshman KayC Wharton finished second in her first open 400-meter of the season, clocking in a time of 58.13 seconds.
“I think (Wharton’s) performance was wonderful,” coach Kevin Hughley said. “She lacks so much experience in the race, which means that she has a lot of room for improvement in the event.”
The women won the 1600-meter relay, running a season-best 4:1.34 even without Wharton. Liz Pereyra, Stephanie Bruton, Kiaira Bostic, and Shavonya Decuir took the lead at the start and never relinquished it.
“I was very impressed with the way the women ran in the relay, especially (Decuir) who’s been battling back from an injury sustained in the winter session,” Hughley said.
Pereyra also placed second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 66.84 seconds, which placed her among the top runners in Southern California.
“(Pereyra) is back, and I told her that after the race,” Hughley said. “She’s as capable right now as she has ever been.”
Sophomore Courtney Stephens placed a close second in the 5,000-meter, as she closed her last two laps to pull even with the leader with 200 meters to go, placing a personal best 18 minutes, 53.00 seconds.
The men’s 1600-meter relay also recorded a season best 3:17.48 seconds with freshmen LaRon Taylor and Anthony Mitchell and sophomores Jacob Yowell and Ed Spriggs, who has been battling a nagging hamstring injury.
