Track & field opens 2020 season on Saturday
The Chapman University men's and women's track and field season gets started on Saturday with the San Marcos Mangrum Preview hosted by Cal State San Marcos
In their third season under head coach DeAndra'e Woods, both teams will look to build on solid performances at last season's SCIAC Championships. While both teams finished eighth place, only ahead of Caltech, they did compile the most points since joining the conference in 2012-2013. The men finished with 23 points and the women finished with 19.
Both teams are returning numerous athletes who scored at last year's SCIAC Championships. Junior Aki Shigeyama and senior Cody Epstein helped the Panthers make history last season as part of the first relay team in school history to finish on the podium at the SCIAC Championships. The pair led off the men's 4x400m relay team that ran a time of 3:19.90 which was good enough for second place and garnered them All-Region honors. They will look to build on that performance and go after the school record of 3:18.2 set way back in 1969.
Shigeyama will also look to take down the school record in the 400m. Last season, he finished sixth at the SCIAC Championship, running 49.68, just a hair off the record of 49.3 set by Bing Howell in 1969.
The women's 4x400m team, which consisted of just freshmen and sophomores last season, returns the same unit after a seventh-place showing at last season's SCIAC Championships. Junior Gabi Siguenza, sophomore Carly Trent, junior Tish Tajii, and sophomore Angelic Kolar, will be chasing their own school record of 4:08.29 in the event.
Individually, Siguenza and Tajii will also look to build on their respective seventh and ninth-place finishes in the 400m hurdles.
Sophomore thrower Maija Girardi returns after a phenomenal freshman season that saw her take third in the conference in the women's javelin throw. The feat gave her the distinction of being the first female thrower in school history to make the podium at the SCIAC Championships. Her performance also earned her All-SCIAC honors in the event.
Emma Eglinton returns for her junior season after breaking her own school record in the 3000m steeplechase last season en route to taking sixth in the SCIAC final.
Also returning for the Panthers are senior Derek Ohara, who finished fifth place in the 100m dash at last year's SCIAC Championships, and junior Armond Gray who scored in both the triple jump and the long jump.
The teams will compete in a total of 10 meets this season, with the SCIAC Championships being held on April 24th and 25th at Occidental College. There is also the opportunity for athletes to qualify for the NCAA DIII Championships which will be held at St. John Fisher University from May 21-23.
By Phil Wood
Sports Information Assistant
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