California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

Track & field: Distance runners Redpath, Ereso break records

Despite both the Kingsmen and Regals not scoring enough total points to get the majority of the overall wins Saturday, March 2, multiple athletes shined in the first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Multi-Dual of the 2019 season. The Kingsmen had several first-year standouts, while the Regals earned 18 top-five finishes.

The Multi-Dual included opponents Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, La Verne and Redlands. It was hosted by Cal Lutheran, but held at Ashel Cunningham Track in Redlands, California.

The Regals earned the win against La Verne 107-51, but fell short to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Redlands.

Senior thrower and captain Alexa Barnes headlined the Regals with three top-five finishes in the discus, hammer throw and shot put events.

โ€œWe have a few freshman that we have added to our mainly veteran oriented team and we have quite a few people looking to break records this year and if everyone can stay healthy, we will have quite a few national hopefuls,โ€ Barnes said.

Barnes took first in womenโ€™s hammer throw with a distance of 46.67 meters, but was narrowly beat by Redlands senior thrower Reyna Taโ€™amu in the discus throw. Just under a meter separated the two, leaving Barnes to finish second with a best distance of 35.79 meters. Last weekโ€™s SCIAC athlete of the week hit the 10.55 meter mark in shot put, but fouled the next three throws.

โ€œGetting SCIAC athlete of the week was really cool. It was awesome to see my hard work in the offseason pay off, but I still have bigger goals to achieve,โ€ Barnes said.

The women continued to finish strong as junior athletes Kayla Cross and Megan Pollock took first and second in pole vault. Both managed to reach the same height of 2.9 meters. However, Cross was able to do it in fewer attempts, earning herself first place.

โ€œKayla and Megan, I know have struggled in the past to PR, so them coming out and getting first and second in the first SCIAC meet was awesome. Iโ€™m super proud with how theyโ€™re training,โ€ Barnes said.

The Regals did not stop there. Two of their athletes were able to ink themselves into the record books.

In the 3000 meter steeplechase, first-year distance runner Veronica Redpath earned the eighth best time in Cal Lutheran history with a time of 12:40.47. This was Redpathโ€™s debut for the event.

Fellow junior teammate Rachel Ereso put herself in the tenth spot in the record book for the 5000 meter race with a time of 18:47.84.

Senior decathlete Jordan Wiley said the womenโ€™s team is very strong this year and he thinks many of them will make names for themselves in the SCIAC Championships.

Although the Kingsmen were not able to earn as many finishes as the Regals, several of them had notable performances.

Despite the rain, first-year runner Evan Cox was able to keep his grip on the track and earn himself first on the podium for the 110 meter hurdle. He finished the race in 16.02 seconds and was the only Kingsman in the event.

Wiley said the menโ€™s team โ€œis not lacking talent by any means…Our team is very young and we have a lot of freshmen who are making their debuts.โ€

Wiley said the team needs to focus on preparing themselves for the next SCIAC meet in three weeks. He said they have โ€œno excuse for going 0-2.โ€

First-year Brendon Carbullido managed a second place finish in triple jump and a fourth place finish in long jump. He cleared 12.32 meters in long jump and 6.07 meters in high jump.

Both Wiley and junior thrower Daniel Avila said injury has been a problem on the menโ€™s side this season, due in part to cold weather.

โ€œThe team is battling through a lot of injury, which is hard to do given the recent weather. The rain wasnโ€™t as much a factor as was the difficulty warming up in the cold,โ€ Avila said.

Avila said their focus is on getting healthy and avoiding any more injuries for the season.

The Kingsmen and Regals will head to Occidental on Saturday, March 9 to compete in the OXY Distance Carnival.

Dominick Grimm
Reporter

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