Records Set and Broken at 59th Annual Mt. SAC Relays Hosted by El Camino College
TORRANCE, Calif. - The prestigious Mt. SAC Relays were held at El Camino College's Murdock Stadium on April 13-15. The three-day event featured athletes from the high school, collegiate and club level from throughout the world. El Camino College student-athlete Justin Alexander had a leading performance in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles.
Thursday evening's opening events included the college/open 3,000 meter steeplechase and invitational 10,000 meters which saw many new NCAA record-breaking marks and the first of many stadium records established.
Friday resulted with warmer weather and several more outstanding performances including a 4:00.16 mile performance by Cooper Teare (St Joseph Notre Dame HS). Cooper earned the No. 2 mile performance in California high school history and the 10th best in U.S. history. Other fine performances included new NCAA leaders in the invitational 3,000 meter steeplechase and invitational 5,000 meter events.
For the Warriors, Alexander had a highlight performance, winning the college/open invitational section of the 400 meter intermediate hurdles in a time of 51.42. His performance gave him a personal best and put him as the number three all-time ECC performer, which is right below NCAA Champion Reggie Wyatt.
"Accomplishing this feat over such an outstanding field in his home stadium was astonishing," shared Coach Dean Lofgren.
Earlier in the day, ECC's Shakura Tyler competed in the 100 hurdles (15.03) and Victoria Portor in the 800m. ECC alumna Crystal Lizaola, now a University of California, Irvine athlete, led her race until the final few meters in running a personal best 2:10.40.
With a great crowd coming out for the final day of events on Saturday, more NCAA records were set in the sprints and in the distance races.
"It was an incredible and enjoyable day of track and field," said ECC track and field coach Lofgren. "The outstanding performances started early and just kept coming which fired-up the crowd, athletes, and coaches as the meet proceeded without a glitch of any kind -, truly just amazing."
Saturday was highlighted by a new NCAA record in the women's 400 meter relay as the University of Oregon ran a 42.12 from with Louisiana State University just a few ticks behind at 42.14. Clayton Murphy of Team Nike stepped-up in the 800 meters and ran a world-leading 1:43.60. In the following women's 800 meters, Oregon's Raevyn Murphy set a new NCAA record of 1:59.10 with Oregon Ducks alumna Laura Roessler close behind at 1:59.54.
With elite high school competition interspersed amongst the events, Shae Anderson won the girl's 400 meters in 51.99, the sixth best time in California history and 17th in U.S. history.
Taking part in the pole vault event was the U20 record-holder Armand Duplantis from Lafayette, Louisiana. He ended the pole vault with 18-3, which equals the best high school pole vault mark in California.
On the north pole-vault runway, Japan's Seito Yamamoto vaulted an impressive 18-8 ¼ and chose not to proceed higher for a new Mt. SAC Relays record.
In the invitational women's high jump, Vashti Cunningham of Team Nike cleared an excellent height of 6-4 ¼.
The Warriors will host the South Coast Conference preliminaries and finals on April 25th and 28th at Murdock Stadium.
NOTES AND RECORDS FROM 59th ANNUAL MT. SAC RELAYS at EL CAMINO COLLEGE
- Seventy-five marks were top-20 in the world at the Mt. SAC Relays.
- Six world-leading marks were set over the weekend
- Two world records set in paralympics (men's high jump and men's 5,000m)
- Two elite meet records were set
- Two national collegiate Records
- Seven NCAA Division I season leading Marks Set
- Fifty marks in NCAA Div. I Top-10
- Seven NCAA Div. II Season-Leading Marks set
- Fifty-two marks in NCAA Division II season top-10
- Two NCAA Division III leading marks set
- Two high school national leading marks set
- Fifteen Mt. SAC Relays records set
