Hannah Burton
Staff Writer
The men and women’s track and field teams competed in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Quad Meet on Saturday at Fritz B. Burns Stadium in Claremont with six members of the women’s team placing first in their respective events.
The men’s team currently ranked No. 2, and the women’s team, No. 1 in the SCIAC standings, are working hard to win the championship title by the end of the season.
Seniors Olga Saldivar and Lenore Moreno, and juniors Nicole Crutchfield, Abbrieanna Reyna, Katie Yeager and Deanna Doss were among the ULV women placing first in their events.
Crutchfield had a successful victory in the women’s 100-meter dash, with a time of 12.58.
Freshman Tiahna Gillon finished in second place at 12.65.
Gillion, kinesiology major, has set the goal of achieving a personal record in every race that she can throughout the season.
In the women’s 800-meter run, Saldivar came in first with a time of 2:23.33 with one second to spare as Cal Lutheran’s, Ashley Frese, senior, finished at 2:24.70.
Saldivar also finished sixth in the women’s 1500-meter run at 4:54.79. Moreno came in first with a time of 4:36.51.
“I was pleasantly surprised I set a personal record by three seconds on the 1,500 and I beat my personal record by three seconds on the 800,” Saldivar said. “I got first against the defending SCIAC champion.”
Reyna placed first in the women’s high jump at 1.52m, after a tie-breaking jump-off between sophomore Krystal Gutierrez, freshman Angelyn Caldwell and Cal Lutheran freshman, Julia Teitzel.
Yeager came in first in pole-vaulting at 3.50m.
Doss finished in first in the discus throw at 31.57m, and was followed by freshman Jaclyn Castleberry at 37.47m.
Doss also came out on top in the hammer throw at 50.72m.
The women’s 4×100-meter relay team placed first with a time of 49.19.
The women’s 4×400-meter relay team also came in first at 4:03.50.
The men’s team also had a successful meet.
Sophomore Nick Gonsalves not only finished in first of the 100-meter dash at 10.72, breaking the school record by 0.01.
In the 200-meter, senior Chancise Watkins placed first with a time of 21.46.
Gonsalves came in second at 22.19.
During the men’s 200-meter dash, sophomore Nick Aguilar suffered a sudden injury during the race.
This resulted in an unfortunate disqualification for Aguilar.
“It was a frustrating moment,” Aguilar said.
Watkins also placed first in the 400-meter with a time of 48.52, and was closely followed by Cal Lutheran freshman, Chu Ogeujiofort with 49.99.
In the 800-meter run, freshman Michael Ramirez finished with a time of 1:55.94.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps sophomore Mac Hightower, coming in at 1:56.17, closely followed him.
Freshman Jason Nicholls, sophomore Paul Clark, senior Jared Manke and freshman Eric Zuniga placed 1-2-2-4 in men’s pole-vaulting at 4.60m, 4.10m, 4.10m, and 3.50m.
Nicholls also came in second in the discus throw behind Cal Lutheran’s James Laughlin, at 41.62m.
Sophomore Jacob Lopez placed first in the men’s triple jump at 13.70m, significantly out jumping his Claremont-Mudd-Scripps competitor Matt Wong, second placeholder at 13.25m.
In the men’s javelin throw, senior Matt Rehder came in first with a distance of 56.01m.
The men’s 4×400 meter relay also beat out Occidental by two seconds.
La Verne finished the race in first, with a time of 3:19.40.
“The team has a lot of heart. We care about each other,” assistant coach Gary Rudin said. “We try to increase in knowledge and ability.”
Hannah Burton can be reached at hannah.burton@laverne.edu.
