LOS ANGELES – Cal State Fullerton track and field had a productive day on Saturday at the USC Trojan Invite with multiple student-athletes posting personal-best marks as the outdoor season heats up.
Samantha Huerta earned a third-place finish in the women's mile with a time personal-best time of 4:48.02. She also posted a personal-best time of 2:10.53 in the 800-meter race, good for 10th place overall and the leading time in the Big West Conference this year. Sandra Flores
"She crushed it today," head coach John Elders said. "From what I can gather, she will probably be leading the Big West when they convert the mile to a 1,500-meter time. It was a special day, she's just really fit right now and very competitive. She's a racer. I'm not surprised but I think she was a little surprised so it was a great day for her. Sandra Flores also had a huge personal best and ran a great race."
Thaddeus Smith clocked a season-best time of 21.42 (+1.6 wind) in the 200-meter sprint, good for fifth place overall and the top mark in the Big West Conference this season. Gino Long made his season-debut in an individual event, running the 100-meter dash in 11.00 (+1.5 wind).
"Thaddeus is just scratching the surface," Elders said. "Truly, he can be so much better that it's kind of scary."
Jake Smith (4:16.28) and Uriel Medina (4:23.76) went 3-4 in the men's mile. Erick Juarez posted an 800-meter time of 1:58.24 in ninth place, the fastest time by a Titan in the event this season.
Mason Guzman-Sanchez's time of 14.63 (-2.7 wind) was good for fifth place in the 110-meter hurdles. Sam Schubert took sixth place (14.66, +1.0 wind) and Charles Kelly finished in seventh place (14.78, +1.0 wind), both clocking personal-best times. Kelly finished in seventh place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.89.
"It wasn't a season-best for Mason but it was a very clean race and that is something that coach (Marques) Barosso is looking for," Elders said. "Then, obviously, Sam and Charles ran strong races also."
Tatiana Bell finished in sixth place in the 100-meter dash with a time 12.17 (-1.5 wind) and Kiana Clay took 13th place at 12.44 (+0.6 wind). Bell and Clay also ran the 200 meters and finished in 18th (25.03, +1.4 wind) and 19th place (25.05, +0.4 wind), respectively. Fanny Giron took seventh place in the 400 meters with a season-best time of 57.66.
India Owens, Zuri Henderson, Morgan Love and Clay finished in fifth place in the 4x400-meter relay with a season-best time 3:49.32. The quartet of Alayah Byers, Clay, Bell and Naiah Boardingham finished in sixth with a 4x100-meter relay time of 46.62.
"It wasn't a crazy fast time but it was good progress and things are on the upswing so I'm excited," Elders said.
Adrianna Reagan cleared 5-5 (1.65m) in the high jump to take second place. Edwin Matthews finished in fourth place in the men's high jump with a clearance of 6-6.75 (2.00m). Bryn Williamson also earned a runner-up finish in the women's pole vault. Ryan Polakiewicz cleared 15-7 (4.75m) in the pole vault, good for sixth place. Dwayne Lee long jumped 22-3.5 (6.79m, +0.1 wind) and took fourth place.
Alvin Sung had a javelin toss of 180-1 (54.90m), good for sixth place overall. Sinai Fatafehi finished in fifth place in the shot put with a toss of 37-5.25 (11.41m).
"We didn't compete everybody today and next week will be the same but we're targeting the Big West Challenge to start stepping this thing up," Elders said. "Right now, we're still trying to get people healthy and ready to go so in a few weeks you should start to see some big marks."
CSF returns to action next week for the UCR Spring Classic on March 22-24.
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