El Camino College takes first places and personal bests at Mt. SAC Relays

By Nindiya A Maheswari Putri|April 9, 2023

El Camino College Warriors in the 4×400-meter react after winning first place in the race at Mt. San Antonio College on April 8. From left: Anthony Taylor, Xerxes Reamer, Yuto Tamada and Lincoln Marschall. (Nindiya Maheswari | The Union)

Several El Camino College sprinters brought home medals and achieved individual personal bests at the annual Mt. SAC Relays on April 8 at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, California.

One of the leading performances came from freshman Alyssa Matsuzaki, who began her race at a blistering pace coming off of the starting blocks.

Showing no signs of slowing down in the 400-meter hurdles, Matsuzaki recorded a first-place finish in her heat, running a one-minute and seven-second mark after recovering from a COVID-19 infection just five days ago.

“I feel like my mind was kind of out of track because of being sick,” Matsuzaki said. “That was really upsetting because Mount SAC was a race that I was really looking forward to.”

Matsuzaki said she forgot to bring spikes for her shoes which she claimed was the most important thing for her races. Luckily, Mt. San Antonio sophomore Tina Davis let Matsuzaki borrow her old spikes.

Freshman Anthony Taylor running the opening leg of the 4x100-meter relay, followed by his teammates Izak Giacchetto, Xerxes Reamer and Marschall Lincoln. The squad won third place with a time of 41.67 at Mt. San Antonio College on April 8. (Nindiya Maheswari | The Union) — Freshman Anthony Taylor running the opening leg of the 4×100-meter relay during the Mt. SAC Relays. The relay team consisting of Izak Giacchetto, Xerxes Reamer and Lincoln Marschall took third place with a time of 41.67 at Mt. San Antonio College on April 8. (Nindiya Maheswari | The Union)

“I’m just very thankful that I was even able to do a race because I thought I wouldn’t even be able to compete in a way,” Matsuzaki said.

Matsuzaki also placed second in her heat in the 100-meter hurdles at 15.19 seconds. Her personal best for the 100-meter hurdles is 14.99 seconds, set at the Saddleback College Invitational on March 4.

On the men’s side, freshman Lincoln Marschall was undefeatable from the start. He took an overall first-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.69 seconds running out of lane five.

Freshman Marschall Lincoln, ECC's anchor leg in the relay squad, finishes the 4x100-meter relay race at Mt.San Antonio College on April 8. ECC placed third after Sequioas College won the heat with a time of 41.59 and was followed closely by the American River College team that finished the race in 41.62. (Nindiya Maheswari | The Union) — Freshman Lincoln Marschall, El Camino College’s anchor leg in the relay squad, finishes the 4×100-meter relay race at Mt. San Antonio College on April 8. El Camino placed third after College of the Sequoias won the heat with a time of 41.59 and was followed closely by American River College which finished in 41.62. (Nindiya Maheswari | The Union)

Marschall is currently ranked no.1 in California in the 400-meter hurdles. He recorded a personal best of 52.40 seconds at the Saddleback College Invitational on March 4.

“Overall the team is very good and keeps moving forward and getting better each week,” Marschall said.

In heat three of the men’s 110-meter hurdles, freshman Anthony Taylor took second place and set a best personal at 14.54 seconds.

“I want to be the state leader in the 110 hurdles, that’s something that I want to improve,” Taylor said. “As a relay, we just got to work hard and practice.”

Taylor also placed fifth in men’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.85 seconds.

Also in heat three, Joshua Hornsby of Riverside Community College, who is currently No.1 in California in the 110-meter hurdles, continued the dominance by winning in his heat with 14.01 seconds.

El Camino swept victories in team relays as well as individual races. The men’s 4x100m relay took a third-place finish with a time of 41.67 seconds.

Sophomore Xerxes Reamer (left) placed fourth in men's 100-meter in 10.85. Xerxes also competed in a 4x400-meter relay together with teammates Yuto Tamada, Anthony Taylor, and Marschall Lincoln and won first place at Mt. San Antonio College on April 8. (Nindiya Maheswari | The Union) — Sophomore Xerxes Reamer (left) places fourth in men’s 100-meter in 10.85. Reamer also competed in a 4×400-meter relay with teammates Yuto Tamada, Anthony Taylor, and Lincoln Marschall, winning their heat at Mt. San Antonio College on April 8. (Nindiya Maheswari | The Union)

Moreover, freshman Izak Giacchetto placed fourth in the men’s 110-meter hurdles in 14.97 seconds.

Running out of lane four, the 4×400-meter relay squad brought a victory for the team with a time of three minutes and fifteen seconds, with Mt. San Antonio’s ‘A’ squad trailing just a second behind. The Riverside quartet, which included Hornsby, took a third-place finish.

“The anchor leg was tremendous. I mean, to come from third to first…is just truly amazing,” El Camino coach John Hall said. “We have tremendous talent on our anchor leg. He’s our state leader in the form of hurdles.”

Hall said his team is very talented and excited to be able to compete with the best teams in the state.

“We come away today with a lot of personal bests,” Hall said. “The most the coach can ask from an athlete is to deliver their absolute best performance and we did that consistently across all events today.”