Irvine, Calif. - Kaiser Permanente Southern California Half Marathon - Vanguard University sent one female Outdoor Track and Field athlete to compete at the 2012 Southern Cal Half Marathon event presented by Kaiser Permanente and held in Irvine on Saturday. VU's Kimberly (Jennings) Kent had an amazing race, breaking the VU half marathon record and qualifying for the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Nationals in the Marathon event, in the process of winning the women's division of the SC Half Marathon.

As the rest of Kent's teammates are preparing for the Indoor Track and Field season, she captured the rare opportunity to run the half marathon race which serves as a potential qualifier for the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Marathon. Kent, formerly Jennings before her marriage during Christmas break, burst into the 2012 Track and Field season with the best half marathon time for a VU female runner in over 20 years.

Kent's overall time for the 13.1 mile course was 1:22:05, which is a personal best by nearly three minutes and lowered Sherri Hall's 1991 school record of 1:23:10 by 65 seconds. In addition, VU's senior distance standout finished first in the women's division and 27th overall in a massive field of 3559 runners. She averaged running a 6:16 mile for the half marathon and topped her former best time from last summer.

Kent is now officially qualified to run the Marathon (26.2 miles) at the 2012 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Nationals on May 26th in Marion, Indiana. A first-year transfer athlete at Vanguard, Kent (Jennings) qualified for the NAIA Cross Country Championships in the fall and finished 47th in the 323-person field. Competing in her final semester of collegiate competition, she will now turn her attention to her events for the 2012 Indoor Track and Field season with the rest of her team and return to the Outdoor season in March.