AZUSA, Calif. – The Concordia University Irvine men's and women's track and field teams both finished in the top four at the PacWest Conference Championships after a number of sizzling performances at Cougar Athletic Stadium. The CUI men placed third while the women finished fourth. Host Azusa Pacific captured both titles
Three Eagles claimed victory in their respective events on Friday with three more wins for CUI coming on Saturday as well.
On the women's side, CUI senior
Sarah Herron recorded the best long jump despite battling a slight injury. Herron jumped 5.77 meters and claimed recognition as a First-team All-Conference champion with the victory. Sophomore
Taylor Stivers jumped 5.39 meters and placed eighth in the event, helping her team by gaining a point in the event.
The Eagle women were forces to be reckoned with in the hammer throw. Sophomore
Gabriella Frost placed second with a throw of 46.41 meters while
Dominique Stein scored five points and placed fourth with a throw of 43.60 meters. Senior
Tamlyn Kurata also helped out her team with a 37.83 meter throw in the javelin to get an eighth place finish. Her throw was extremely strong coming off of multiple weekends of personal and school records.
On the track,
Tamia Prince shined in the spotlight by blazing down the stretch for wins in the 200 meter dash and the 100 hurdles. Prince raced away in the 200 with a time of 24.11 seconds.
The women's 3,000 meter steeplechase race was action packed as two Concordia women competed in the event.
Bailey Wade fought to the finish and snagged a third place medal and a place on the podium as well as six points for her team. Wade ran a personal record time of 11:21.31 and is now a Second-Team All-Conference champion.
Anamauri Hernandez also ran the 3,000 meter steeplechase race and placed sixth with a personal record time of 11:41.56.
Rosalba Cabrera and
Rosa Franco ran the 10,000 meter race to finish the first night of competition. Cabrera ran a tactical race to place eighth in the event with a season-best time of 39:22.61.
Meanwhile, after he was
named PacWest Men's Track Athlete of the Week,
Josh Fry delivered for the second straight week in Azusa by earning gold in the pole vault. Fry's teammate
Chais Hamilton did not disappoint either. The sophomore dominated the men's hammer throw with the measurement showing 46.62 meters. Hamilton also placed second in shot put to earn valuable points for the Eagles.Â
Ryan Woodard and
Jaylen Newman also threw above and beyond what was expected of them, placing third and eighth respectively in the Hammer throw.
Freshman
Michael Ervin was a force in the high jump. Ervin skied to a second place finish after clearing the bar at 6'6." Ervin also scored points in the javelin throw, placing fourth after throwing for a distance of 45.33 meters. Senior
Paul Romero followed closely behind with a 43.60 meter throw which was good for seventh place.
The 3,000 meter steeplechase race proved successful for the Eagles and freshman
Jacob Dunagin. He ran a personal record time of 10:07.15, placing sixth among the competition. That was notable because Dunagin moved up six spots from his seeded entry and earned three points for CUI.
Â
In the running events, CUI sophomore
David Washington hustled his way to victory in the 110m hurdles.
Angel Aguirre narrowly finished second in the 10,000 meter race. Aguirre finished just 0.08 seconds behind Biola's Ryan Thompson in a photo finish with a time of 31:39.10. CUI freshman
David Brito came in eighth in that same race.
Ultimately, Azusa Pacific won the men's title with 218 points while the CUI men finished third with 136. The CUI women finished in fourth place with 120.5 points while the APU women won the conference crown with 204.5 points.
Members of both CUI track and field teams will have one more opportunity to qualify for Nationals this coming week when the Eagles visit Occidental College on Saturday, May 11.
For the full CUI track and field schedule, click here.
