Boxed-in anxiety filled the throwers ring. On deck to throw, the opposing team spun to meet her next mark. She then lost her grip and the shot put launched into the crowd of athletes. Frightening giggles grew in that moment.

“It happens,” Tina Farley, freshman sprinter, said. “That is why we have rules. We walk facing the throwers so that we can see what’s going on.”

Farley placed sixth in the women’s shot put with a mark of 7.75 meters [around 25 feet].

The Warriors track and field team faced competitors at Pasadena Games on Friday March 28. Throwing and running events split between California Institute of Technology and Pasadena City College.

Even EC alumni ran unattached at the invitationals. Many in the athletic community say “once a Warrior, always a Warrior.”

“They have untapped raw talent,” Climonte Blackmen, 22, EC track alumni said. “They run with so much passion which makes me proud to be from El Camino.”

While alumni came to support, the men and women represented for their team. Haley Heinemann, freshman distance runner placed second with a time of 19:17.87 in the women’s 5,000 meter.

For the men’s team Khalil Flemister, freshman sprinter placed first with a mark of 13.71 meters [a little over 44 feet] in the triple jump.

“It’s a pretty mellow meet,” Flemister said. “I tend not to worry about big marks. I just try to build on whatever mark I had from the previous week.”

As some prepared to better their scores, Raynisha Franklin, freshman, has been adapt her skills as she changed from sprinters to a mid-distance.

Franklin placed sixth in the 1,500 with a time of 5:08.86 and placed seventh in the 800 at 2:32.38.

“When the coach put me in the 800 and the 1,500 I was like ‘wow this is something new,’” Franklin said. “I didn’t choose the 800, the 800 chose me. So I guess it was destined to be.”

Reo Miranda-Lavertu, sophomore distance placed sixth in the 800 with a time of 1:57.60 later returned to win second in the 5,000m at 15:47.48.

The Warriors will attend the Orange Coast Classic Invitational Friday April 4 at Orange Coast College according to information provided by Dean Lofgren, track and field coach.