The Eagles traveled to the Occidental Distance Carnival meet on March 10 to continue to improve on their season’s form. The women’s team shone throughout the meet, both on the track and in field events. The men’s team struggled but still managed some impressive results including a multitude of podium finishes.
FEELING IT ON THE FIELD
Biola’s women’s team had a particularly impressive showing in field competition during the invitational with many top finishers including freshman Anna Maumalanga, who nearly won the discus throw competition. Her best throw of 41.95 meters lost out on first place by only 0.04 meters. Fellow freshman Hannah Hubbard finished third in triple jump. She jumped 11.09 meters, just 0.01 meters off of her personal best.
Senior Ambernicole Hollinger continued to show why she will go down as one of the best throwers in school history by throwing 12.03 meters in shot put for a fourth place finish. She then capped off her day with another strong finish in the hammer throw, achieving a third place finish with a distance of 45.23 meters.
The field athletes’ success continued as freshman Sarah Rossiter posted her season best score of 5.03 meters in the long jump. She finished 10th in the event, exactly midway through the 20-athlete field. Sophomore Sarah Prystupa saw herself fall just short of the podium in the pole vault, finishing fifth with a height of 3.40 meters.
TAKING CONTROL ON THE TRACK
On the track, the Eagles made their presence known to all of their opponents. The women’s 4×100-meter relay team of senior Emily Heisinger, sophomore Carissa Kalpakjian, Rossiter and sophomore Paige LaBare came in just outside of the podium with a fourth place finish at 48.83. LaBare finished eighth with an impressive performance in the 100-meter, and Kalpakjian and Rossiter also finished in the top 25. Heisinger found the greatest individual success out of any Eagle in the meet, posting a third place finish with a new personal-best of 59.21.
The most impressive result for the Eagles on the day came when senior Stephanie Croy won the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase by 0.23 seconds, coming in at 10:57.90. Fellow senior Hannah Hunsaker finished sixth in the same race with a time of 11:13.56. The women’s 1500-meter event saw sophomore Shannon Howell post a new personal best time of 4:49.45 while finishing 10th out of 89.
On the men’s side, junior Aditya Lal finished sixth in the 800-meter race at 1:56.72. Sophomores Robbie Gleeson and Nic Nelson performed well in the men’s 1500-meter race, finishing 18th and 24th respectively in a field of 124.
The Eagles continue competition on March 17 when they travel to San Diego, Calif. for the Ross and Sharon Irvin Invite at Point Loma Nazarene University.
