La Verne, CA – The Occidental track and field team began to close their conference season on Saturday, which was the first day of two for the SCIAC Championships. On this day, these were the preliminary trials for most of the running events while the 3K steeple, 10K, and field events were the finals. Although some Tigers did not make it to the finals, many still walked away with outstanding results. At the same time, there were many athletes that were able to move forward.
On the women's side to start off the day, Merrick Hoel was the first Tiger to qualify for a final. Hoel competed in 1500m, and her PR (4:53.46) allowed her to place in 10th overall and fourth in her heat. In the 400m, Eliza Hawley came second in her heat, placing fourth overall, which allowed her to advance to the finals. Additionally, Tia Akasaki (1:02.20) and Paige Villanueva (1:10.30) were able to pull out 400m PRs to end their season on a high note. Villanueva also managed to save some gas for the 200m, allowing her to PR by over one second (28.95). In the 800m, Grace Optekar improved her collegiate best by over one second (2:29.59). Karis Palomino added her name to the list of outstanding PRs to close her 2023 pole vault season (2.92m). In javelin, Gabriella Knutsen earned a new PR (26.89m). The women's team started to close off the day strong with Ciara Gillen's amazing 3K steeple performance where she pushed her way into second place as she made it down the home stretch. Gillen earned second overall with an eight second PR (11:29.52). Jenna LeNay ended her night with an exciting third place finish in the 10000m, earning her a bronze medal on the podium.
The men's team also pulled out some impressive performances for preliminaries. Josue Corona Solis started off strong with a collegiate best in the 1500m (4:23.11). Jacob Torres and Tye Hernandez placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 110m hurdles to qualify them for the finals. Torres and Hernandez's qualifying times earned them new PRs of 15.39 and 15.79, respectively. In the 400m, three Tigers earned new PRs. Baruch Goodman ran a 49.64, Nick Martin ran a 51.38, and Toby Searcy-Jorgensen ran a 52.00. Goodman's time won his heat, qualifying him for the 400m finals. In addition to Goodman, Leon also qualified for the 400m finals. Chris Haliburton ran a jaw-dropping 100m dash by dropping his lifetime best by 0.3 seconds (10.78) and qualifying him for the 100m finals. Martin also added a new 200m PR to his list of wins for the day. In the 400m hurdles, three Tigers qualified for the finals: Jacob Torres, Tye Hernandez, and Jonah Magill (first, third, and fourth, respectively). Torres and Hernandez's times earned them new lifetime bests. In pole vault, Matthew Avery earned a new lifetime best of 3.66m. To end off the night, Aidan Lindhe-Johan earned a new PR in the 10000m (33:25.11).
