El Camino College Hosts Inaugural Track and Field Invitational
TORRANCE, CALIF. – El Camino College hosted the inaugural El Camino College Track & Field Invitational on Saturday, March 3rd at Murdock Stadium. The invitational included many teams such as Glendale College, San Bernardino Valley College, Southwestern College, Fullerton College, Marymount California University, Arizona Christian University, Pasadena City College, Bethesda University (Anaheim), and Unattached/Club athletes. The meet began on Saturday morning in the rain for the Women's Javelin, but the rain cleared up in time for the rest of the day's events. For a brand new invitational and for the Warriors to host it at their home track, there were some outstanding performances by the Warriors.
There were many standout performances from the women's track team with El Camino College coming out on top in multiple events. Kyja Free led the way in the throwing events for the Warriors and won the hammer throw with a mark of 38.14 meters which was the 3rd all-time performance in ECC history. She would also place 3rd in the discus with a throw of 31.73 meters and 3rd in the shot put with a throw of 10.45 meters. Andrea Amador led the way in the triple jump with a jump of 8.53 meters. The Warriors would place in 1st, 2nd, and 4th in the long jump. Tyra Jackson led the meet with a 4.86 meters jump, Lauryn Johnson jumped 4.72 meters, and Sheniya Mason jumped 4.58 meters. ECC won both the 4x100 and the 4x400 relay races. The 4x100 meter team narrowly beat Fullerton College with a time of 51.04 compared to the Hornets 51.43. Mason would also place 2nd overall in the 200 meter dash with a time of 27.46 and Tyra Jackson came in 4th overall with a time of 28.13. In the 400m race, Stephanie Elizarde came in 3rd place overall with a time of 1:04.89. In the distance events, Sarah Simpson came in 4th place in the 1500m race with a time of 5:23.77 and Deana Takoaka came in 5th place with a time of 5:28.91. Takoaka would also come in 5th place in the longer 3,000m race with a time of 11:24.17.
The men had multiple 1st place finishes and very strong performances in other events as well. Tate Curran led the way in the Pole Vault, finishing in 1st place with a 4.90 (16-1) pole vault. There were a couple of top 3 finishes in the jumping events for the Warriors. Luke Maxey came in 3rd place in the triple jump with a jump of 12.19 meters. ECC placed in 2nd and 3rd place in the long jump event. Qwintin Workman came in 2nd with a jump of 6.55 meters and Wyatt Davidson came in 3rd place with a 6.24 meter jump.
In the distance events, Carson Bix led the way with a 1st place finish in the 1,500m race. With a time of 3:59.09 he edged out the 2nd place competitor from Glendale who finished in 3:59.26. With Bix's 3:59.09 finish, it currently places him as the third fastest time in the state so far this season. Matt Arruda would come in 5th place overall with a time of 4:16.81. Caleb Ko came in 1st place in the 3,000m Steeplechase event with a time of 10:29.88. Spencer Coneybeare came in 3rd place overall in the 800m race with a time of 1:58.66.
The Warriors ran some very strong races in the sprint and short distance events. Justin Moore led the way in the 100m race with his 1st place finish with a time of 10:89. De'Varriea Oles came in 3rd place overall for the Warriors with a time of 23:07 in the 200m dash. The Warriors had three competitors finish in the top-5 in the 400m race. Wyatt Davidson came in 3rd with a time of 50.15, Richard Hamilton placed 4th with a time of 51.39, and Larry Hudson III came in 5th place with a time of 51.61. ECC would finish in 1st and 3rd place in the 110m hurdles race. Timothy Mates won the event with a time of 15.87 and James Ryczanokski came in 3rd place with a time of 16.21. The Warriors would place three people in the top-5 in the 400m hurdles event. Qwintin Workman led the Warriors with a 2nd place overall finish with a time of 53.93, Jasher Foster would come in 3rd with a time of 54.21, and Justin Moore would place 5th with a time of 59.48. The Warriors would come in 1st place in all three relay races. The A team (Foster, Woods, Hudson, and Workman) for the Warriors in the 4x100m race narrowly beat the B team (Hamilton, Davidson, Mates, and Moore) by two hundredths of a second with times of 42.67 and 42.87 respectively. The 4 x 200 meter relay team came in 1st place with a time of 1:29.72. And lastly in the 4x400m relay race it was an exciting 1-2 finish for the Warriors as the A Team (Mates, Davidson, Moore, and Workman) ran a 3:25.25 narrowly beating the B Team (Hudson, Woods, Hamilton, and Foster) who ran 3:26.78.
On Saturday, March 10th the distance Warriors track and field athletes will compete at the Occidental Distance Carnival Invitational 5,000m race, while the rest of the track team will have a bye week. The rest of the team will return to action on Saturday, March 17th where the men's and women's team will compete at the UC Irvine "Spring Break" Invitational.