The Warriors participated in one of the top track and field programs in the state, the CSU Fullerton “Ben Brown” Invitational on Saturday March 6.
The team faced a challenging meet and was up against many powerhouse programs that included the top universities and junior colleges.
The Warriors’ young team showed its strength as many of the freshmen athletes finished with their personal bests and with a good overall standing.
Freshman Shale’ Garland ran the 400m dash with a time of 56.91 and placed third overall. Garland was first among the runners from junior colleges and her race time puts her further out front as the state leader in the event.
“I like the 200, but the 400 seems to be going better,” Garland said about her events. She expects to “get faster and work harder” as the season continues.
Freshman David Cardona had a strong performance in his debut of the 1,500m with a time of 3:56.03. This placed him sixth in the overall race and first among junior college athletes. This race now places him as the event’s state leader.
The weather was not an advantage to those running in the 5,000m race. Freshman Jose “Tito” Lezama ran in pouring rain that night. He had splits of 4:38 and 9:22 for a race time of 14:59.74. This performance puts him in second place in state rankings.
“The rain doesn’t so much affect the race as much as it does the warm-up,” Dean Lofgren, coach, said. “The runners have to warm up and then wait 15 minutes to get lined up. The wait is what makes the rain hard to compete in.”
The day was full of uncertainty for many as the changing weather threatened all 42 of the day’s events.
“There were a lot of weather changes throughout the day,” Lofgren said. He explained how only the presence of thunder and lightening would have canceled the meet.
However, some throwing events did get canceled, like the women’s discus. Athletes like Merry Tulikihihifo were not able to throw in all their scheduled events.
“When it was our turn, it started pouring,” Tulikihihifo said. “Then coach wouldn’t let me throw due to safety concerns.”
Benjamin Woodruff, freshman, was able to participate in the javelin event, however. Woodruff had a toss of 172ft-11in, which gave him an overall fourth place finish and moved him into fourth place on the ECC “All-Time Top 10 Performer” list for the ‘new rule’ javelin.
“I feel like I could have thrown farther, but I’m happy that I beat my personal record,” Woodruff said. “I’m hoping to move up in the rankings. I want to hit at least 190, but I’m hoping for 200 feet.”