After track and field’s distance runners spent March 30 racing in San Francisco, the rest of the Eagles journeyed to the University of California San Diego for the California Collegiate Open on March 31. The group of sprinters, jumpers and throwers had several solid showings while going up against Division I schools such as the University of Wisconsin and host UCSD.
SPRINTERS SHOW OUT
Senior Ambernicole Hollinger led the way for Biola in the Eagles’ first event of the day. Her initial hammer throw of 47.17 meters proved good enough for 6th on the overall leaderboard. Freshmen Emily Shaw and Annalisa Quiroz-DeAlba finish toward the bottom with throws of 35.34 meters and 27.83 meters, respectively. Hollinger and Shaw also finished within the top 10 of the shot put competition. The senior had a 12.20 meter throw while the freshman had an 11.26 meter throw. Shaw also placed in the women’s javelin throw with a 31.74 meter effort.
Sophomore Carissa Kalpakjian, the Eagles’ only runner in the women’s 400-meter race, finished in a 1:01.60 time to take an eighth-place finish in the loaded event. Freshman Heidi Sowers finished in the middle of the pack in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, while freshman James Finch and sophomore Micah Hickerson placed toward the bottom in the men’s 110-meter hurdles. Sophomores Winter Baumgartner and Moriah Cunningham also did comparatively poorly in the women’s 800-meter race, as did sophomore Omar Ledezma on the men’s side. Junior Aditya Lal, however, turned in a fantastic finish of 1:54.39 in the 800, giving him fifth place.
Paige Labare narrowly missed the top five in the women’s 100-meter dash, getting sixth place with a 12.33 time. She followed that up with an 11th-place finish and a 25.72 time in the 200-meter dash, while Kalpakjian finished 15th with a 26.06 mark in the same event.
IGBOKWE GETS EAGLES’ LONE TOP-4 FINISH
Four Eagles finished between 24th and 29th in the men’s long jump, with freshman Gabriel Igbokwe’s 5.84-meter mark leading the way. Freshman Hannah Hubbard finished 10th in both the women’s long jump and triple jump with respective finishes of 5.29 meters and 10.91 meters. Igbokwe’s best performance of the day came in the men’s triple jump, where his 13.69 meter distance earned him fourth place. Sophomore Sarah Prystupa finished right in the middle of the pack in the women’s pole vault, getting as high as 3.40 meters.
The entire track and field team will reunite and head to Claremont, Calif. for a dual meet against Pomona-Pitzer colleges on April 7.
