WESTWOOD, Calif. ? A trio of Roadrunner women claimed personal best marks in the 1500 meter run while three ?Runner men recorded PR's in their respective events for the CSUB men's and women's track & field team at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Kersee Invitational hosted by UCLA.
“This was a big meet with a lot of top college athletes and unattached competitors,” said CSUB Head Coach Alan Collatz. “The key for us is to keep improving. We have a lot of young athletes who are stepping up and getting good experience through this transition process (to Division I) so that when we are fully compliant they will be ready to go.”
For the ?Runner women, sophomore Christa McCann broke the five-minute mark for the first time ever in the 1500 meter run, finishing in a time of 4:55.49. Senior Lauren Nolasco and sophomore Lina Nu?ez also recorded personal records in the same event with respective times of 5:00.34 and 5:03.39.
Other top performances for the women's squad where sophomore Connie King in the 800 meter run and freshman Briana Woodfox in the long jump. Both athletes came up just shy of matching their personal bests with King crossing the finish in a time of 2:23.83 (.23 seconds off her record) and Woodfox jumping a distance of 16-11.25 (.75 inches short of her PR).
For the ?Runner men, freshman Cameron Jost and sophomores Jose Orozco and Daniel Hernandez all turned in personal best marks over the three-day Invite. Jost shaved .29 second off his time in the 400 meter dash, crossing the finish in 49 seconds even. Orozco, who's previous fastest time in the 1500 meter run was 4:10.36, cut that mark down to 4:08.10, while Hernandez turned in a 57.03 finish in the 400 meter hurdles, .38 seconds faster than his previous PR.
While no Bakersfield thrower turned in a record setting performance, senior Brian Lopez's mark of 180-04 in the open javelin throw was good for third place, while junior Steve Trojanowski placed fourth in the open hammer throw with a mark of 171-05.
CSUB heads north next weekend, competing in the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays hosted by Mt. SAC Community College in Walnut
.
