Deborah Lee
Staff Writer
Cheers from the crowd and supporting teammates filled the air as both the men’s and women’s track and field teams had multiple top-five finishes during finals at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship meet Friday and Saturday at Strehle Track at Pomona College.
The men’s team beat Pomona-Pitzer by a narrow margin, 115-113, in overall team rankings.
The women’s team conquered Cal Lutheran, 75-59.5, but lost to Pomona-Pitzer, 112-75.
Friday featured athletes participating in the preliminary rounds of their events, where cross country head coach Bryan George made predictions about his athletes’ performances.
“There’s half a dozen athletes who will have a chance to get into finals,” George said.
Senior Andrew Carasco took first in the men’s hammer throw, 58.56 meters, setting the record in his event on Friday before finals hit.
“Andrew Carasco will definitely go since he’s already thrown far enough to get there,” George said.
In the men’s 4×100 meter relay, the team of freshman Hunter Powers, sophomore Austin Warrington, junior Trevor Walsh and junior Joshua Francis finished 0.05 seconds shy of third place.
The women’s 4×100 meter relay team of junior Alexandra Cormier, junior Catalina Lee Kim, sophomore Dreama Gonzales and freshman Jade Griffin finished in second place at 49.36 seconds.
Junior T.J. Randall and senior Chris Gura swept the men’s shot put event taking first and second place with distances of 15.57 meters and 14.87 meters, respectively.
Gura continued his streak by placing first with a distance of 44.89 meters in the men’s discus throw.
In the women’s 100 meter hurdle, Lee Kim took third place in the finals with 14.83 seconds but not before placing first in women’s high jump with a height of 11.26 meters.
“Making it to finals was something that was expected, but I was still very excited about it because I qualified with the second fastest time for the hurdles,” Lee Kim said.
Junior Joshua Francis was one of the few who made it to the finals in multiple events, placing third in both the men’s 200 meter dash, at 21.63 seconds, and the men’s 400 meter dash, at 48.26 seconds.
During the women’s 3,000 meter steeplechase, sophomore Melissa Cerillos took first place with a time of 11:02.
Senior Tiahna Gillon took fifth place for both her events, the 100 meter dash, at 12.71 seconds, and the 200 meter dash, at 26.37 seconds.
She was ranked overall fifth in the 2017 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track Season.
“I did my best out there and knowing my track family shares my passion and enthusiasm for the sport pushes me to do better each time I race,” Gillon said.
Deborah Lee can be reached at deborah.lee@laverne.edu.
