Birds Heading South for Outdoor Opener

 March 26th, 2012

 By: Devin Rajala 

 Vancouver, B.C. – The highly-anticipated outdoor track season has swiftly arrived and the UBC Thunderbirds track and field team will be immediately striving towards achieving NAIA Championships qualifying marks as they open up the season at the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational this Friday and Saturday.  The meet, hosted by Western Washington University, will take place at Civic Field Stadium in Bellingham. Among Thunderbirds, the meet holds a rich tradition of fast times and will serve as one of two qualifiers along with the UBC Open for the Mt. Sac Relays.

 “The track in Bellingham is fast. I think we are definitely going to see some great early season performances,” remarked head coach Marek Jedrzejek.

 Among the men, Andy White, a fourth-place finisher at NAIAs in 2010, will throw the javelin for the first time in 2012.  White will be looking to defend his 2011 Ralph Vernacchia title. Sprinter Andrew Nathan will also make his season debut in the men’s 100-metre run. After suffering from injuries in the winter, senior Jordan Smith has been steadily improving his fitness week by week and will step to the line in the men’s 1,500-metre run. Sophomore Justin Kent will join Smith in the 1,500 and will be looking to dip under the NAIA A-standard of 3:55.25. Veterans Theo Hunt and Tim Huebsch will lead a strong group of men’s 5,000-metre runners, which includes freshman Reid Mitchell.

 The women will showcase two young talents as Maria Bernard and Jackie Regan take on the 5,000-metres. Bernard, coming off a sixth-place finish at the NACAC Cross Country Championships, could challenge the meet record of 17:16.13 set by Simon Fraser University’s Kristen Kolstad, back in 2006. Regan will be looking to run under 18-minutes for the first time. Freshman Devan Wiebewill go after NAIA standard in 800m. Team captain Ann-Mari Nano will compete in her specialty: the 400-metre hurdles. Also, freshman Christine Ausman will begin her javelin career with the T-Birds with hopes of following the footsteps of former T-bird great and Canadian record-holder Liz Gleadle.

 Live result updates will be available via twitter @ubctrack and complete results will be posted after the meet online athttp://www.wwuvikings.com/sports/c-track/wwu-c-track-body.html