IRVINE-Calif.- To start off Easter weekend Concordia track and field successfully navigated a weekend of travel itineraries, schedule changes, and big competitions. While the majority of the team drove down the street to University of California Irvine, a few distance runners took off up north in search of some big-time distance races.
 
UC Irvine- Vince O'Boyle Track Classic
 
The Golden Eagles planned to travel to UCI for two action packed days of competition that were ultimately crammed in to one to avoid the inclement weather forecasted for Saturday. The blue skies and sunshine made perfect conditions for the field events that were contested throughout the day, and as the sun started to set the running events got underway.
 
The team saw a lot of success in the field throughout the day. The biggest toss came from Trey Vergenz who surpassed 50m in the discus for the first time and threw over the national provisional in the event. The Freshman hit 50.60m and became the first male thrower to earn a provisional for CUI since 2020. Vergenz also threw the hammer farther than he ever has before, but he wasn't the only one to improve there as Ryan Santana and Jaylen Newman did the same. Other notable throws performances came from freshmen Jasmyn Rios and Ashley Heyer. Rios tossed the javelin almost five meters farther than her career opener a week ago, and Heyer PRed in both hammer and shot put.
 
In the jumps, Dylan Fox keeps jumping closer and closer to his personal best and school record. The junior long jumped 7.52 meters which is a mere three centimeters under his best. That performance moved Fox into the nations top 10, where he is expected to stay for the near future. Alexandra Ortiz and Leah Powick followed suit and long jumped for new personal records by 13cm and 25cm respectively. Tyler Denes also keeps moving on up as he hit his third PR of the season in the pole vault. Denes vaulted 4.37 meters and just barely missed the following 4.52m bar.
 
A day full of success in the field bled right into the evening on the track. Each week many athletes continue to whittle away at their personal bests. Leah Powick took two seconds off her 100m hurdles time and Darla Medina knocked another two seconds off her 1500m best. Ruby Bishop ran an impressive double, coming in with another consistent 400m performance and backing it up with a near half-second PR in the 200m. Jaela Thornburg also ran a lap faster than ever. The junior has run every 400m race this season faster than her 2023 personal best, and she's only getting faster.
 
Hannah Faust ran her first collegiate 400m and thrilled everyone, including herself, when she crossed the line in 61.33. Faust typically runs double the distance, but remains excited about the opportunity to show off her foot speed in the shorter race. Madison Fearon also remains excited about her new endeavor. The sophomore ran the 400m hurdles for the second time and cut over a second off her opener.
 
As the distances got longer, the excitement grew. Lucas Grunden cut four seconds off his collegiate opener in the 800m while Brittany Widerburg and Marcus Shin also ran season bests in the event. The women's 5000m race had everyone on their feet as Taylor Whitfield crossed the line in 17:33.12 to blow her 17:50 goal out of the water. The sophomore has made leaps and bounds towards returning to the track and becoming a key competitor for the Golden Eagles. Audrey Barcenas was the second finisher for CUI, she cut six seconds off her personal best from the same meet a year ago. Hayley Killion was the third gold jersey across the line, she shaved 11 seconds off her 5k PR to complete a quartet of new personal records on the season (3,000m, 1500m, 5,000m, 10,000m). The night was not over until Fernando Aguirre sprinted to finish his 5k ahead of all of his teammates. The senior ran almost ten seconds faster than his performance at UCI a year ago and only 3 seconds slower than is personal best.
 
The Bay Area-
 
Some of the most impressive feats of the weekend took place up north. The team observed from afar while Jori Paradis and Maddie Jahshan both ran national provisionals in their respective events. Jahshan even managed a new school record.
 
The group spent Friday driving the thirty minutes back and forth between Stanford University and Chabot College for the Stanford Invitational and the Mike Fanelli Track Classic. Paradis became the first CUI competitor of the day when she ran the 1500m at Stanford. She ran her second fastest time in the event to cross the line in 4:27.59, well surpassing the national provisional and moving into the nation's top ten.
Maddie Jahshan followed suit that evening. The senior waited patiently all day for her 10:38pm 10,000m race. Jahshan wasted no time as she crossed the line in 35:12.41 and earned her second national provisional of the season so far. The time is also a new personal record and she bested the school record that she set in 2023. To top it all off, she also broke her way into the nation's top ten.

The next day was referred to as steeple chase Saturday. Claudia Vera ran her season opener in the event and her first showing since 2022. She demolished her old personal best by 20 seconds to cross the line in 11:13.47 and place herself in the PacWest's top 5. Juan Sebastian Garcia ran the same race a few minutes later and opened his season twelve seconds faster than his 2023 opener. He jumped straight over the water and towards the top of the PacWest rankings.
 
Concordia track and field will take a weekend off to prepare for a 3-day, 3-meet jam packed weekend at Pacific Coast Intercollegiate, Beach Invite, and Bryan Clay Invite on April 11-13.
 
For the complete Vince O'Boyle Results CLICK HERE
For the entire track and field schedule CLICK HERE