FULLERTON, Calif. - As the clouds rolled into Orange County, the annual Ben Brown Invitational hosted by Cal State Fullerton kicked off, providing slick conditions for an outdoor season-opening weekend. Even with the rain falling, it did not dampen the excitement for the Golden Eagles. Who have already shown continuous solid performances throughout the indoor portion of the season.

Ian Patton earned a sixth-place finish in the men's javelin throw in his first official meet with the green and gold. Out-throwing a few DI competitors in the process.

As the sun began to set, senior Adriana Gil took control of the 3000m steeplechase and found a podium finish in third with a time of 11:44.

Jori Paradis ran a strong 1500m event, crossing the finish line in fifth at 4:38. She started her outdoor season with a positive result after being named to the 2023 NCAA Indoor All-West Region shortlist.

Freshman distance runner Noah Plaza set a solid benchmark for his first outdoor season with the Golden Eagles in the 5000m. He battled over the line, ending with a mark of 14:56, just ahead of teammate Jason St. Pierre who crossed the line fourteen-hundredths of a second after.

As the sun went down and the lights came on, Angel Aguirre took to the track and earned a provisional national mark in the 10K event. Despite the downpour of rain, Aguirre maintained the quick pace of the eight CBU runners to cross the finish line with a time of 30:27.43. 

Immediately following the impressive feat of Aguirre, Madeline Jahshan battled her own set of strong DI competitors to record a national provisional qualifying mark of her own! She finished sixth in the event, but with a time of 36:02.11, Jahshan secured her spot on the provisional qualifying list in her first race of the season.

The second day of events also provided outstanding performances from the Golden Eagles track & field team.

Graduate student Sarah Fajer set herself an impressive benchmark in her first shot put event of the outdoor season. With a mark of 14.10m, she earned a provisional mark of her own and took home the third-place podium finish—out-throwing a flurry of DI and DII competitors from the west region.

Fajer hopes to compete for a second year in a row at the DII National Track & Field Invite after qualifying last year for the first time in her career.

In the first track event of the day, a squad consisting of Gabe Jones, Cooper Tirado, Donovan Wilson, and Dylan Fox continued the trend of CUI relay teams this season and broke the men's 4x100m school record with a combined time of 41.63. This quick lap breaks the previous record set in 2013 by just under a second!