A little bit of imagination helped propel Rachel Toliver to a conference championship.
Picturing the progression from her approach to takeoff to landing was already part of Toliver’s triple jump routine when a sports psychologist visited the University of Hawaii track and field team this spring. But the session added a facet to the process for the Rainbow Wahine sophomore.
“I’ve always kind of visualized how I would want to jump, but when she mentioned, ‘Feel it. Feel (yourself) actually doing it,’ I was, ‘OK that’s something new. I’ll try it out,’ ” Toliver said.
“Ever since I’m really appreciative of her coming to talk to us because it’s been helpful.”
Toliver had envisioned qualifying for the NCAA track and field regionals prior to the season and will experience competing in the event this weekend as the Big West triple jump champion.
Toliver and junior thrower Alex Porlier Langlois departed for Austin, Texas, on Monday in advance of the NCAA West Preliminary Round, which opens Thursday at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Porlier Langlois will compete in the discus and shot put on Friday in her second straight appearance in the qualifying meet for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships set for June 10-13 in Eugene, Ore. Toliver will wait until Saturday to take her turn in the triple jump.
In the throwing and jumping events, each of the 48 competitors will have three attempts. The top 16 earn three more attempts to determine the 12 NCAA qualifiers.
Toliver leapt from 39th in the region to 17th with her winning jump of 41 feet, 91⁄4 inches at the Big West Championships on May 16. She surpassed her previous best by 16 inches, rose to second on the program’s all-time list and set the UC Riverside Stadium record.
“Before I even got on the runway I just told myself to breathe,” Toliver said, “because I just had this energy inside me knowing something big was about to happen.”
Keeping that energy focused on the runway will be one of the challenges facing Toliver in her first appearance in the regional meet.
“It’s going to be a matter of keeping the blinders on and just treating this as just another track meet and not get distracted by all the NCAA signs and all the top-level athletes and just know she’s one of them,” UH coach Carmyn James said.
Porlier Langlois experienced the atmosphere last year as UH’s lone qualifier. She returns as the 22nd seed in the shot put with a school-record throw of 52 feet, 71⁄2 inches (16.04 meters) and 39th in the discus 170-1 (51.85 meters).
She set the UH shot put record at the USC Invitational in March, but had stayed under the 16 meter mark in the meets leading up to the Big West championships. She won her first conference gold with a throw measured at 52-61⁄2 (16.01 meters) and claimed silver in the discus.
“This past outdoor season has been pretty rough because I always wanted to throw that 16 again and it’s just like ‘gosh am I going to be able to get it?’” Porlier Langlois said. “We were just working so hard in practice and in the weight room just trying to get that 16. … Finally it happened and it was really good. I know I’m ready.”
Porlier Langlois will also be ready for the Austin weather forecast a week after heavy rain and lightning forced the cancelation of Texas’ commencement ceremony.
Rain during last year’s meet in Arkansas hampered Porlier Langlois, so she made sure to prepare for the anticipated wet conditions.
“The surface of the ring can be very slippery when it rains and I wasn’t used to that,” she said. “This year it rained way more in practice and we actually put water in the ring so we can get really used to throwing in the rain.”
