On Saturday at the Cal State Northridge Invitational, Caracoza was on her way to another personal best when she saw an opening on the inside that have won her the race.

While Caracoza took the inside, an opponent kicked up her legs and Caracoza was forced to slow down to avoid a collision.

“It was just frustrating. I know I can break that time so that was more frustrating than the race itself. I’m close to breaking 2:20 and little by little, I’m getting closer. I’ve been beating my personal record every week,” Caracoza said.

She ended up in third place in her race and 10th overall out of 38 runners, with a time of 2:23. Caracoza has been getting faster each week and usually is only beaten by runners from powerhouse track and field programs such as those participating in the invitational like UCLA and USC.

The CSU Northridge Invitational does not keep a points-total for the meet, so there was no overall winner at the day.

An invitational is for athlete development and to prepare them for meets later in the season that will keep a point leader and classify them for state championships.

“Invitational are for individual competition,” Dean Lofgren, coach, said. “This allows for each of these athletes to develop in their events without the pressure of scoring overall points that might lead them to tire out too early in the season.”

So far, the Warriors seem like anything else but tired. Even though it is only March in a season that ends in May, will take them into May, the names of EC athletes are all over the state leader board in various events.

Freshman runner Shale’ Garland leads the state in three events.

This past weekend she competed in her first 100-meter dash. She won her race and placed second overall trailing only Aareon Payne from USC by .13 seconds, who is one of the best in this event nationally.

“They were in different races. It might have been a different story if Shale’ would have had someone to chase for it, she might have won the whole thing,” Lofgren said.

With smiles all around, freshman Jose “Tito” Lezama ran the 1500-meter event with a time of 3:55. He is now the current state leader in this event, taking the title from running partner and fellow freshman David Cardona.

“I feel happy, not because I took his mark, but because I’m getting faster and faster every time I race. I don’t see David as my rival. We work together,” Lezama said.

With half the season left, things in the running world of track and field are just beginning to get heat up. Lofgren expects to see Cardona and Lezama begin to play tag with the lead mark of this event.

“They are good against them all, they could compete with anyone,” Lofgren said.