Tiger Track & Field Teams Finish Fourth
CLAREMONT, Calif. (April 26, 2008) – Although there were quite a few impressive performances during the two-day 2008 Track & Field Championships, both the men’s and women’s teams finished fourth among the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams competing.
The women’s team had three individual SCIAC Champions with numerous additional strong performances.
One of the highlights of the weekend came in the 3000m steeplechase as sophomore Grace Peck lowered her own school record and lifetime best by an astonishing 27 seconds. Her time of 10:49.13 currently ranks her fifth among all athletes in Division III thus far in 2008. This time also bested the old SCIAC meet record by over 15 seconds, but it was only good enough for a second place finish as CMS's Evelyn Ross produced her own lifetime best to win in 10:47.05. Ross is now ranked third in the nation. Peck completed her weekend by placing third in the 1500m with a time of 4:57.38.
Sophomore Libby Mislan also had an incredible weekend. Mislan, who has been steadily improving all year, won her first SCIAC Championship in the 400m with a time of 58.94. Her performance in the 200m, however, was perhaps even more impressive. In the prelims, Mislan dropped her lifetime best by four tenths of a second to 26.38, before producing another monster PR in the finals with a 26.02 clocking, making her the 10th best 200m runner in Occidental College history. The time of 26.02 was good enough for a third place finish. She concluded her weekend by leading off Oxy's 4 x 400m relay team with a lifetime best relay split of 58.9.
Fellow sophomore Elissa Chandler also produced a lifetime best split on the 4 x 400m relay. Chandler anchored the team to second place in 59.5, which was her first time under 60 seconds. Prior to her relay duties, Chandler won her the first SCIAC Championship of her career in the 400m hurdles as she posted a new lifetime best of 64.60. This time now ranks her fifth on the Occidental All-time Top Ten List. Chandler also recorded a lifetime best in the 100m hurdles. Her prelim time of 15.27 also ranks her fifth on the Occidental All-time list for that event. In the 100m hurdles final, Chandler looked to be on course to run even faster before hitting the penultimate hurdle. Despite this setback, she finished in fourth place in 15.48.
The next Tigers SCIAC Championship title came in the pole vault by way of junior Kera Bartlett who won the competition with her first jump, clearing 11'5.75". Bartlett, the Oxy school record holder, will now look to break the 13' barrier as she heads towards the NCAA meet on May 22nd-24th.
Other women who turned in notable performances included junior Sarah Fischer who reduced her 400m hurdles PR to 70.14 en route to a fifth place finish. Senior Amanda Clark increased her seasonal best in the high jump to 4'11.75”, which was good enough for ffith place. Freshman Adrienne Danniels produced two big life time best performances. In the 100m she dropped her best time by four tenths of a second to 13.37 and in the 100m hurdles she ran a 16.24 prelim and 16.48 final, earning a seventh place finish.
Performances from the Occidental men were highlighted by two SCIAC Championship winning performances and two provisional qualifying marks for the NCAA Division III National Championships.
On Friday senior Chris Kyles produced one of those provisional qualifying marks on his way to winning his first SCIAC Championship in the discus. Kyles' best mark of 158'11" was a PR by almost 7' and currently ranks him eleventh in Division III. He also produced a lifetime best in the hammer with his best mark of 152'05" earning him a fifth place finish, moving him to seventh on the Occidental All-Time Top Ten List.
Another senior, Kevin Chaves, was the other SCIAC Champion for the Tigers. Chaves claimed his third SCIAC title in the 5000m with a 15:13.93 clocking. His other titles in this event came in 2005 and 2007. Chaves also debuted in the steeplechase last weekend earning 2 points for the Tigers by coming in fifth place with a time of 9:48.57.
Fellow senior Galen Smith finished third in the steeplechase with a time of 9:41.69. Although Smith's time is some 20 seconds off of his lifetime best mark, his performance was remarkable considering it was his first race of the 2008 season after missing nearly three months of training due to a persistent knee injury.
Sophomore Sam Huie has had a huge break through year in the horizontal jumps and his hard work was rewarded this weekend with a fourth place finish in the long jump and a third place finish in the triple jump. Huie started his weekend with a solid 22'2.25" leap in the long jump, before putting together a fantastic series of triple jumps which concluded with a 45'11.25" PR. Huie's triple jump is a provisional qualifier for the NCAA Division III National Championships and he will be looking to improve on his 27th place national ranking in the next few weeks.
Another Tiger with impeccable timing is junior Clay Hoadley. Like Huie, Hoadley produced a life time best when it mattered most: in his 800m conference final. Hoadley went to the front early in his race and was rewarded with a new PR of 1:55.88, a full second better than his previous best mark and good for second place. Sophomore Jon Wheeler also finished strongly in the 800m with a fifth place finish, crossing the line in a new life time best of 1:58.90.
A number of our sprinters also enjoyed good weekends. Both Joe Hernandez and Dorian Wheeler ran seasonal best times in the 100m prelims, clocking 11.15 and 11.21, respectively. Hurdlers Derek Lim and Chris Wong also saved their best performances of the year for the conference meet. Lim lowered his best time in the 110m hurdles to 16.13 in the final of that event, which was good enough for sixth place. Wong lowered his life time best in the 400m hurdles to 58.64 in the prelims of that race before coming a creditable seventh in the final.
In the field, freshman David Minguez improved on his best mark of '08 in the pole vault, clearing 13'5.25" for fourth place, and senior Wills Mitchell came fifth in the javelin with a solid 160'00" throw.
Below please find some film of the Tigers in action for those of you who weren't able to make it out to the Championships:
Libby Mislan 400m: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAGO6zR579M
Libby Mislan 200m: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AEwybm8N5k
Women's 4 by 100m: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDto3xRs-e8
Elissa Chandler/Sarah Fischer 400m Hurdles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59u29t8wS08
Clay Hoadley 800m: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZP0BF7088o
Men's 4 by 400m: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iBkQaxsoTM
Next weekend a handful of our national qualifying athletes will travel to the Steve Scott Invite hosted by UC Irvine as they attempt to better their marks.
The final qualifying opportunity will take place on May 10th at the Occidental Invitational where the Tigers will take on folks from UCLA, Cal State Northridge, as well as various post collegiate athletes and Olympic hopefuls.
