The Dave Shannon track and field invitational at Murdock Stadium highlighted sprinters from non-collegiate organizations who dominated nearly every sprint event Saturday, March 29.
One of those clubs was Athlete.X, who secured a first place finish in the men’s 4×100-meter relay. The quartet featured Southern California native Khalfani Muhammad, Cody Bidlow and twins Justin and Brendan Fong.
Despite a delay in the baton exchange between Muhammad and Bidlow and the team running together for the first time without practice, the group sprinted to victory in 41.38 seconds, a season’s best.
“We haven’t practiced our handoffs between leg three and four,” Bidlow said. “I was a little concerned he [Muhammad] was going to run up on me, so I just got a little bit excited and left early.”
Muhammad, 30, a former standout sprinter at Notre Dame High School and NFL running back said a desire to stay in shape after taking 3.5 years off playing football brought him back to the track last year.
“I started running again,” Muhammad said. “The best way to keep that speed is running on the track.”
Shortly after the relay, Brendan Fong was back on the track to run in the first heat of the men’s open 400-meter dash, sprinting the quarter-mile in 48.50 seconds, placing first overall in the event.
Another dominant team at the invitational was Evo Track Club, featuring Asani Hampton, who previously ran at Mt. San Antonio College and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials last year.
His teammate Maureen Schrijvers, is a member of the Philippine national team and wife of Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Nikko Remigio.
Hampton clocked in at 21.34 seconds in the men’s 200-meter dash, registering a first-place finish.
Meanwhile, Schrjivers ran 56.19 seconds in the women’s quarter-mile sprint, placing third overall, just ahead of Savanna Mullins of El Camino College, who recorded 59.42 seconds.
Mullins’ teammate, freshman Laighton Scott, ranked No. 2 in California in the men’s discus and placed second overall by throwing 47.11 meters, 4.4 meters more than the state-qualifying mark.
“It’s definitely a confidence booster, because that means I can hit the mark again,” Scott said.
Showing his versatility, the freshman followed up his discus throw with a burst of speed in the men’s 100-meters, crossing the finish line at 11.84 seconds.
On the distance side, sophomore distance runner Ty McCormick of El Camino placed second in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10 minutes and 36 seconds, just 0.19 seconds behind Andrew Kanzangian of Glendale Community College.
The women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase was dominated by Glendale’s Lilit Arakelyan in 11 minutes and 27 seconds.
She attributed the result to focusing on clearing the race’s barriers during training with her coach Tim Gutierrez, leading up to race day.
“We did a lot of form work,” Arakelyan said. “Mainly just jumping off the barrier and having the correct form while coming up into the air.”
Focusing on developing speed through a middle-distance event in the 800-meter run at the invitational, Deniya Fields of Pasadena City College, who specializes in short-distance, crossed the finish in 2 minutes and 17 seconds.
“I knew I didn’t want anybody in front of me and I just had to keep running,” Fields said.
El Camino will be back on the track for the CCCAA Southern California Multis Championships on April 1 at Moorpark College.
