SEATTLE, Wash. – The Cal State Fullerton women's indoor track and field team finished up the University of Washington Invitational in record-breaking style as Ty'Jalayah Robertson broke the school record in the high jump with a mark of 5-feet-6 inches, breaking the previous record of 5-feet-5.75 inches.
Jumps
Robertson wasn't the only one to flirt with breaking the record that was set by Sandy Gonzalez this weekend, Taylor Frank tied the mark earlier in the meet by matching Gonzalez's 5-05.75 mark set in the 2009 indoor season during the pentathlon event on Friday. Robertson, the sophomore from Los Angeles, Calif., was the lone competitor for Fullerton in the high jump on Saturday, posting the school-record jump that tied her for fifth place in the event.
Freshman Laura Hamann and Sophomore Brooke Hardge were the two Titans that competed in the long jump in the UW Invite's final day, posting jumps of 5.13 meters and 4.66m, respectively. For Hamann, the jump was a season-best, improving on her mark from the UNM Lobo Collegiate meet last weekend. The freshman finished in seventh place while Hardge's mark was good enough for 14th place.
Robertson was busy on Saturday in the jumping competitions as she also competed in the triple jump, posting a mark of 10.94m that put her in 19th place overall.
Runners
Another busy day for the running competitions started off with the 60m dash and 60m hurdle preliminaries. Fullerton had one entry in each event advance on Saturday with Janaya Shorty in the 60m dash and Tyler Hardge in the 60m hurdle. Each Titan student-athlete made it to the second round of preliminary heats, but neither could advance into the finals. Shorty turned in times of 7.69 seconds in the qualifying prelims, and 7.71 sec. in the final prelims. Tyler Hardge posted times of 8.95 seconds to qualify her for the final prelim where she finished with an identical time of 8.95 sec that was just short of qualifying her for the finals.
Three Titans raced for the top spot in the 400m on Saturday afternoon, Elizabeth Claustro, India Owens and Calaiah Branch all finished with season-best times. Branch finished in 32nd place with a time of 1:00.19, Owens turned in a time of 59.64, good for 28th place, and Claustro had the best time of the day for any Titans in the 400m, posting a 22nd-place finish with a time of 59.18.
The team of Tyler Hardge, Janaya Shorty, Alexandra Stewart and Elizabeth Claustro finished the weekend with a strong performance in the 4X400m Relay event. The team posted the fastest time in their section with a time of 3:52.54, and gave Fullerton another top five finish this weekend, taking fourth place in the event.
"As a coaching staff we are very pleased with the continued improvement from the ladies," head coach John Elders said. "We're excited to move forward and have the opportunity to have the week to get ready for the NAU Challenge and the Husky Challenge. "
Friday's Results
Pentathlon
Taylor Frank was the lone competitor from Cal State Fullerton to take part in the grueling pentathlon competition on Friday in Seattle. Frank finished in 10th place in the 60m hurdles with a time of 9.47 seconds, tied for 3rd with a high jump of 1.67m, tied for 11th in the long jump with a distance of 4.97m, 17th place in the shot put with a throw of 7.83m, and 17th in the 800m run, crossing the finish line in 2:50.44. Frank finished with 3,030 points in the event, good for 14th place.
Weight Throw
The Titans enjoyed another strong finish in the weight throw competition on Friday afternoon. One week after setting personal-bests at the UNM Lobo Collegiate, Amanda Mercado, Jessica Flores and Alexandra Kemp all finished 15th, 17th and 22nd, respectively. Mercado had the best throw from any Titan on Friday, posting a distance of 15.75m that was good enough for 15th place overall. Kemp posted a throw of 14.84m while Flores completed the event with a distance of 15.46m.
Runners
Morgan Thompson posted her fastest time in the 200m this season, earning a second-place finish with a time of 24.69 seconds. Thompson finished just nine-hundredths of a second behind Big West Conference foe Ashley Marshall of UC Davis (24.60) for the 1st place spot. In her first meet action of the year, Janaya Shorty finished fifth in the 200m dash, crossing the finish line with a time of 24.96. Elizabeth Claustro finished in 32nd place with a time of 26.42, with Calaiah Branch finishing in 38th place with a time of 26.67.
The team of Tejera Dial, Tijerra Lynch, Arianna Fuentes and Katie Bathgate wrapped up the running events for the first day of competition for the Titans by finishing the distance medley relay in 7th place with a time of 12:46.25.
The Fullerton Indoor Track and Field team will be back in action over the Valentine's Day weekend with distance runners heading right back to Seattle, Wash. for the Husky Invitational and the rest of the squad competing in the NAU Invitational in Flagstaff, Ariz.