Sophomore Jacob Weintraub let everyone who watched his throw in the shot put know that he wasn’t playing around.
Topping his own state-leading throw, Weintraub captured a win in the men’s event with a throw of 55-5 at the South Coast Conference Preview Friday at EC’s Compton Center.
“It was arguably the best performance of the entire meet,” coach Dean Lofgren said.
Weintraub fell short of his personal best by seven inches, which he threw in last year’s state championships.
“I was really focused that entire week prior to the meet,” Weintraub said. “It’s time to buckle down and take practice seriously.”
Coach Darryl Guerin said it was just a matter of time for Weintraub to get back to full form.
“He’s a beast,” Guerin said. “You can only hold a beast down for so long.”
The Warriors do not have a meet scheduled this week, so Weintraub will look to build on his momentum at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational Saturday April 11.
“This week is what I call the ‘outwork week’ because it’s the week where you have to outwork you opponents in practice,” said Weintraub. “We need to practice hard on the field and in the weight room so we can compete well at Mt. SAC.”
Both the men and women placed third in total points out of 10 teams total at the conference preview, with Cerritos College taking first and Mt. SAC placing second.
Sophomore Na’I Leni won both the women’s shot put with a throw of 46-7 and the discus with a throw of 148-7. Leni also set a new school record in the hammer throw with 143-11, while placing third.
“I think I wasted too much energy in the warm-up,” Leni said. “I could have done better.”
Leni is the current state leader in the shot put event and second in the discus.
Sophomore Steven Calise earned first place in the 1500-meter with a time of 4:4.88 seconds. In the 800-meter, Calise took first place as well with a time of 1:58.25 seconds.
“My plan was to take it easy (in the 1500-meter), and save my legs (for the 800-meter),” Calise said. “I wanted to break two (minutes) and I did.”
Calise remains the state leader in the 1500-meter with a time of 3:57.36 seconds.
Sophomore Jacob Yowell helped the 1600-meter relay team, scoring a time of 3:17.48 seconds.
“We felt strong going into the relay,” Yowell said. “We know we could still improve on our time.”
Yowell also ran 15.44 seconds in the 110-high hurdles and 2 minutes flat in the 800-meter.
Freshman Anthony Mitchell placed second in the 400-meter with a time of 48.90 seconds.
Sophomore Shavonya Decuir placed second in the 100-meter with a time of 12.85 seconds and third in the 200-meter with a time of 26.57 seconds.
Freshman Kevin Avery ran a personal best 10.97 seconds for second in the 100-meter. Avery returned later to place fifth in the 200-meter at 22.46 seconds. Avery was also part of the winning 1600-meter relay team.
Sophomore Ed Spriggs recorded a season best 22.89 seconds in the 200-meter and was also a member of the 1600-meter relay team.
“This week we really must focus our athletes on running their natural events,” Lofgren said.
