LAWRENCE, Kan. – CSU Bakersfield's track and field teams earned two more medals and seven more All-Conference honors on the final day of the Western Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships. Saturday's performances were highlighted by Joselito Flores' silver medal in the high jump and Madison Bundy's bronze in the javelin.
Men
“It was a great day for high jump with three CSUB men on the podium,” said Marcia Mansur-Wentworth, Director of Track and Field at CSUB. “Gabe had a season best and the guys did great with seven all-WAC honors, one more than last year.”
CSUB's trio of Flores, Justin McKinley, and Tim Van Horn took All-Conference honors in the high jump. Flores earned the silver medal with a leap of 6-08.25 while McKinley finished fifth with the same mark in more attempts. McKinley and Van Horn both earned Second Team honors while the latter improved his personal best by almost three inches to 6-06.25. McKinley, a junior, is the veteran in the trio as Bakersfield's jumping troupe stands to be a force in the WAC for years to come.
Michael Lovato improved his prelims time in the 800-meter by over two seconds to 1:55.93 on Saturday. The senior's second-best time of the year helped Lovato earn Second Team honors while finishing sixth.
The 'Runner throwers got the morning session started off well as redshirt junior Emmett Wirtz placed sixth in the hammer, earning Second Team All-Conference honors. The Bakersfield native, who transferred to CSUB from Bakersfield College two years ago, missed his personal best by two inches with a toss of 156-01. Freshman Luis Mendez performed well in his first WAC Championships with a 10th-place finish (124-03).
Later in the morning, Mendez scored points in the shot put with an eighth-place toss of 44-08.25. The freshman from California City, Calif. improved his personal best in the event by one inch while Wirtz was ninth at 44-02.00.
Freshman Gabe Gaeta improved his personal best time in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles. While Gaeta just missed All-Conference by one place, his seventh-place finish with a time of 55.40 shows great potential for the future.
Women
“I'm really proud of Madison, earning All-WAC in her second sport,” Mansur-Wentworth said. “Marina was great in the 400, earning All-WAC as well. The women had some good performances, but, came up a bit short in a few places. Overall, they had good efforts.”
Bundy placed third in the javelin with a throw of 138-10. The native of Anacortes, Wash. earned the bronze medal and First Team All-WAC honors. Bundy became the first WAC student-athlete to win All-Conference honors in two different sports since Hawaii's Amber Kaufman accomplished the feat in 2010 (volleyball and track and field – high jump).
Redshirt junior Marina Emhoff placed sixth in the 400-meter finals on Saturday. After posting a season-best time in the prelims, the Bakersfield native and North High School graduate lowered the time again to 57.11, earning Second Team All-WAC. The honor is Emhoff's second as she claimed fifth at the 2015 Outdoor Championships.
The Roadrunner men finished sixth of seven teams with 40 points while CSUB's women placed seventh of eight with 20 points. CSUB will return to Bakersfield after another successful WAC Outdoor Championships. The Roadrunners have all summer to hone their skills and prepare for the 2017 season.
~GoRunners.com~
