Biola women’s track and field team races to program best finish at GSAC championships

The women’s track and field team takes 3rd overall at the GSAC championships Saturday, setting new personal and school records.

Zachary Fu, Writer • May 2, 2011

At Saturday’s GSAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships the Biola women’s track team placed third with the men’s team placing 6th overall at the meet. | Photo courtesy of Jonathan Zimmerman

Photo courtesy of RobertRay Photography

The Biola women’s track team wrote history by placing third at the Golden State Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday, April 30. Five of Biola’s runners placed in the top six of the women’s 5,000m to earn 28 points, which helped them to their best finish in the history of the program. They finished with 138.83 points, 17 points behind second-place Point Loma Nazarene University. Azusa Pacific University took first place with 221 points.

Superstar Natasha Miller took 1st in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.04, defeating her opponent by a mere 0.04 seconds. She also placed 1st in the high jump, and 2nd in the long jump to lead the Eagles once again. Her performance solidified her a trip to the national meet. To add to this, the team had impressive individual performances overall.

Women’s team sweeps several events

Biola swept the 2nd through 6th places in the 5k race. Senior Kelsey Gasner, who will represent Biola at Nationals for several events, was the first to finish for Biola. She was followed by junior Nychele Fischetti, senior Katie Thede, senior Sarah Brooks, and junior Carissa Bowman. Gasner and Fischetti also did well in the Steeple Chase where they took 1st and 2nd places and both qualified for Nationals.

Biola athletes continue to set records

Freshmen Whitney Fredneburg placed 5th in the shot put with yet another personal record and school record. Freshman Taylor McCahon placed 1st in pole-vaulting in the GSAC and is also headed to Nationals. Sophomore Alexandra Zalesky took 2nd and is currently under an inch off the qualifying cut.

Biola was represented with a 4th place finish in the Heptathlon by freshman Beatriz Delgadillo who performed well in all seven events. And the final Eagle to place was senior Sarah Brooks who took 3rd in the 10k race.

Men’s team takes 6th overall

The men’s team placed 6th overall at the meet. Gabe Aeschliman placed 5th in the 200m and 7th in the 400m. Ryan Richert took 4th in both the 5k and the 10k.