IRVINE, Calif.- The Golden Eagles had themselves an exciting weekend as they split between four different track meets in three days, with a few athletes competing in as many as three of them. Teams from all divisions and all corners of the nation traveled to Southern California for the biggest weekend in the sport this side of the Mississippi, and it never fails to provide the Golden Eagles with the best competition of the season. The weekend yielded many season's bests, some personal bests, and three new national provisional marks. Along with the personal records set by the athletes, the program also set a new PR for the most track meets attended in one weekend. 
 
THURSDAY APRIL 11:
The majority of the team headed to Long Beach to compete at the one-day Pacific Coast Invitational at Long Beach State where the sprinters saw the majority of the success. The distance carnival at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa also started that evening.
 
Highlights from the national list include an 11.69 second 100m time from Jasmyn Crawford and a 1:02.18 400m hurdles finish from Bethany Schmidt to place themselves on the national rankings for the first time this season. Maria Sartin ran her first sub-62" of the season in the 400mH to improve her national ranking and place herself back in the top 20 (as of April 14). Sarah Fajer also improved her national provisional mark with a shot put toss of 14.15m to break 14m for the first time in 2024.
 
Personal bests were plenty for the sprinters as Madison Fearon continues to chip away at her 400m hurdle time as she knocked off almost another second in only her third showing in the event (1:05.01). The 400m ladies balled out as Jaela Thornburg, Anna Tucker, and Zakiya Nunez all ran collegiate bests and Thornburg keeps her PR streak alive. Riley Norris and Leah Powick also ran the 100m hurdles faster than they ever have as they continue to prepare for their last heptathlons of the season.
 
Freddy Matias Vasquez represented the men well with a 48.91" 400m while Josh King crossed the line in 52.14 and Branden Marquez broke 53 (and 54) for the first time with a 52.97 for three collegiate bests. Gabriel Jones also ran his first wind-legal sub-11" 100m (10.92). Finally, Dustin Berger ran a huge 11-second personal best in the 3000m steeple chase, finishing in 9:36.75.
 
FRIDAY APRIL 12:
Friday was the day for the distance runners and throwers. The morning started with a few distance races at Long Beach State's Beach Invitational, then the action moved to the second day of the Bryan Clay Invitational for throws and a few distance runners, then the evening ended at the University of La Verne's Leopard Distance Carnival.
 
The morning 10,000m races at Long Beach resulted in Garrett Miller and Angelique Antonini punching their tickets to the PacWest championships in the end of April. The next big feat of the day was at Bryan Clay when Bryce Tondryk ran a 1:54.92 800m to break the 1:55 barrier he has been fighting hard against. Porshe Eismann then ran a season's best in the same event before backing it up with a season-opening 5000m at La Verne to punch her conference ticket in both. The La Verne 5000m also saw a near 10-second season improvement from Taylor Whitfield and a new personal best for Juan Sebastian Garcia. Perhaps the biggest track accomplishment of the day was in the last race of the night when Noah Plaza managed an exciting 18-second PR in the 5000m to break 14:30 for the first time in his career (14:29.06).
 
The throwers were there to experience it all and also saw a massive 5.5 meter improvement in the hammer from Trey Vergenz to 49.21m and a consistent 44.83 from Khaiya Simpson for her second best toss ever in the event.
 
SATURDAY APRIL 13:
The final day of track and field was spent at Bryan Clay by most, but a few throwers headed back to Long Beach to chase the best throwing wind.
 
The morning started with a bang for Khaiya Simpson as she definitely found the right wind. The junior chucked the discus 46.23 meters to break both 45 and 46m for the first time, PRing by almost 2 meters. With that throw she surpassed the national provisional for the first time in her career and currently sits in the top 20 in DII. The shot put competitions at Bryan Clay also produced solid results on both sides. The women went first, and Ashley Heyer lead off with a half-meter PR to break 10m for the frst time. Sarah Fajer also improved her season's best by 4cm from two days prior. Hunter Hornaday was the team's best male shot putter of the weekend with a 7cm PR to 14.39m to close out the throwing events.
 
On the track, the relays were the highlight of the day. The women's 4x100m (Jasmyn Crawford, Nataleah Yanez, Ruby Bishop, and Logan Nelson) started the day by tying their seasons best of  46.90, then the 4x400m (Bishop, Giovana Pelascini, Bethany Schmidt, and Nelson) ended the day for the women with a 3:51.92 for another season's best. The squad of Vasquez, Tondryk, Tyler Denes, and Mason Mizuta followed that up with the team's fastest men's 4x400m relay of the season combining for 3:21.02.
 
The weekend ended with yet another distance carnival, this time 7 hours of 1500m heats. A few Golden Eagles could be spotted in the endless waves of runners, most notably, Lucas Grunden broke who 4 minutes for the first time with a 3:58.23. Taylor Whitfield and Claudia Vera also set a season record and a personal record respectively in the same event.
 
The team will take a week away from competition to prepare for the PacWest Conference Championships set for April 26th and 27th at in Santa Barbara, CA.

For the Pacific Coast Invitational results CLICK HERE
For the Bryan Clay Invitational CLICK HERE
For the Leopard Distance Carnival results CLICK HERE
For the Beach Invitational results CLICK HERE
For the entire track and field schedule CLICK HERE