CSUN’s Burton Coolly Wins Shotput Title

On the outside, Beth Burton of host Cal State Northridge looked plenty fired up for the women’s shotput in the American West Conference track and field championships on Friday.

She huffed and puffed before each put and paced around nervously between each of her six attempts.

But on the inside, she said she lacked the necessary fire to approach the Olympic trials automatic qualifying standard of 53 feet 3 3/4 inches.

Burton had set a school record of 52-3 1/4 last month, but settled for a mark of 48-4 1/2 to win her second consecutive AWC title.

“I don’t want to sound cocky, but it’s hard to get up for a meet when you’re competing against girls who are throwing 42 and 43 feet,” Burton said.

Burton hit her winning throw in the fourth round before fouling on her last two attempts. Her fifth put appeared to be around 51 feet, but even that seemed disappointing to her.

“My footwork wasn’t very good today,” she said. “I wasn’t particularly fast.”

Paced by Burton and long jump winner Cherice Ellison, defending champion Northridge has a 67-60 lead over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a day remaining in the four-day meet. Cal State Sacramento is third with 42, followed by Southern Utah with 17.

Ellison leaped a personal best of 19-6 in the long jump and also posted the second-fastest qualifying time in the 200 with a wind-aided 24.70 seconds and the third-fastest mark in the 100 at 12.33.

In the men’s meet, San Luis Obispo has a 78-57 lead over Sacramento. Defending champion Northridge and Southern Utah are tied for third with 41.

The Matadors were paced by victories from seniors Matt Carrillo in the long jump and Kel Watrin in the javelin and a surprising second from freshman John Greene in the 10,000.

Carrillo, a former standout at Rio Mesa High, leaped a personal best of 24-5 3/4 in the long jump and had the top qualifying times in the 100 (10.82) and 200 (21.63).

The sprints could be a gold mine for Northridge today as the Matadors have four of the top five qualifiers in the 100 and 200 and three of the top four in the 400.

Watrin trailed Layne Richards of Southern Utah after the first round of the javelin before unloading his winning toss of 177-11 on his second attempt.

Greene, a former Southern Section Division II cross-country champion for Agoura High, was in fifth place midway through the 10,000, but moved into second with nine laps left on the 400-meter track and finished in 31 minutes 53.02 seconds.