Pasta Party and Trip to NCAA for UCSD

The pasta party at Shannon Quigley’s apartment broke up around 8:30 Sunday night.

Quigley and guests are UC San Diego track and field athletes. They were scheduled to leave for the NCAA Division III national meet in Naperville, Ill., early Monday morning.

Quigley is the veteran of the group--having been to the nationals the past two years. She won the shot put and the discus last year, and has a good shot to do so again this year.

But for most of the other athletes, this will be their first national meet. Two years ago, Quigley was the only Triton in the nationals. Last year, she was accompanied by three others.

This year, UCSD is sending an all-time high 13 athletes (10 women, 3 men).

The party at Quigley’s was a traditional, team-bonding thing. But it was also a chance for Quigley to share her national meet experiences and her thoughts about what the others could expect.

After all, right up there with competitive throwing, sharing words is what Quigley does best.

She’s a self-described free spirit, who’s known to wear tie-dyed T-shirts and drive a 1968 Volkswagen van with bumper stickers about peace and love making do as a paint job.

“I’m a ‘90s hippie,” she said.

The van’s as old as her and has 205,000 miles on it. The odometer just clicked over for the second time, and now reads 5,000. “It’s sort of like having a new car,” she joked.

“Actually right now it’s broken down. But my brother has a van that I use. It doesn’t have a roof, though. It’s a giraffe carrier.”

Quigley is a literature writing major. She wants to be a writer, but not a sportswriter.

“It’s too dense,” she said. “I’m much more descriptive.”

What does all this have to do with track and field? Well, nothing and everything according to Quigley.

She believes that because of the individuality of the sport, the individual must come out in a person for them to perform at an optimum level.

She is living proof.

Add Quigley: Shortly after a feature story on Quigley ran in The Times around this time last year, she got a rather unusual fan letter.

It was from a local inmate who had read the story and took a liking to Quigley. He said he didn’t have much to read in prison, and would she mind writing him back?

“He sounded like a really nice, lonely guy,” Quigley said. “I think he was in for embezzlement. I wrote him back a couple of times.”

Last add Quigley: UCSD has two other shot putters who figure to push Quigley in the national meet--Shelly Squibb and Rachel Beerman.

Beerman’s brother is also on the team, and he is often referred to as Beerboy. When their parents come to town, they are Beermom and Beerdad.

California Community College champions: Grossmont College won the women’s tennis state title for the second time with a 5-1 victory over Chabot over the weekend.

In track and field, Steve Kellogg of Mesa College won the hammer throw at the state meet Saturday at Santa Barbara. His throw of 184-feet-6 was 15-10 farther than the next best.

Brian Chase of Grossmont won the pole vault at 15-8.

Tracy Crawford of Southwestern was second in both the shot put and discus, and Lafrania West of Grossmont was second and fifth in the triple jump and high jump.

No small feat: In a recent 3-1 victory over the University of San Diego, San Diego State’s Rick Navarro pitched a three-hitter. Lou Skertich, who pitched seven innings, and Tom Cheek allowed seven hits.

Navarro is 5-feet-9. Both Skertich and Cheek are 5-8. Who says pitchers have to be tall to make it in college ball?

“I’d say the little guys did a big job tonight,” Cheek said.

As they have all season. Navarro is 9-3 with a 2.64 earned run average. Skertich (6-7) led USD with a 3.84 ERA, and Cheek led the West Coast Conference with seven saves and a 2.53 ERA in conference games.