IRVINE, Calif.- The Golden Eagles hunted new records and personal bests at three different track meets over the weekend. First, an elite crew competed at the NCAA DII Indoor Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas. Then, the largest chunk of the team soared in Fullerton, Calif at the Ben Brown Invitational. Finally, after both of those wrapped up, a small group of 10,000m runners headed to Los Angeles to compete at Occidental College's distance carnival.
 
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Dylan Fox competed in the Long Jump in the middle of the day Friday, he came out the 16th-best long jumper in the DII nation this season. Fox will look to make a repeat appearance at outdoor nationals this May. Later in the evening the women's distance medley relay went off and was immediately led by Porshe Eismann in the first leg. The pack was close for most of the race as Bethany Schmidt, Maria Sartin, and Jori Paradis passed the baton around the track for 4,000m. The ladies ultimately finished 11th with a time only a mere few seconds slower than their school record.
 
BEN BROWN: Most of the Concordia track and field team spent two 10-hour days in Fullerton for an action packed Friday and Saturday. The first day was highlighted by a new school record in the hammer throw by Tayla Crenshaw, and a national provisional mark in the 5,000m by Maddie Jahshan.
 
Crenshaw threw the hammer 50.09m to become the first woman in school history over 50m. She took the record from teammate, and competitor, Sarah Fajer who threw 49.05m the same day. The pair took off to an early one-two ranking in the PacWest Conference. Isabella Torrez also hit a new PR in the hammer by almost two meters. Rounding off throwing-event PR's were two multi's, Giovana Pelascini and Leah Powick, who improved by over three meters and a meter and a half respectively in the Javelin. Alexis Sumner took fourth in the event with a consistent series as well. To close out day-one field events, Tyler Denes vaulted 4.32m which is 16cm higher than ever before.
 
The 5,000m duo of Maddie Jahshan and Noah Plaza both started their outdoor seasons strong. Jashan hit a 10 second lifetime (44 second outdoor) PR on Friday evening. The senior is coming off two major PRs this indoor season and she is not slowing down. She demolished the DII provisional qualifier and currently sits number two in the PacWest and in the nation. She is the first woman to break 17 minutes in the event for CUI in many years with a 16:51.87. Plaza opened his outdoor 5,000m season only 3 seconds slower than his lifetime best in the event. He was the fastest Golden Eagle in the event but freshman, Spencer Handorf was right on his tail with a 15:00.50. Juan Sebastian Garcia was third for the Golden Eagles also only 4 seconds under his lifetime best.
 
Day two started out with two personal records in the men's discus. Jaylen Newman and Ryan Santana both reached new heights on their first throws of the day. Next, in the women's discus, two freshman set new personal records. Jasmyn Rios threw 39.86m and Ashely Heyer threw 34.14m. Both improved by multiple meters. Isabella Torrez rounded off throwing PRs with a 70cm PR in the shot put later that evening. Another impressive field event performance came from Hannah Wons in high jump. She jumped 1.51m for a new collegiate personal record.
 
The first running events of the day impressed the team as the men's 4x100m relay of Tyler Denes, Cooper Tirado, Gabe Jones, and Chris Victoria came within 0.10 seconds of the school record they set at this meet a year ago. The women's relay of Jasmyn Crawford, Nataleah Yanez, Ruby Bishop, and Logan Nelson broke 47 seconds, which is a feat they did not accomplish last season. Next, Jasmyn Crawford sprinted straight to the top of the PacWest rankings in the 100m and 200m dashes with 11.97 and 24.43 seconds respectively. Also in the sprinting events, Chris Victoria ran one lap faster than he ever has before, clocking a 48.81 in the 400m. Mason Mizuta ran the same, lap except over hurdles, for a new PR as well (56.96).
 
OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: The longest-distance Golden Eagles traveled north to run a couple of twilight 10k's. The women went first at 8:20pm when Hayley Killion and Audrey Barcenas ran their first career 10,000m's and finished within 20 seconds of each other to earn third and fifth respectively and place themselves in an early first and third in the PacWest.
 
The men's race went off at 9:05pm and finished with a CUI win as Fernando Aguirre crossed the line first in 31:20.79. Aguirre set a new personal record by more than 10 seconds and posted a 16-second-faster time than on this weekend a year ago. Next across the line for the Golden Eagles were Colin Bervig and David Berardi. Bervig ran his first-ever 10k in 31:43.68 and Berardi set a new PR by over 20 seconds. Owen Beam ran this race for the second time ever and knocked over a minute off his time from this weekend last year and Tyler Renteria started off his 10,000m career for the Golden Eagles.
 
The Golden Eagles will take a weekend off to prepare for their home meet on March 23. They are set to host the annual Team 4 Titus and Ely Invitational that honors former head-coach Danny Bowman's two sons who were diagnosed with Batten Disease at a young age. Linked below is more information about the Bowmans' story from when the meet was hosted in 2020. An update will be posted at a later date.
 
For NCAA Nationals Results CLICK HERE
For Ben Brown Results CLICK HERE
For Occidental Distance Carnival Results CLICK HERE
For Titus and Ely Meet Information CLICK HERE
To read more about Titus and Ely CLICK HERE
For the complete CUI Track and Field Schedule CLICK HERE