Results | Men's Performance List | Women's Performance List
FULLERTON, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton men and women's track and field teams completed action at the 2015 Ben Brown Invitational on Saturday at Titan Track Complex behind strong finishes from sprinters Tyler Hardge and Joshua Gordon.
Hardge was the standout of the day for the Titan women as she took home first prize in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 60.97 seconds and second place in the 100m hurdles after crossing the finish line with a time of 13.97 sec. The freshman from Colton, Calif. posted personal-best times in each of the events she participated in on Saturday after competing in the same events in the opening meet at Riverside Community College.
Gordon was a bright spot for the Titan men on Saturday, taking part in three sprinting events. The junior brought home fourth place in the 100m dash with a personal-best time of 10.75 sec. and showed he is more than a short-distance sprinter when he posted a 46.82 sec. as part of the 4x400m relay team that earned the top spot in the event.
Sprints
It wasn't only about Hardge and Gordon on Saturday for the Titans as there were other standouts in the sprinting corps. India Owens posted two personal-best finishes, first in the 100m hurdle with a time of 14.94 sec. and then in the 400m hurdles finishing just under the 64.00-second mark at 63.99 sec. Calaiah Branch posted a top-five finish in the 200m dash with a time of 25.22 sec. and the team of Darnisha Loftis-McKnight, Elizabeth Claustro, Alexandria Stewart and India Owens finished in 2nd place in the 4x400m relay after running the event in 3:57.29 sec.
In his first meet action of the season, Keawe Tolson turned in personal-best times in both the 100m dash and 200m dash. In the 100m, Tolson finished in 10.99 seconds and in the 200m the junior posted a finishing time of 22.19 sec. The men's 4x400m relay team finished ahead of the entire field on Saturday, as the team of Gordon, Nick Reynolds, Chaz Harmon and Taylor Ros finished the event in 3:13.67 sec.
Jumps
Kimberly Amaya was the top finisher in the women's pole vault competition at Titan Track Complex on Saturday, clearing a height of 11-feet-5.75 inches to take home the top prize. After running a personal-best time of 14.59 in the 100m hurdle, Taylor Frank posted two top-ten finishes in her jumping events to round out her meet. She first took home eighth place in the high jump (1.60m) and seventh place in the long jump (5.21m). Freshman Laura Hamann also took part in the long jump competition alongside Frank, posting a personal-best jump of 5.52m.
Malik Johnson and Steven Williams both put up jumps that cleared 6-feet-8.75 inches, finishing in second place and fourth place, respectively.
Throws
After a spectacular showing in his first outing of the season at the RCC Open, Trevor Gorwin took home the top spot in the men's shot put competition at the Ben Brown Invitational with a throw of 16.54m. JaQuan Scott was right behind Gorwin in the competition and completed the Titan sweep of the top-two spots in the event with a second place finish after a throw of 15.07m.
Distance Runners
Multiple Titans posted personal-best times in the distance running events on Saturday as Nisreen Rizk finished the 5000m run with a PR time of 18:56.73 sec. Tejera Dial followed suit in the 1500m run with a season-best time of 4:39.24, good enough for a fourth place finish and another Titan finish in the top five.
The women weren't the only distance runners to post personal-best times on Saturday, Jose Penaloza and David Ramirez both competed in the 5000m run and posted times of 14:47.20 sec. and 15:57.72, respectively.
Friday Recap
In the men's javelin competition Daniel Walker took home the first top-ten finish of the day for the Titans with a personal-best throw of 56.25m in his first meet action of the season.
The women's hammer competition was arguably the best of the day for the Titans squad with a trio of top-ten finishers. Jessica Flores, Amanda Mercado and Alexandra Kemp finished 6th, 7th, and 8th, respectively. Flores posted a throw of (PR) 52.80m, a first attempt throw of 52.17 was Mercado's best of the day, and Kemp finished with a throw of (PR) 51.80m. Catherine Craig also threw a personal best 43.41m on Friday.
"Another Year, another Ben Brown in the books," said head coach John Elders. "I want to thank my staff and all of the support staff that helped put on a great meet. Tyler Hardge and Josh Gordon led the way in a day that included many outstanding Titan performances. Tyler continues to show that she is one of the most talended freshman in the Big West Conference and Josh demonstrated his versatility by running a fas 100 meters and then a blazing sub-47 second 4x4 leg. The team is really excited about all of the PR's and the positive direction the program is heading."
The Titans will hit the road for their next meet action as they travel to Las Vegas, Nev. on Mar. 20-21 to take part in the University of Las Vegas Spring Invite.
