Killeen Sets High Goals for Big Meet

A year ago, Heather Killeen turned in a sparkling performance in the Big West track championships, winning the women’s 5,000 meters, taking second in the 3,000 and third in the 10,000.

It was a grueling effort over two days. But Killeen, a Cal State Fullerton distance runner, hopes she can do even better this time in the conference meet Friday and Saturday at Long Beach State.

It still won’t be easy, even though Killeen has the Big West’s top times in all three events so far this season: 35:16.94 in the 10,000, 16:58.30 in the 5,000 and 9:49 in the 3,000.

Pretty good numbers, but not where she wants to be.

Still, Killeen is happy she’s not where she was. In April 1994, she was struggling to get back into form after a series of injuries that started in the cross-country season.

“Just to have a full season to run this year has been a blessing,” Killeen said. “I didn’t run for almost six months because of the injuries. This season has been much more fun.”

Killeen injured her hip a week before the Big West cross-country meet in October, 1993, then injured a knee when she tried to train through it.

“She’s definitely in much better condition this year,” Coach John Elders said. “And we think the running conditions will be much better for her than they were last year at New Mexico with the higher altitude.”

Killeen has met the NCAA’s provisional qualifying standard in the 10,000, and has the ninth-best time in the nation. The runners with the top 16 times qualify, providing they have met the provisional time.

“We also think she’ll meet the NCAA standard in the 5,000 as well,” Elders said. “Her best time this season is only three seconds off that. We’ve been pointing for the 5,000, even more than the 10,000, but she really hasn’t been in the kind of race yet that would help her.”

In the 5,000, Killeen said her races this season have been tactical and not as conducive to an all-out effort.

“I’ve just been waiting for that breakthrough race,” she said. “If it doesn’t happen in the conference meet, there’s a better chance of it the following weekend in an open meet in Los Angeles. There will be several elite runners in that race.”

Killeen will run the 10,000 on Friday, then the 5,000 and 3,000 on Saturday. Trying to do well in all three will be a challenge, and Elders said there will be less emphasis on the 3,000.

“You have to conserve in the 10,000 to make sure you’re ready for the two races on Saturday,” she said.

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Elders hopes several other Titan athletes do well. Among the other women, he expects Casie Lozano to be a challenger in the sprints and the long jump if she can overcome some recent hamstring problems.

He also expects Teresa Santana and Tania Nahale to be threats in the distance events.

Among the men, Zaylore Stout is a leading contender in the high jump and triple jump. He has the conference’s best mark in the triple jump at 48-5 1/2 and his 6-8 3/4 high jump ranks third.

“Two Utah State high jumpers have better marks in the high jump at 6-9 3/4, but he had a good effort going for 6-10 last weekend,” Elders said.

The other top contenders are Obi Obadike in the 100 and 200 meters, Nate Heggenberger in the 800 and 1,500 and Albert Avila in the discus. Heggenberger has the second-best time in the 800 and third-best in the 1,500. Avila is ranked third.

“I think we could finish anywhere from third to sixth on the men’s side,” Elders said. “It looks as though Long Beach and Utah State are going to be battling for the top spot. We’ll be relying a lot on Heather and the other distance runners to carry us on the women’s side. We’re hoping to finish as high as fourth or fifth.”

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The Titan baseball team is top-seeded in the Big West postseason tournament that begins Friday at Blair Field in Long Beach. Associate head coach George Horton, who handles the pitchers, is mulling the rotation.

Through much of the Big West regular season, Jon Ward (7-3) has started the first game of a three-game series, Tim Dixon (10-0) the second and Ted Silva (13-1) the third game.

“We haven’t determined the rotation for the tournament yet,” Horton said. “But your thinking on it does change when you go into a situation such as this. It’s different in a tournament format and you have to set it up for your best chance to win the tournament. Other than the first day, you could be faced with playing doubleheaders the next two days, and you have to take that into consideration.”

Winning the first game becomes especially important because the first-round losers must win twice on Saturday to stay alive.