New Track Gives UCSD Record Run
Senior Tim Kyser remembers the way things were on the UC San Diego track team--back when shin splints, sore feet and abrasions were not so occasional because of a hard dirt track.
“It was intercollegiate athletics, but it had a club atmosphere back then,” said Kyser, a 400-meter runner.
Back then was last year.
UCSD now has an impressive new state-of-the-art, all-weather track and a number of school records to go with it. Some are calling the track the best in the county, and you will get no argument from Kyser or freshman Paul Dillon, who ran last year for St. Augustine High, which has a 330-yard dirt oval.
Already, UCSD has set eight women’s marks and three men’s, and the Tritons have had only one meet on the track.
The second will be Saturday at 10 a.m.: the UCSD Open Invitational, in which several world-class performers such as Brazil’s Joaquim Cruz (800 meters) and France’s Phillippe Collet (pole vault) will compete along with several top collegians.
Olympian Steve Scott will assist in officially dedicating the facility April 28 when UCSD plays host to the San Diego Collegiate Championships.
In addition to the all-weather surfaces, the facility features multi-directional runways for the long jump and pole vault, grills surrounding the long jump pits to help keep the sand where it’s supposed to be, a large approach area for the high jump and bi-directional sprint lanes. It was not built to accommodate a football field as with many tracks, so most of the field event areas are on the outside. Only the high jump is contested in the infield.
John Colborne, a two-time San Diego Section player of the year from Poway High, participated in the 21st Aloha/Japan basketball tournament in Tokyo this past weekend.
In three games, Colborne averaged 10.3 points and seven rebounds for the South (1-2), which was coached by Alabama Birmingham’s Gene Bartow.
A 6-foot-9 senior, Colborne led Southern Methodist in scoring (18.2 points per game) and rebounding (7.3) this season and was chosen second-team All-Southwest Conference. In his career, Colborne had 1,046 points and 576 rebounds, shooting 54% from the field and 76% from the free-throw line.
John Jerome, who averaged 19.2 points per game as a senior to set the University of San Diego’s single-season scoring record, was selected the most valuable player in a 70-team basketball tournament at a Montana scouting camp in late March.
Jerome, whose team won the championship of the Wayne Estes Tournament, said he is now getting more attention from teams in the Continental Basketball Assn. and in Europe.
“It was pretty worthwhile for me because I didn’t have a lot of notoriety going in,” Jerome said. “I’m starting to get a lot of calls now.”
The San Diego State men’s tennis team snuck into the top 25 for the first time in 10 years. The Aztecs, led by No. 78-ranked Tole Marinkovic, are ranked 24th.
San Diego State’s women, previously ranked 17th, moved up to 16th. The Aztecs’ doubles team of Dorey Brandt and Taunya Johnson is ranked 38th.
Former Aztec Eric Wynalda had two goals and an assist in the United States’ 4-2 victory over Iceland Sunday in preparation for this summer’s World Cup in Italy.
U.S. International’s softball team, winner of only 15 games last year, has gone 20-22 this year against some pretty tough competition. Last week, the Gulls upset No. 6 Nebraska, 2-0.
Saturday, USIU faces No. 8 Cal (26-17) and the Bears’ incredible freshman, Michele Granger.
While still at Valencia High, Granger was voted player of the year by the U.S. Olympic Committee three years in a row. She pitched a perfect game and a no-hitter and led the United States when it won the 1986 World Championship and was a member of the 1987 gold medal team in the Pan American Games.
After a mysterious circulatory injury to her pitching hand forced her to redshirt last year, Granger, 20, is coming back.
“She’s slumping right now,” said Herb Beneson, sports information director. “But she still leads the team in every category. Come to think of it, she leads the conference (Pac 10) in just about everything, too.”
Granger, who pitches left-handed, is 15-8 with a 0.44 earned run average. Her 226 strikeouts are nearly three times more than the next best in the Pac 10.