COLLEGE TRACK NORTHRIDGE INVITATIONAL : Vujic’s Old Coach Gives Him New Start

Cal State Northridge’s Sasha Vujic has returned to form after being reunited with his former coach.

Vujic, a senior from Burroughs High, struggled through a disappointing track season last spring. But he has set personal bests in two events this season while training under Bob Augello, a former Northridge assistant who coached Vujic his freshman and sophomore seasons.

Vujic’s latest personal best came at Saturday’s Northridge Invitational, where he finished second in the men’s 1,500 meters in 3 minutes 48.85 seconds. That time ranks fifth on the all-time Northridge list.

“My consistency has been much better,” said Vujic, whose previous best was 3:50.11. “I believe in (Augello’s) methods and that helps a lot.”

Vujic, who set a Northridge record of 8:14.64 in the 3,000 meters in a quadrangular meet at USC last month, was happy with his time considering the relatively mild early pace.

“I was hoping that the leaders would go 61, 2:02 and 3:03 for the first three laps,” Vujic said. “But that didn’t happen.”

After coming through the first 440 yards in 62 seconds, Melford Homela of Zimbabwe and Riverside City College led the pack at the 880-yard mark in 2:05.3.

Erick McBride of Cal State Bakersfield led after three laps (3:05.7) before Vujic surged to the fore with 200 meters to go. He maintained his advantage around the turn, but he couldn’t hold off Desta Asgedon of Ethiopia and Riverside City College in the homestretch.

“I was aware of him coming off the turn,” Vujic said of Asgedon, who timed 3:47.91. “I was going to try and hang with him if he came by me slowly, but he came by me like I was standing still.”

McBride placed third in 3:50.37 and former Granada Hills High standout Ian Alsen, running unattached, finished seventh in 3:51.94.

McBride and Alsen would complete doubles later in the meet. McBride led from start to finish to win the 800 in 1:50.20, and Alsen finished third in the 5,000 in 14:20.20.

In other events, Tom Parker won the pole vault with a personal best of 17 feet 1 inch, moving to second on the all-time Northridge list behind Dion Guiliano (17-4 in 1984).

Persephone Lowery of Northridge finished second in the women’s 800 in a personal best of 2:10.25 to move to 10th on the all-time Matador list and Gil Carrillo of Northridge won the men’s javelin with a throw of 211-3.