SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- It was a hard-fought two days in Santa Barbara as the Golden Eagles traveled up north with mighty goals. The team was aiming to set new records records for highest team finish and total points scored at a PacWest championship. Along the way, the ladies broke a few school records, set a some new personal bests, then ultimately accomplished both of those goals.
 
The team was led by Tayla Crenshaw who scored 22 points with two wins and a seventh-place finish. The graduate student won the hammer throw and the discus throw then fought hard to grab a few more points in the shot put. Also scoring in the twenties was grad student Sarah Fajer who managed 20 points across three podium finishes. Fajer took third in the hammer and the discus then second in the shot with a new PR of 44.24m in the discus and a two-season best of 14.48m in the shot put to come in only 1cm under her PR.
 
Khaiya Simpson and Jasmyn Rios also scored some points in the discus taking fourth and seventh respectively to add to the event total of 23 points. Simpson took fourth in the hammer as well to combine for eight total points. Rounding out the throwers' points were Alexis Sumner and Gabriella Hiraldo who took sixth and seventh respectively in their first PacWest championship javelin competition. These six thrower ladies combined for 59 of the team's 185 points.
 
Also scoring in the high teens was Jori Paradis who led the distance group in points scored with 18. The graduate student won the 1500m and went on to take second in the 5,000m a few hours later. Paradis was joined in the 5000m by Taylor Whitfield and Maddie Jahshan. Whitfield completed the same double as Paradis and scored points in both while Jahshan was coming right off a 10,000m the night before.
 
In the most high-energy 10,000m races the PacWest has ever seen, the Concordia ladies had four athletes finish in the top-eight including an event win by Maddie Jahshan. For almost 39 minutes the CUI teams and fans maintained a sea of roaring screams around the track to motivate and excite Jahshan (as she won by 16 seconds) and Hayley Killion, Angelique Antonini, and Audrey Barcenas as they scored points they were not projected to score. The four of them combined for 18 points in a single event. Additional distance points were scored by Claudia Vera who finished fourth in the 3000m steeplechase and Porshe Eismann who also finished fourth, but in the 800m.
 
Concordia's hurdlers took the PacWest by storm with three athletes in the 100m hurdles final and four in the 400m hurdles final. The highest hurdle finish came from Maria Sartin who took second in the 400m hurdles, and the junior also took seventh in the open 400m. Right behind her in the 400mH was teammate Bethany Schmidt for third place. Both Sartin and Schmidt surpassed the previous school record, but Sartin finished slightly faster (1:00.74) to maintain a grasp on her record. Later, both Schmidt and Sartin, joined by Logan Nelson and Ruby Bishop took down another school record as they finished the 4x400m relay. The group took down a 2019 record and hit a national provisional in the process.
 
Karyn Best hit a NCAA provisional of her own as she finished fifth in a stacked field of 400m hurdlers. Aside from hitting her first career provisional, she also took third in the 100m hurdles. Ryann Beveridge and Giovana Pelascini joined Best in the 100m hurdle final as well. That wasn't the only 100m hurdle race for Pelascini over the weekend. The freshman ran three total; prelims, finals, and the heptathlon hurdles on her way to to breaking her own heptathlon school record and earning her first PacWest championship win. She combined for 13 points on the weekend.
 
Another notable performance came from Madison Fearon who scored her first individual PacWest points after a half-second PR in the 400mH prelims and another 0.3 second PR in the final to come in right behind Best. Jasmyn Crawford also grabbed a few points in the 100m final and Riley Norris took second in the heptathlon after she jumped up from fourth place in the final event, the 800m. The sophomore ran a 2:20 to score 823 points in the event and surpass two of her competitors in overall points.
 
The CUI women finished second overall in the PacWest which is the highest the team has ever finished, and they scored 185 points to top their previous best by over 50 points. The best part is, they have a record number of nationally ranked athletes who have another two weeks to hone their skills and compete one more time to earn a place in the nation's top 20 for a trip to Emporia, Kansas.
 
For the PacWest results CLICK HERE
For the complete schedule CLICK HERE