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E-mail StoryLocal products Johnson, Merrill shine for UC San Diego track team
| Monday, May 19 2008 10:49 PM
Last Updated: Monday, May 19 2008 11:03 PM
The UC San Diego women's track team has its sights on a top-5 finish at the Division II Track and Field Championships Thursday through Saturday at Mount San Antonio College.
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South High graduate Whitney Johnson is one of the standouts for the UC San Diego track team.
If it happens, two Bakersfield athletes figure to play prominent roles for the Tritons.
Senior long and triple jumper Whitney Johnson, a 2004 South High School graduate, is the Division II national leader in the triple jump and ranks No. 4 in the long jump.
Sophomore Christine Merrill, a 2005 Bakersfield Christian graduate, will compete in four events and qualified in five. She won't compete in the open 400 meters. Instead she'll focus on the 100-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles and the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
Johnson holds the school record in both of her events, a 42 feet, 41/4 inches triple jump and 19-101/4 in the long jump. Both are personal records. She recently was named the California Collegiate Athletic Association Women's Track Athlete of the Year for the second straight season.
"She's PR'd a number of times throughout this year," UCSD coach Darcy Ahner said. "At the conference championships, there was an athlete who came out early with a good mark in the long jump. Whitney made no mistake she'd dominate the competition when she came out and had a PR. And she did the same in the triple jump."
At last year's Division II nationals, Johnson placed third in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump.
"She's gotten better every single year," Ahner said. "She's an amazing athlete to work with. She's very attentive to learn what she can. A very good technician. I have people from all over say she's a beautiful jumper."
Merrill will have a busy meet with her four events. The fact that Merrill didn't enter the open 400 is notable in itself, since she holds the UCSD record in the event (55.20).
"That's more than anyone can do," Ahner said of letting Merrill compete in five events at nationals. "You've got three days of competition, prelims and finals. If it was only a one-day meet, maybe you'd be able to do it. But not too many people can double up in the open 400 and 400 hurdles. ... She'll be running plenty of 400-meter races."
"I'm totally cool with that," Merrill said Monday night. "The 400 hurdles and the two relays, they'll tire me. There's no way I could do all of them."
Merrill's best event is the 400 hurdles, where her school-record 59.62 at the May 10 CCAA Championships is No. 3 in the nation. Merrill's best 100 hurdles time is 14.46.
Merrill set the 400 hurdles school record after one of her most frustrating moments this season, when she fell during the 100 hurdles and wound up last in that race.
"The last time that happened to me I was in high school," Merrill said. "But that helped me break the school record because it made me focus more."
Last year as a freshman, Merrill qualified for nationals in the 400 hurdles but did not finish among the top nine in the prelims, which would have advanced her to the finals and a shot at All-American status.
"But just being able to qualify in the 400 hurdles at nationals as a freshman is pretty outstanding," Ahner said.
Merrill has lowered her 400 hurdles time by more than a two seconds this year. Her best mark as a freshman was 1:01.64.
Both athletes are strong students, Ahner said, who added that Johnson is a human biology major with a goal of eventually going to grad school and then med school.
Merrill is a mechanical engineering major.
UC San Diego's highest finish in women's track was third nationally when the Tritons were a Division III program. The Tritons' best Division II finish was last year, when they finished eighth.
"Our big goal is to break into the top 5 this year," Ahner said.