Diamond League Domination

Will Claye continued to dominate the men's triple jump with another Diamond League meet win following his two victories in Eugene, Oregon and Rome, Italy in Oslo, Norway. He won with 17.41m and continues to lead in Diamond League points in the event. In the men's shot put, Joe Kovacs took the victory with a 21.14m throw, beating out a strong field of competitors. Kovacs is currently in the lead for Diamond League points.

Jeff Henderson took the New York Adidas Grand Prix Diamond League meet by storm in the men's long jump with a huge leap of 8.33m. He is currently ranked fourth in the world in the event and is tied for first in Diamond League Points. With his win OTC-CV athletes have five diamond league wins. 

At the San Diego Imperial Championship meet, Kiani Profit was named the San Diego Imperial Section Field Event Athlete of the Year. She is ranked third in the US in the heptathlon and is in the top ten in the world.

David Brown was awarded the San Diego Imperial Section Track Athlete of the Year. Brown is the current world record holder for T11 Paralympians in the 100m and 200m.

The Chula Vista OTC athletes will be competing next at the US Outdoor National Championships in Sacramento, California which begins June 26 and continues through June 29.​

The 2014 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon proved to be a stage for superb performances for the athletes from the Chula Vista OTC. Joe Kovacs continued his streak of consistently monstrous throws, finishing in second place with a mark of 21.46. This is the third time this season he has thrown over 21 meters and he is currently ranked fifth in the world in the event from his throw last week in Shanghai. Will Claye dominated the men's triple jump on Saturday, setting the #2 best jump in the world and a new meet record of 17.66m. This is his second-best jump ever and his furthest jump ever outdoors and also is the best mark in the US. In the women's long jump, Brittney Reese took fourth place with a best jump of 6.86m, despite having two foul jumps well over 7.00m. She currently is ranked sixth in the world and third in the US.

Kiani Profit competed in the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge in Gotzis, Austria in her first full heptathlon of the season. Amongst the world's best, Profit was the only American invited to compete and represent her country. Her total score was 6012, her second-best score of all-time and third best mark in the US and ninth in the world. She set season best marks in four of the seven events including the long jump (5.87m), shot put (12.67m), javelin (40.89m) and the 800m run (2:06.25). Her shot put and 800m run marks were lifetime bests.

The Chula Vista OTC hosted its fifth home meet of the season last Saturday. Jeff Skiba cleared 2.05m in the high jump, which is the a season best. Maya Pressley led an elite field in the women's high jump, matching her previous season best mark of 1.85m. Liz Podominick also won the discus throw with a mark of 61.00m which is just 38 centimeters off of her season best.

Will Claye will be competing at the Diamond League meet in Rome, Italy on June 5, with all other athletes of the Chula Vista OTC competing at the Jim Bush Meet at UCLA on June 7. 

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. 

Great early season marks!

The Chula Vista Olympic Training Center hosted the first of seven High Performance meets this past Thursday, which showcased world-class athletes from over eight countries. Great weather conditions combined with the elite level of competition set the stage for many personal bests and even a few world-leading marks. In the women's throwing events, Whitney Ashley won the discus with 62.29m which was a warm up for her throw of 63.78m the next day at the Triton Invitational at UCSD. She currently leads the world with that mark. Tia Brooks is the new US leader in the shot put, throwing 17.86m and 18.50m at Triton. Jared Schuurmans (64.42m) held his own in a very competitive men's discus field, breaking his old personal record by over a meter. This is the 4th best mark in the world currently. Joe Kovacs ended the day with a monstrous throw in the shot put, setting a new personal best and world-leading 21.47m. Brittney Reese opened up her season with a win in the long jump (6.87m), coming from just a short approach. Also in the event was April Sinkler (6.37m), who competed again on Saturday in the Drake Relays. The meet wrapped up with the men's long jump, which featured two Olympians and finished with the two best jumps in the world. Greg Rutherford of Great Britain won the competition with a new British record and world-leading mark of 8.51m. The OTC's Tyron Stewart took second with a new personal best of 8.39m, the 2nd best mark worldwide. Third place was taken by Will Claye (8.29m), who also won the triple jump at the Drake Relays on Saturday. Also in the long jump on Thursday was Ronald Taylor (8.05m), Bryce Lamb (7.76m), Ahkeel Whitehead (5.18m) and Markeith Price who set a personal best of 6.51m. 

Although many will take this week off from competition to recover, a small group of athletes will be competing May 1-2 at the Steve Scott Invitational at UC Irvine

Mt Sac Relays; WOW!

The 56th Annual Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, CA proved to be a strong stage for the athletes of the Chula Vista OTC this past weekend, April 17-19, which was highlighted by two world records. The pair of David Brown and guide runner, Jerome Avery, continued to dominate the sprint events for visually impaired athletes. Brown shattered his previous world record in the 100m with a new personal best of 10.92. He also set a new world record in the 200m (22.44). Markeith Price also ran in the visually impaired section of the 200m in 23.31. Competing in the ambulatory Paralympic 200m was Blake Leeper beginning the season with 22.84. Rob Brown opened his season in the 100m and 200m, finishing in 12.21 and 24.51. Hannah McFadden picked up two wins in the wheelchair 400m and 800m in 58.98 and 2:01.46. On the men's side, Erik Hightower also won both events in 50.29 and 1:46.37 and teammate, Austin Pruitt finished in 57.77 and 1:53.47, earning second place.

A small showing of able-bodied athletes was led off by Kiani Profit in the 100 meter hurdles (14.38). In the long jump, April Sinkler opened the outdoor season with a mark of 6.08m and Jefferey Henderson won the Invitational Elite section with a jump of 8.12m. Maya Pressley just missed a victory in the high jump, ending with a tie for second at 1.85m due to number of jumps. Sean Furey and Craig Kinsley finished second and third in the javelin throw with marks of 77.08m and 72.52m. Saturday's meet ended with an exciting competition in the men's triple jump with Chris Benard leading the field through the last jump when Omar Craddock surpassed him. Benard still had an outstanding day culminating in a new personal best of 17.09m, which is currently the 4th best jump in the world.

The first home meet of the season is scheduled for Thursday, April 24th, with many additional athletes competing on Saturday, April 26th in both the Triton Invite at UC San Diego and the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.