Track and Field Competes at Ben Brown Invitational
FULLERTON, Calif. - This past week, the El Camino College Track & Field teams competed at the Ben Brown Invitational hosted by Cal State Fullerton. This meet brings together many NCAA D-1 and D-2 teams including CSUF, UC Irvine, Cal Poly Pomona, Army West Point, Pepperdine, CSU Bakersfield, CSU Dominguez Hills as many of the top CCCAA teams Riverside, Mt. SAC, Orange Coast, Southwestern, Chabot, Moorpark, Merritt and /Club competitors.
Some of the highlights from the women's team include:
-Elizabeth Ibidunni came in 15th place overall in the 100m dash. She ran a season best 12.75. Her competition above her came schools like Army West Point, Cal State Fullerton, Pepperdine, etc. She also came in third place in the 200m dash B race with a time of 26.31.
-In their heat of the 5,000 meter run, Deana Takaoka led the rest of her El Camino teammates in the race and came in 5th place overall with a time of 19:20.05.
-Aaliyah Graves came in 6th place overall in the triple jump with a jump of 10.28 meters (33'8.75"). She currently has the sixth best jump against Southern California CCCAA competition.
-Jay Rhambo came in 12th place overall in the shot put. She threw the shot put 11.01 meters (36'1.5") in a field against mainly NCAA competition.
-Necole Ellis came in 16th place overall in the discus competition. She tossed a personal best 36.73 meters (120'6") while competing against mainly NCAA competition. She is currently the #4 in Southern California CCCAA competition.
Some of the highlights from the men's competition include:
-Christopher Pitts came in 1st place in his heat in the 400m race with a time of 48.94. He has ran the 6th fastest time in Southern California so far. He came in 8th place overall in the race featuring competition from NAIA and fellow CCCAA schools. He also ran a leg in the Warriors 1600m relay team.
-Victor Akende came in 1st place in his heat for the 800m run with a time of 1:59.69. He came in 6th place overall against fellow CCCAA and and NCAA competition. He came in third overall in the invite mile race with a time of 4:29.94 vs strong competition.
-Matt Arruda came in 12th place overall in the 5,000m run and led the nine El Camino runners in the race with a time of 15:19.67. The 5,000m race top finishers were mainly from Division 1 NCAA schools Cal State Fullerton and Pepperdine, and one other CCCAA competitor from Riverside Community College.
-Timothy Mates came in 7th place overall in the 400m intermediate hurdles race with a time of 55.19. He currently has the fastest time in Southern California in this race.
-The men's 4x400 relay team came in third place with a time of 3:23.24. Riverside Community College came in 1st place and Cal Poly Pomona came in second place. The relay team consisted of Alec Froning, Andre Nieto, Dhahran Woods, and Christopher Pitts.
-Jordan Baylis came in seventh place overall in the high jump but was the top CCCAA competitor with a jump of 1.88 meters (6'2"). The top competitors came from Army West Point, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State Bakersfield.
-Kevin Oliva made it to the final round of the shot put and came in a solid 8th place overall. Oliva threw a personal best 13.97 meters (45'6.25"). The seven competitors ahead of him were competitors from Army West Point, Cal State Fullerton, CSU Bakersfield, and UC Irvine. He also threw a personal best in the discus with a throw of 44.37 meters (145'7").
This Friday, the El Camino College Track & Field team will travel to the Riverside Community College Invitational. It will be a good chance for the team to experience the facilities at Riverside College since they will be host to this May's CCCAA Southern California Prelims and Finals.
