After a very successful cross country season in the fall, the Lancers distance track team proved they are a force to be reckoned with in just a couple of meets they have competed in.
Indoor track and field has a shorter season, with only three meets in three weeks starting in early February and ending mid-February.
The first race of the season was held on Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Westmont Sunshine Invitational in Westmont, Calif., where Mark Langworthy qualified for the Indoor National Championships in Cedarville, Ohio, with a time of *8 minutes 38.57 seconds. *
Although this individual competitor did not qualify for the Indoor National Championships, she has proven she is still a winner. Kayla Beaudoin, sophomore, ran 18:48 in the 5K making this a personal record.
“Kayla ran a 54 second PR … It was pretty cool that her first 5K of the year she PR’d by so much,” Sean Henning, assistant cross country and track coach, said.
The second race was at Azusa Pacific University on Saturday, Feb. 11. This meet had many individuals qualify for the Indoor National Championships, including the men’s and women’s distance medley relay (DMR) teams, consisting of four individuals on each team.
“We had five individuals qualify for Nationals and two relays as well,” Henning said.
Mitchell Moore ran a 14:47 in the 5K and also made a personal record of beating his old time by 20 seconds while teammate Chase Williams ran a 1:52 in his first 800-meter race of the year.
The Indoor National Championships was held on Saturday, Feb. 18, in Cedarville, Ohio. The women’s DMR team, including Naomi Van Setten, Jessica Reeder, Ashlee Cervantes and Alexandra Vukov, finished second overall out of 10 teams.
“I was really excited for us because I thought it [this accomplishment] was something that really helped out our confidence knowing we can go out there and be competitive with other good teams,” Naomi Van Setten, sophomore track runner, said.
Teammate Alexandra Vukov, also known as Lexi, added, “I was very proud of my teammates and the way we ran our race.”
The men’s DMR team finished with a first place win. Javier Madrid, Chris Cline, Moore and Williams were very excited with the outcome.
“I was very happy for my team in the DMR race,” Moore, junior track runner, said.
Not only did both men’s and women’s DMR teams dominate the competition in Ohio on Saturday, five individuals competed as well and did a decent job.
Jacquie Lutz, senior, ran the women’s 5K in 18:30 and finished third overall out of a field of 21 runners. Cervantes ran the mile finishing eighth out of 28 other racers with a time of 5:23.
“It was a great team experience andIamgladIwasabletobeapartof some of the seniors’ last indoor meet,” Cervantes, sophomore runner, said.
Moore competed in the men’s 5K taking third out of 29 competitors. Williams competed in the men’s 800-meter with a time of 1:55.30, his time being the best out of competition. Langworthy ran the men’s 3,000-meter race finishing second overall.
All the runners who competed in the Indoor National Championships earned All-American honors.
The first outdoor invitational is the Rossi Relays in Claremont, held on Saturday, Feb. 25.
