Sophomore, Freshman Lead Irvine Men in Track

Sophomore Mike Morales and freshman Chris Conrad led UC Irvine’s men’s track and field team to victory Saturday in a tri-meet with Cal State Long Beach and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The host Anteaters won with 96 points. San Luis Obispo had 57 and Long Beach 51.

Morales, a former star at Garden Grove High School, won the hammer throw with a career best 182-feet 2-inches, more than 11 feet farther than his previous best of 171-0.

Morales also won the discus with a throw of 154-10 and placed third in the shotput at 47-11.

Conrad, who attended Mater Dei High, won the long jump at 23-10, seven inches beyond his career best.

Conrad also placed second in the triple jump with a mark of 48-8, almost a foot better than his previous career best.

Besides Morales and Conrad, few Anteaters were used in more than one event. That pleased Irvine Coach Vince O’Boyle.

“We were able to do some things without doubling and tripling everybody,” O’Boyle said.

“That’s especially nice considering we’re coming off Easter vacation and a tough meet (Stanford Invitational) last week.”

Irvine also received victories from Ryan Gillette in the high jump (6-8 3/4); Richard Hill in the 110-meter high hurdles (14.52); Fred Simmons in the 100 meters (10.67), and Joe Sordi in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles (53.80).

In the men’s distance events, Irvine’s Ricky Martinez won the 3,000-meter steeplechase--in his first attempt at the event--in 9:13.69.

In the 800 meters, Irvine’s Rod Brower withstood a final-stretch sprint by Long Beach’s Tyrone McCullough to win in 1:52.16.

In the women’s four-way meet, San Luis Obispo, ranked 10th in the nation by Track & Field News, won with 61 1/2 points, narrowly defeating Arizona (59 1/2).

Irvine was third with 32, and Long Beach was fourth with 30.

Treena Colebrook led San Luis Obispo with two victories. Colebrook, the defending Division II champion in the 1,500 meters, won that event in 4 minutes 23.8 seconds.

Colebrook followed Irvine sophomore Buffy Rabbitt, the 1987 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. cross-country champion, through most of the race. But with 200 meters remaining, Colebrook charged ahead, leaving Rabbitt to finish second in 4:25.08.

Irvine’s Jennifer Thomas was third in 4:32.13.

Colebrook also won the women’s 800 meters in 2:09.70. Judy McLaughlin of Irvine was second in 2:11.30, a personal best by two seconds.

Junior Beth McGrann led the Irvine women in the distance events.

McGrann, a two-time PCAA champion in the 5,000 meters, battled San Luis Obispo’s Leslie White and Amanda Marks in that event before outkicking the two to win in 17:11.24.

White, the 1980 Southern Section 3-A two-mile champion from Sonora High, finished second in 17:81.44. Marks was third in 17:19.77.

Two hours later, McGrann placed second to San Luis Obispo’s Sherri Minkler in the women’s 3,000 meters.

Minkler, who won in 9:58.85, held a 40-yard lead with 200 meters remaining. McGrann (10:01.55) began her final kick perhaps a few seconds too late and narrowly missed catching Minkler at the tape.

In the women’s sprints, Irvine received a career-best performance from sophomore Trindl Fearnley, who placed third in the 200 meters at 25.07.