Tuesday, April 30, 2013

On the weekend of April 26-27 athletes from the OTC-CV were spread throughout the country. 
Alice Schmidt competed and ran in the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she took part in the 4 x 800 relays that was deemed the USA versus the world. He team finished third and Alice ran a 2:02 leg for her team. Its a great time for and early season performance.
In Des Moines, IA defending gold medal long jumper Brittney Reese continued her clutch performance ways by winning the long jump on her last attempt. Her jump of 6.94m won the competition by 2 cm and beat fellow American and Olympic Bronze medalist Janay Deloach-Soukup.
Most of the OTC-CV athletes competed here in San Diego at the UCSD Triton Invitational. Known as one of the best places in the world to throw the discus resident athlete Whitney Ashley used the great conditions to throw a life time best  of 61.14m. It is currently a World Championship "B" standard throw and is only 86cm off the "A" standard needed for World Championship qualifying. It is also the third furthest throw in the United States this year. 
Other athletes competing at the Triton Invite were Crystal Manning in the long jump, where she placed 2nd with a distance of 5.86. Crystal is the outdoor American leader in the triple jump with a jump of 13.84 which she accomplished at the Mt Sac Relays the weekend before. 
Kiani Profit the American leader in the outdoor heptathlon at 5911 competed in the 200m (24.27), 100 hurdles (14.07), and high jump 1.68m as she gets ready on her assault of the 6000 point barrier and a World Championship "B" mark of 5950. Fellow heptathlete Shana Woods competed in the high jump 1.63 and shot put as she gets ready for her first heptathlon of the season. Paralympian Sabra Hawkes ran the 200m in 33.30. 
In the hammer throw Britney Henry threw 65.56, Britney already has the fourth furthest throw in the US at 69.75 which is a world championship "B" mark. 
For the men it was a battle between the fastest man in rugby Carlin Isles and accomplished sprinter Jerome Avery. Carlin ran 10.42 to out step Jerome who ran 10.52. In the 200m Jerome ran 21.47, followed by long jumper Reindell Cole in 22.91. A step behind Reindell Cole was two time London medalist Blake Leeper in a time of 23.30. David Brown with guide Roland Slade ran the 400m and  finished with a time of 53.69 fellow teammate Rob Brown finished in 56.69 respectively.
It was double duty for Ron Brookins as he won the 110 hurdles in 13.66 and the long jump with a jump of 7.44m. He out jumped teammate and primary triple jumper Chris Benard who jumped 7.23m. 
One of the highlights of the weekend was in the shot put for the men. Eric Werskey threw a life time best of 20.13. It is the first time Eric has broken 20 meters and it puts his performance as the 17th best in the world. Finishing just ahead of him in a seasonal best performance was training partner Joe Kovacs. Joe threw 20.28 which puts him 14th in the world. 
The next competition for the OTC-CV athletes is at the Oxy Invitational in Eagle Rock, CA.