Last year, the women’s track and field team won their first Golden State Athletic Conference Championship title in a nail-bitter that came down to the 4×400 relay to put the Eagles over Westmont College by one point. This year the women reclaimed their championship title on April 26 by finishing 42 total points over Westmont.

“Last year since we only won by one point and it was a super exciting meet,” senior Whitney Fredenburg said. “We still wanted to go after this meet with everything we had and compete to our best of our abilities. Everyone tried really hard and we fought for it.”

The women had many top-place finishes in the meet. Some of those top finishes included sophomore Kate Smiley with a first place finish in the 100 meter dash. Senior Alexandra Scarria finished also first with a full two seconds before the next runner.

The men also had an impressive showing with a third-place finish for the second year in a row.

During the meet the men had two more competitors to qualify for the NAIA National Outdoor Championship. Junior Kevin Horchler placed first in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and senior Alex Calkin also had a first place finish in the pole vault to join senior Danny Ledesma to represent the men’s team.

“Hard work and teamwork pay off,” head coach Jonathan Zimmerman said. “It was an assurance that all the effort and time put in was worth it.”

Both teams attribute the successful end to the season on focusing on the team as a whole instead of leaning towards focusing on one of the individuals.

“I think when it comes to GSAC as a whole, it’s really a team effort,” senior Marc Opena said. “Everyone uniquely brings their talents and personalities to the team to make it successful.”

There are a total of 13 athletes competing in 10 events for Biola in the NAIA Nationals Outdoor Championship meet in Gulf Shores, AL. The meet will take place May 22-24.