LOS ANGELES ? Looking to hone their skills in a final tune-up before the NCAA Championships in two weeks, the UC San Diego track and field teams did just that, turning in several strong performances at the 2009 Occidental Invitational on Saturday. Freshman Nick Howe set a school record in the men's javelin, while four other Tritons registered NCAA automatic or provisional qualifying marks.

Howe's performance was the big highlight of the day as the Los Altos Hills, Calif. native won the javelin throw with a toss of 201'3”. His mark beat out Jason Baldwin (197') and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps' Andrew Bogrand (188'8”) for the title and eclipsed Brad Libuit's all-time mark of 200' set in 2006.

Junior Leon Baham turned in another outstanding effort in the men's 400 meter hurdles, clocking in at 52.38, which was good enough for an NCAA automatic qualifier. He finished second to Azusa Pacific's Cedrique Smith (52.03) in the second section of the event.

Teammate Laiah Blue finished third in the women's 400 hurdles, taking home an NCAA qualifying mark with a time of 60.81.

Junior sprinter Anna Lee McGregor captured a qualifying mark in the women's 400 meter dash with a time of 56.04, while Kelly Fogarty was the top finisher in the second section of the 100 meter dash after clocking in at 12.17.

Senior Ashleigh Montgomery had a strong performance in the women's 1500 meter run, securing an NCAA provisional qualifier with a time of 4:37.33. She finished eighth overall in the event, 15 seconds behind APU's Jacky Kipwambok.

The Tritons will now await the announcement of the NCAA Championship selections on Tuesday morning. The 2009 Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held May 21-23 at the LeGrand Sports Complex in San Angelo, Texas.