UH wins four events at Rainbow Relays

Once that was out of the way, Lowe continued her ascent to win the high jump at the Rainbow Relays on Saturday at UH’s Ching Complex.

Lowe missed on all three attempts at 1.70 meters at the Hornet Invitational hosted by Sacramento State last weekend to bring her first meet of the outdoor season to an abrupt end.

With UH hosting its biggest meet since 2011 this week, Lowe got back on track and won a jump-off with Sacramento State’s Elizabeth Venzon at 1.75 meters (5 feet, 9 inches) to finish first in the event.

“There’s obviously more tension, but in most cases in my career I’m always better under pressure,” Lowe said. “So I think when it comes to jump offs, I perform my best when I need to, when it counts.”

After finishing second in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships at 1.80, Lowe said last week’s no-height, “really focused me and helped me to just be extra on top of my game this week.”

“I was really excited too because I had been a little off in my jumping,” Lowe said of winning the event. “So to come in here and really trust my approach, trust what my coach is telling me, I was just super happy about the performance.”

UH freshman Lily Lowe wins the high jump at 1.75m at the Rainbow Relays. #HawaiiTF pic.twitter.com/wxirYL6Dq4

— Jason Kaneshiro (@jasonkaneshiro) March 25, 2017

Lowe’s win was one of four first-place finishes for the Rainbow Wahine in their biggest meet at home since hosting the 2011 Western Athletic Conference championships.

UH sophomore Karen Bulger won the javelin with a throw of 149 feet, 4.9 inches, the top mark among Big West athletes so far this season.

Sophomore Tristan Setzer set a personal best in winning the women’s 800 meter run on Friday with a time of 2 minutes, 14.47 seconds. Senior Montana Martinez won with 1,500 meter run at 4:41.10

The Rainbow Wahine finished second in the team standings in the tri-meet with 123 points, trailing Sacramento State’s 172. Cal State Northridge placed third among the Division I schools with 78 points. Hawaii Pacific and Cal State Dominguez Hills, both Division II programs, also competed. Sacramento State, CSUN and HPU competed in the men’s meet.

The Rainbow Relays had been a dual meet in past years and UH coach Carmyn James received approval to increase the field this year.

“Even the few days leading up to it, it was just nice to have the bodies out here, the energy out here. It was exciting just to have everyone out here training for the events,” James said.

James said she has commitments from San Jose State and Nevada for next year’s meet.

“We have over 40 people on the roster but only travel with 16 to 22, so this was an opportunity for everybody on the team to compete against Division I,” James said.

The Rainbow Wahine head back to Northern California next weekend to compete in the Stanford Invitational and the San Francisco State Distance Carnival.