The men’s and women’s track and field teams grabbed several wins and broke a school record in their first dual meet. During their only home event of the season on Feb. 25, the Eagles competed against the Westmont CollegeWarriors.

MEN ENCOUNTER CHALLENGING OPPONENTS

In a few competitive battles, the men came in close to the Warriors. In the 60-meter dash, freshman William Bainbridge finished with a time of 7.66, closely behind the leader from the Warriors who finished in 7.31. Junior Aditya Lal finished first in the 600-meter race with a time of 1:23.65. Sophomore Nathaniel Belden won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.65 and sophomore Gabe Plendcio won in the 2000-meter race with a time of 5:31.54. In the high jump, sophomore Corry Williams won with a distance of 1.77 meters. Junior Gabriel Igbokwe won in the long jump with a distance of 5.94 meters and the triple jump in 12.54 meters.

WOMEN GRAB SEVERAL WINS

The women took a commanding victory over the Warriors with a clean sweep in all but two events. The throwing events began with freshman Anna Maumalanga winning and breaking the Eagles school record for discus with a throw of 42.21 meters. In 2016, Megan Crumley threw the previous record of 38.39 meters. In shot put, senior Ambernicole Hollinger won with a throw of 12.58 meters and threw 43.87 meters in the hammer throw. In the jumping field events, freshman Sarah Prystupa won in pole vault by clearing 11 feet. Freshman Hannah Hubbard placed first in both the long jump and triple jump with a distance of 5.21 meters and 11.08 meters, respectively.

In the sprints and distance events, many of the women placed in the top three. Senior Hannah Hunsaker won in the 1000-meter race with a time of 3:03.31 and the elimination mile in 5:35.96. In the 2000-meter race, senior Stephanie Croy also finished first with a time of 6:40.11. Sophomore Paige LaBare won the 60-meter race with a time of 7.95 and finished the 150-meter race in 19.24.

COMPETITIVE RACES AND EVENTS

“We just wanted to compete well and… open up the season with good competitive races and events,”  said head coach Sean Henning. “We’re looking forward to getting our season started.”

Sophomore Robby Gleeson won both the 1000-meter with a time of 2:36.65 and the elimination mile in 4:42.34.

“For the thousand meters, my thoughts were just kind of stay in second or third until the last two 50s and give everything I have,” Gleeson said. “The win was all we were going for and we got it.”

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