Biola track and field competed against many athletes from Division I and II NCAA schools in the Occidental Invitational on May 6. Many Eagles finished with ‘A’ or ‘B’ standard finishes as they make their final preparations and adjustments for the NAIA National Championships.

strong runs

Senior Lyndee Dawson and junior Stephanie Croy put in good performances in the women’s 5,000m. Dawson finished 19th out of 84 competitors with a time of 16:53.88, just two seconds behind the Eagles’ program record. Croy completed the race in 17:25.60, finishing in 35th. Dawson and Croy each earned NAIA ‘A’ standard times with their strong runs.

Freshman Sarah Prystupa continued her impressive season, finishing seventh in pole vault. Her highest jump of 3.60 meters earned her a NAIA ‘A’ standard in pole vault, a feat she had been approaching all season long.

Mid-distance senior runner Alissa Murray ran a 2:14.44 time to finish 32nd out of 57 in the women’s 800m. This time was fast enough for Murray to hit ‘A’ standard in the discipline.

The Eagles value the experience of competing against NCAA opponents as they gear up to move to Division II next season.

“In NCAA there’s a lot of people that are hitting high standards and high marks,” said freshman hurdler and jumper Ashley Otah. “[This meet] helped me raise my own standards to challenge myself to do better… This meet was a learning curve and I can only get better from there.”

one final tune-up

Otah competed in the triple jump and long jump, but failed to meet NAIA letter standards. Junior thrower Ambernicole Hollinger competed in the women’s shot put and hammer throw, but also failed to hit NAIA letter standards. While the individual results were not her best, she still remains positive due to the team performance.

“[The meet] was kind of disappointing for me, but as a team we did pretty good as a whole,” said Hollinger. “For Nationals, my goal is to compete at my best level, and hopefully PR again and just be able to spend more time with my teammates and coaches before the summer ends.”

The Eagles have one final tune-up meet at Westmont’s All on the Line Qualifier on May 13 before the NAIA National Championships begin on May 25.