Long Beach State track well represented at NCAA West Preliminaries
Long Beach State hasn't hosted a track meet on its campus in over a decade. Nothing to see here.
This year brought a different set of circumstances to the program. The Beach was without an on-campus practice facility because of the renovations at Jack Rose Stadium that began last fall.
An inconvenience, yes, but far from an excuse as the Long Beach State men were able to three-peat in the Big West Conference earlier this month.
Seventeen men and women from Long Beach State will be competing this weekend at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships at the University of Texas. That number is the most of any school in the Big West Conference.
As Long Beach State track and field head coach and 2015 Big West Coach of the Year, Andy Sythe, put it, the 2015 season has been more of a "relief" than anything else.
"We got through this year and still accomplished our goal," he said.
There had to be sacrifices made by many just to get practice time in.
The track renovations are coming along nicely! #CSULB #GoBeach #LBSU pic.twitter.com/BtQdjWvEGn
— CSULB (@CSULB) May 14, 2015
Gone was the normalcy of walking through campus to take the track at Jack Rose Stadium for a workout. In the present was getting carpools together to brave the traffic of the 405 to head to Golden West College for workouts.
All Angelenos know how unforgiving the 405 can be, so often times that meant dealing with traffic going and coming.
Because the track at Golden West doesn't have any lights, before the time change, they were running in the Huntington Beach dark.
"It was weird," said Big West Field Athlete of the Year Willie Alexander, who's competing in the long jump and triple jump this weekend. "A lot of the times our sessions would end before it got dark, but a couple of times we would jump while it was kind of dark and most of the times we were running while it was dark. They had lights for the pole vault pits but they didn't really have lights for the track. It was different. "
Some runners tried to go the early morning route to get workouts in.
"(Some of us) did a lot less work on the track and tried to do some of our workouts at a local park early in the morning," said Chris Low, who's competing in the 800m this weekend. "Just because the track was pretty hard so it was really hard on the legs. On Mondays we would go early in the morning, like 7am (and) drive somewhere to run because there aren't many trails out here. "
Most of the sacrifices are now in the rearview. Once the renovations at Jack Rose Stadium are complete, it will make Long Beach State the home to one of the premiere track facilities in the world. It will be just one of seven tracks on a United States college campus that is certified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), giving The Beach the opportunity to host NCAA events and USA Track and Field championships.
#TBT to @LBSU_Track winning last year's Big West Championship! Will go for a repeat this weekend in Riverside ! pic.twitter.com/IKB0E6fUqQ
— LBSU Athletics (@LBSUAthletics) May 14, 2015
It will also be home to the 2016 Big West Championships which, for the men, could provide the unique opportunity to win its fourth consecutive conference title on its home track.
"That would be the ultimate," Sythe said. "I've always said that I've wanted to perform and win a championship at home.
"We are incredibly driven to make that happen."
