By Mike Urena
Staff Writer

A trip to the Olympic trials and a chance to attain personal records will be the things striven for by members of the Purdue men's track team this weekend.

Several members of the team will compete in the prestigious Mount SAC relays this weekend in Walnut, Calif.

"Teams such as Florida, Texas and all of the top athletes will compete in this program," said assistant coach Lissa Olson. "There are runners and throwers on our team that will have to make personal records."

Olson believes that Shaun Guice will impress many viewers in the sprint medley and 1600-meter relays along with Chance Ruiz, Prentice Stovall and Markus Williams.

"We hope to come back from the Mount SAC relays with personal records," said Olson.

Guice, who is also a competitor in the high jump, was named Big Ten freshman of the year this indoor season and was one of two indoor All-Americans on the Purdue squad this season.

Guice also hopes to continuously increase his strength, maintain consistency and improve his jump to 7 feet, 6 inches, in comparison with his NCAA qualifying jump of 7-3.

Guice will face other high jumpers who have recorded jumps of 7-9, 7-8 and 7-6 at the relays.

"We are not too worried about scoring at the Mount SAC relays since neither the track nor field events are scored, but our main goal in this meet is to provide opportunities to great athletes and hopefully to have some great weather," said Olson. "It really helps us to be there. The main opportunity is to get great exposure nationally while we are on the West Coast."

Athletes that don’t place in the top three in their event will not qualify for the Olympic trials in July at Sacramento.

The athletes that don't do well in the Mount SAC relays will automatically be entered into the Pamona Pitzer Invitational in California.

The invitational runners will have to defend a previous record time of 3:10.00 in the 1600-meter relay.

"I have been to the Mount SAC Relays every year and I know that it is an Olympic year that is very competitive," said Olson.

Ike Olekaibe is also very competitive. At last week's Texas Relays, Las Vegas native and senior captain Olekaibe jumped 53-8 1/2 in the triple jump. He notched an NCAA automatic qualifying bid and his mark was good enough to qualify him for the Olympic trials.

Along with Olekaibe, the Boilers will send Ryan Fitzpatric to compete in the high jump and Chris Spurrier and Chris Brown to participate in the shot put and hammer throw.

As Brown and Spurrier have shown, they are worthy enough to be in the Mount SAC relays.

Spurrier, a senior, placed fifth in the hammer throw, tossing the weight 194-9, while Brown, a junior, placed eighth with a throw of 192-01, enough to also qualify for the Olympic trials.

• Members of the Purdue women's track team, who were unavailable for comment, will also be competing in California. The team, led by Purdue's March athlete of the month, high jumper Carri Long, will split up. Part of the team will be at the Mount SAC relays, while others will be at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational. A third segment of the team will be at the Long Beach Invitational in Long Beach, Calif.