Titans Begin Season With Strong Showing at the RCC Meet

Photo taken by Matt Brown
Photo taken by Matt Brown

Final Results (Link) 

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton men's and women's outdoor track and field team began their season with a strong showing in their opening meet at RCC on Saturday.

The Titans came home as winners of 16 different events with a lot of personal improvements by both the men's and women's squad for a great start to the 2016 season.

"It was a very strong opening day for both squads overall, but particularly for the men's sprint/hurdle squad," explained head coach John Elders. "It's early, but a lot of great things happened today that we can build on."

Sprints/Hurdles

Both the men's and women's squads saw big performances, highlighted by the duo of Thaddeus Smith and Janaya Shorty both winning the 100m and 200m dash. Smith ran times of 10.53 and 21.11 in the 100m and 200m, respectively while Shorty ran times of 11.87 and 23.92 in the 100m and 200m respectively as well.

The men's 100m dash also saw a 1,2,3 finish from the Titans with Luis Matos and Eli Penick following shortly behind Smith.

Fullerton had a 1,2 punch in the men's 110m hurdles with Aneesh Joshi taking the field with his time of 14.50 while Mason Guzman-Sanchez came in second with his time of 14.62.

Nick Reynolds set a personal record while finishing first in the 400m hurdles with his time of 52.38 and was followed shortly behind by Diego Courbis who came in second with his time of 52.44.

For the women, India Owens set personal records in both the 100m hurdles and the 100m dash with her times of 14.51 and 12.21 respectively.

Morgan Love also contributed for the women, finishing in first in the 400m dash with her time of 57.72.

The quartet of Aleyah Byers, Tyler Hardge, Alexis Stewart and Jade Lewis took the field in the 4x100m relay, posting a time of 46.80.

Elizabeth Claustro rounded out the group for the women, recording a huge personal record in the 400m hurdles running a 1:04.26 while also running the fastest leg in the 4x400m with her time of 56.2.

Jumpers/Throwers

Both the men and women swept the Pole Vault for the Titans with Siena Morgan finishing with a height of 3.20m (10.5 ft.) while Jacob Ruiz took the crown for the men with his height of 4.90m (16.08 ft.) which was also the first time he's gotten over 16 feet.

Jessica Flores started off the 2016 season with a very strong showing in the hammer throw, taking home first place with her distance of 55.05m (180.61 ft.).

Ifunanya Gwacham and Edwin Matthews rounded out the group by both winning in the javelin throw with their throws of 28.74m (94.29 ft.) and 52.20m (171.25 ft.)

The Titans return to Fullerton next weekend to host the annual Ben Brown Invitational on Friday, Mar. 11 and Saturday, Mar. 12. For more information on the meet, check out the link in the sidebar.

Fans can follow the indoor track and field team all season long by either "liking" Cal State Fullerton's Track and Field Facebook page (Facebook.com/FullertonTF) or by following the Titans on Twitter @FullertonTitans and also @FullertonTF.

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