Weekend Update 5-17

The Chula Vista OTC hosted back-to-back jumps and throws competitions this past Thursday and Saturday. On Thursday, Ryan Young opened his season with a throw of 70.16m, after being away from competition for over a year. In the women's long jump, Brittney Reese took second place with 6.54m and April Sinkler jumped a season's best of 6.22m. Para athlete, Lex Gillette, continued his jumping success, following up his strong performance last week with another jump (6.72m) just under his world record of 6.73m. Also representing the Paralympic team in the event was Ahkeel Whitehead with a 5.19m effort.

Saturday's meet was highlighted by the women's discus throw in which teammates Whitney Ashley and Liz Podominick went 1-2 with 62.42m and 61.38m, a season's best mark for Podominick. In the women's triple jump, April Sinkler set her second season's best mark for the weekend with 13.46m. On the men's side, Troy Doris opened his outdoor season with a 16.75 effort.

The athletes of the Chula Vista OTC will be traveling this week to competitions in Tuscon, AZ for the Tuscon Elite Meet and to Austin, TX for the American Track League series. 

Weekend of 5/10

The athletes of the Chula Vista OTC competed this past weekend in several elite meets around the world. A group traveled to the beautiful island of Guadeloupe to compete in the 2014 Meeting International Region Guadeloupe. Headlining the meet was Jeff Henderson leading a 1-2-3 OTC sweep with a new personal best of 8.25m to win the event. The runner-up was Tyron Stewart, who had a best jump of 8.20m. Mike Hartfield jumped 8.12m to take third. In the women's high jump, Maya Pressley had a clearance of 1.78m, which was good enough for fourth place.

The multi-event athletes competed in select events at the Claremont Classic heptathlon/decathlon on Thursday and Friday. Kiani Profit ran a nice 100m hurdles, finishing in 13.71, which is a season best. She also threw the shot put on the first day with a best mark of 12.09m. Shana Woods also ran the 100m hurdles in 13.90 and threw 11.80m in the shot put. Gunnar Nixon won the shot put with a 14.40m best. Nixon came back on the second day to set a new personal best in the 110m hurdles (14.13) and threw 35.72m in the discus. Profit also competed the second day in the long jump (5.81m) and the javelin (38.82m).

The remainder of the jump group went to the Occidental Invitational in Eagle Rock, CA. April Sinkler finished with a best of 13.18m, despite having several great attempts which were fouls. On his third day of competition, Gunnar Nixon jumped a seasonal best in the high jump (2.14m), which won the event. Also representing the Para athletes in the high jump was Jeff Skiba who cleared 2.04m. With only one fair jump in the long jump, Bryce Lamb managed to win with a 7.82m effort. Whitney Ashley won the women's discus throw (62.82) and teammate, Beth Rohl, finished third (52.88m). In the women's hammer throw, Jessica Cosby-Toruga threw a seasonal best of 70.94m to win. Also in the event was Kristin Smith who tied her seasonal best (66.60m) to place second. Finishing 1-2 in the shot put was Joe Kovacs and Eric Werskey with best throws of 21.24m and 19.92m.

The Paralympians traveled to Mesa, AZ for the Desert Challenge. David Brown won the T11 100m in 11.09, while teammates Josiah Jamison and Markeith Price ran in the T12 and T13 divisions in 11.67 and 11.57. Erik Hightower had a busy day competing in the 400m (51.09), 800m (1:14.10) and 100m (14.32) winning the event. Austin Pruitt picked up several victories as well in the 200m (30.26), 400m (59.27) and 800m (1:50.73). Lex Gillette made news as he tied his own world record in the F11 long jump with a jump of 6.73m.

Competing in her first Diamond League Meet of the summer in Doha, Qatar was Tia Brooks in the women's shot put. She finished fourth with a throw of 18.06m. She will compete next at the Diamond League Meet in Shanghai, China along with Will Claye.

The Chula Vista OTC will be hosting home meets this Thursday, May 15th and Saturday, May 17th where many of the resident athletes are set to compete next.

Weekend Wrap-Up 5-3

A select group of six athletes from the Chula Vista OTC competed in three events this weekend at the Jamaica International Invitational Meet in Kingston, Jamaica. Joe Kovacs competed against an elite field in the shot put, which included two Olympic medalists, finishing in sixth place with 20.09m. In the Women's discus throw, Whitney Ashley and Liz Podominick represented the CV-OTC and finished in second and third respectively. Ashley threw 57.39m and Podominick ended with 57.27m. The Men's long jump was the event of the meet, with the group of Will Claye, Michael Hartfield and Chris Benard going 1, 2, 4 and setting a new meet record in the process. Will Claye won the event with a mark of 8.19m, which is a great mark for his first international competition of the season. Michael Hartfield had a best jump of 8.17m, with his farthest wind legal jump of 8.15m setting the new meet record. Chris Benard finished fourth with 7.95m.

A few athletes also had a tune up meet at the 20th Annual Steve Scott Invitational hosted by UC Irvine. The javelin duo of Craig Kinsley and Sean Furey got first and second with marks of 76.56m and 74.75m. Brittney Borman was the runner-up in the Women's javelin, opening her season with 55.16m. Jeff Skiba jumped in the men's high jump and cleared 2.00m.

The CV-OTC will be hosting its second home meet of the season on Thursday, May 8th with the OTC Pole Vault Invitational while the multi event athletes will be competing Thursday and Friday at the Claremont Multis in Claremont, CA. Additionally, some athletes will be traveling internationally to the Meeting International Region in Guadeloupe.​ The rest of the OTC athletes and Para group will compete at the OXY Invite in Eagle Rock, CA on Saturday.