Northridge’s Prieto Has Made the Jump Beyond the Big Sky

Brandi Prieto has won Big Sky Conference triple-jump titles and set school records in bunches.

But those accolades pale by comparison to the one Prieto will try for this weekend in the NCAA Division I outdoor track and field championships at Boise State.

Prieto, a junior from North Torrance High, is the only Cal State Northridge athlete competing in the NCAA meet, which began Wednesday and concludes Saturday.

Prieto provisionally qualified for the women’s triple-jump with a leap of 42 feet 11 3/4 inches at the Northridge Invitational in March. Prieto will compete Friday.

“I was hoping some of the others [from Northridge] would make it,” Prieto said by telephone from Boise. “But it’s just me up here.”

Prieto is atop the career list of Northridge and Big Sky triple-jumpers, having won six consecutive titles while helping the Matadors win the Big Sky outdoor championships two weeks ago.

Her mark at the Northridge Invitational ranks 11th in the nation this season, and broke the school record of 42-3 1/2 set by Lolita Pile in 1990 and the conference record of 42-10 1/4 by Abigail Ferguson of Boise State in 1996.

“She has never been beaten in the Big Sky,” said Jeff McAuley, a Northridge assistant. “She was a good triple-jumper in high school who has just gotten better and better.”

Pile is married to McAuley, who accompanied Prieto to Idaho, and has been in attendance for many of Prieto’s jumps this season.

“She’s been around,” Prieto said. “She came to watch me at the conference meet. She was actually glad for me. She said, ‘It’s about time you broke that record.’ ”

Prieto can set another record by winning a seventh Big Sky triple-jump title next year. Prieto and Ferguson each have won six, three indoor and three outdoor. No woman in the Big Sky has won seven.

Although Prieto broke Ferguson’s Big Sky outdoor championships record with a leap of 41-3 3/4 at the Big Sky meet, the rigors of competing in the heptathlon have taken a toll.

Prieto won the heptathlon with 4,986 points at the Big Sky meet, winning women’s field athlete-of-the-meet honors. But she admits fatigue and lack of practice devoted to the triple jump have done little to boost her confidence.

“I haven’t worked on the triple jump that much this season because I was so into the heptathlon,” Prieto said. “I did 12 events at the conference meet. My body’s all out of whack and my knees are sore. This has pretty much been a recovery week for me.”

Moreover, Prieto performed poorly at the NCAA indoor championships in Indianapolis in March. She finished 16th with a mark of 40-9, significantly below her indoor best of 42-8 at the Louisiana State meet in February.

Prieto fouled two of three preliminary jumps “and the one I made wasn’t very good,” she said.

“I was disappointed,” Prieto said. “But that’s made me all the more determined this time.”

So has failing to qualify last season for the Division I outdoor finals by a quarter-inch.

“Maybe I didn’t deserve to go,” Prieto said. “But I was so disappointed I didn’t make it, I’ve been so determined this year.”