BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – There remains exactly 33 days until the CSU Bakersfield track and field teams will head to Kansas City, Mo. to take on the Western Athletic Conference Championships. In order to prepare for Conference, the Roadrunners have three meets in the month of April. CSUB will kick off the month with the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational this weekend.
“We hope to use this competition to build on the good results we enjoyed two weeks ago and progress toward putting more student-athletes on the podium at the WAC Championships next month,” said Marcia Mansur-Wentworth, Director of Track and Field for CSUB. The 'Runners are coming off of a solid performance at the Cal Poly Invitational to close March and will head to Claremont, Calif. on Saturday, Apr. 9, for the all-day meet hosted by Pomona-Pitzer.
Coming off of a win and a personal best in the high jump, Mansur-Wentworth expects Joselito Flores to lead the 'Runner men. The sophomore from Fairfield, Calif. will tackle both the high jump and long jump on Saturday. Junior transfer Justin McKinley will join Flores in both events. “Justin has made excellent progress since arriving on campus in January,” said Mansur-Wentworth.
Gabe Gaeta will run in the 400-meter hurdles again as the freshman continues to inch his way towards the CSUB Top 20 in the event. Sophomore Alec Benavides will take on the javelin, an event in which he has shown great success this spring, according to Mansur-Wentworth. Rounding out the top men's performers will be Tristan Watson, who is expected to excel in the 110-meter hurdles, according to his coach: “Tristan hopes to turn his low 15's in the past few meets into sub 15's on Saturday.”
For the 'Runner women, Mansur-Wentworth is looking to three upperclassmen to lead the way. “Madison Bundy will continue in her goal of earning All-WAC in her second sport,” CSUB's coach said. “She continues to soar in the javelin where she has impressed her coaches this spring.” Bundy is already eighth all-time in the event for CSUB with a personal best mark of 123-06.
Fresh off of big personal bests in both the 100-meter hurdles and the triple jump, junior Alisha Byrd will tackle both events again on Saturday. Senior Tricia Cervantes is booked for a busy Saturday as CSUB's captain will compete in six of the seven heptathlon events in preparation for the WAC Championships. Cervantes is in search of her fourth All-Conference honors.
CSU Bakersfield will kick off the meet Saturday morning around 10 a.m. with the men's 110-meter hurdles. A full day of action is expected to culminate around 6:15 p.m. with the women's 5000. A full schedule of events can be found here, live stats can be followed at this link, and a full recap will be posted here at GoRunners.com on Saturday night.
~GoRunners.com~
