March 7, 2006

Irvine, Calif. - Courtesy Big West Conference Media Relations...

UC Irvine's Dayne Comrie and Amber Steen earned male and female Big West Track Athlete of the Week honors, for the week ending March 5, while Cal State Fullerton's Matt Turner and Long Beach State's Kim Heinz were named Big West Field Athletes of the Week.

With home-field advantage, Comrie won the 400-meter hurdles with a Big West meet-qualifying time of 53.17 at the All-UC Invitational. The Saugus, Calif., native also ran the third leg of the winning 4X100 relay and the anchor on the first place 4X400 relay.

Fellow Anteater Steen (Newport Beach, Calif.), won the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:30.73 at the All-UC Invitational hosted by UC Irvine on Saturday, March 4. Her time is an automatic qualifier for the Big West Championships and is just three seconds shy of the regional-qualifying mark.

Clearing a height of 7-2 1/2 in the high jump, Turner (Upland, Calif.) claimed the first place prize at the UCLA Invitational, while posting one of the top marks in the nation.

Competing on her home turf, 49er junior Kim Heinz (Florence, Mont.) recorded a mark of 59-9 to win the Jack Rose Relay javelin event. With her impressive mark, she bettered her personal best by 1 1/2 inches and reclaimed her own school record she lost last year. Heinz's distance was a NCAA Regional and Big West qualifying mark, as well as a USATF "B" qualifier.