The Long Beach State men’s track and field program won its fifth Big West Conference championship in the last seven years last weekend at UC Santa Barbara.
The Beach scored 169.5 points to become the first program in Big West history to win 11 titles. It is also the sixth conference championship for LBSU this year. The women finished sixth.
LBSU senior Kemonie Briggs scored a meet-high 23 points by winning the long jump and scoring in the the 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay, 400m, and 200m races. The Wilson High alum’s victory in the long jump (26’ 1.50’) is his fourth consecutive title in the event. He ranks No. 4 in the West Regional and No. 10 in the nation.
Briggs ran a personal-best time of 46.59 in the 400m to place second, and ran a personal-best 21.26 in the 200m to place fourth. LBSU also finished the day with a season-best time of 3:10.72 in the 4x400m relay.
Senior Vincent Calhoun claimed the first title of the day for LBSU in the high jump. The Long Beach Poly High grad’s clearance of 6’ 10.75” won gold. Junior Charlie Vernoy also won the discuss with a throw of 177’ 4”.
On the women’s side, Courtne’ Davis won the 100 and 200 in her final conference competition. The senior clocked times of 11.47 and 23.45.
LBSU will send more than 15 qualifying athletes to participate in the NCAA West Regionals on May 23 in Sacramento.
Women’s Golf
The Beach had a nice bounce-back performance last Wednesday at the NCAA East Lansing Regional, shooting the team’s best round of the event and improving by 19 shots. However, Big West Champions LBSU wasn’t able to advance to the next round after a 16th place finish. Junior Euna Pak shot and even par final round to finish 7-over and tied for 33rd.
Softball
LBSU (25-25, 12-9) wasn’t able to win on Senior Day, but still won its final Big West series of the year over Cal State Northridge at the LBSU Softball Complex last weekend.
The Beach swept the doubleheader 7-0 and 8-3, but dropped the finale 2-1. Senior Jamie Wren hit .545 in her final series going 6-for-11 with a double and a triple. She hit over .400 in conference play, and led LBSU with a .375 average and 41 RBI. The Beach finished fourth in the Big West.
Baseball
The Dirtbags (11-38, 5-13) lost all four of their games to ranked opponents last week. They were edged 2-1 in 12 innings at No. 1 UCLA on Tuesday, and then were swept at No. 13 UC Santa Barbara over the weekend. Senior John Sheaks allowed just one run on four hits while matching his career high with 7 IP against UCLA. The Dirtbags homered once in all three games at UCSB with long balls from Laine Huffman, Chris Jimenez and Aidan Malm.
LBSU visits Cal State Fullerton this weekend for the final series of the season. The opener is at 7 p.m. tonight, Thursday, and can be watched on ESPN3. The rivalry continues at 8:15 p.m. on Friday and concludes at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
