Track & field teams primed to make noise at SCIAC Championships
SCIAC CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE | SCIAC CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE
ORANGE, Calif, - After a record breaking season, the Chapman University track & field teams head to the SCIAC Championships positioned to begin an ascent up the conference standings. The Panthers enter championship weekend with high hopes for a strong finish to the season.
SPRINTS
In the 100m race, junior Derek Ohara enters the meet with a goal of reaching the finals. His season-best of 10.99 is the seventh-fastest in the SCIAC this season. He will also run the 200m dash with his season-best time of 22.57.
Freshman Angelica Kolar will represent the Panthers in the 100m and 200m dash. She ranks in the top-15 in the conference in both events with a 12.77 in the 100 and 26.53 in the 200.
Freshman Scott Fitzpatrick will look to have an immediate impact as he enters the SCIAC Championships with the sixth-fastest time in the conference in the 400m. He ran a 49.87 this season, becoming the first Panther in Chapman's Division III history to finish the even under 50 seconds. The Panthers have a chance to pull in some more points in the 400 as sophomore Aki Shigeyama's time of 50.27 ranks eighth in the SCIAC.
Freshman Carly Trent is ranked 14th in the women's 400m event with a season-best of 1:01.93.
DISTANCE
Freshman Arabella Reece has littered her name all over the Chapman cross country and track & field record books. She's broken the 5k cross country and track records this season as well as the 800m and 1500m runs. At the SCIAC championships, she'll run in the 1500m and 5000m events and will look to score, or possibly reach the podium. Her 4:44.28 is the second-fastest time in the SCIAC in the 1500m and fifth-fastest time in the West Region.
In the 5k, Reece ranks seventh in the SCIAC with a season-best 17:42.62.
Sophomore Tish Taji has the 15th fastest time in the 100m hurdles, and the 11th fastest time in the 400m hurdles.
Sophomore Drake Butler, will lead the men's team in the distance events.
RELAYS
The men's 4x400m relay team will look to compete for the podium after a solid season that saw the Panthers pull out a win in back-to-back SCIAC meets. The season-best time of 3:21.89 currently ranks sixth in the conference but is just one 1.13 seconds behind the SCIAC's top time entering the championship meet.
Both women's relay teams will look to surprise some teams as they enter the meet ranked eighth in the SCIAC while the men's 4x100m relay team is ranked seventh.
HURDLES
Sophomore Gabi Siquenza has had a record-breaking year in the 400m hurdles and has risen to fifth in the SCIAC rankings with a school record time of 1:06.06. Tajii ranks in the top-15 in both the 100m and 400m hurdles.
Sophomore Emma Eglinton can add to the team score in the 3000m steeplechase. The Chapman school record holder with a 11:51.99 goes into the championship meet ranked eighth in the SCIAC.
JUMPS
Freshman Bella Rudis will compete for the Panthers in all three jumping events. She ranks in the top-20 in the high jump and triple jump and leads the Panthers in the long jump.
Sophomores Armond Gray and Elon Grobey will both compete in the long jump and triple jump. Gray is ranked 10th in the triple jump with a season-best mark of 12.70 meters and Grobey is 11th in the SCIAC at 12.66 meters. The order is flipped in the long jump with Gobey ranking 14th and Gray 17th.
THROWS
Both senior Cedric Cole and junior Lauren Miller will look to put up points for the Panthers as both enter the SCIAC Championships ranked sixth in the shot put. Miller holds the school record at 11.45 meters in the shot put while Cole has the longest put in Chapman's DIII history at 12.94 meters. Cole is also ranked ninth in the discus while Miller is ranked 12th.
Freshman Maija Girardi joined the team after helping the Panther women's basketball team to a SCIAC Tournament appearance and became the Panthers best javelin athlete. Her season-best of 34.22 meters ranks fifth in the SCIAC, putting her in a position to gain some points in her first year.
The SCIAC Champonships take place on the Saturday and Sunday at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Field events begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday and running prelims begin at 2:30 p.m. The field events for Sunday begin at 2 p.m. again on Sunday with running finals as well as both relay events beginning at 3:30 p.m.