CLAREMONT, Calif. – Vanguard women's track and field headed to Strehle Track for the 38th Annual Pomona-Pitzer Invitational on Saturday. The Lion loadout of competitors finished with two gold medals, both of which came by way of freshman
Kaylee Best.
What Happened? Best took top honors in both long jump and triple jump to lead the Blue and Gold. Both her tallies were accentuated by her final attempts, with her long jump metric of 19' 6¾" and 40' 2" showing in the triple jump securing top spot.
Kolena Apana was fourth in the long jump (17' 7"), docking her best leap on her first attempt.
Briana Martin scored highest in the triple jump, bolting out to a 37' 5¼" result to take fifth place.
Closing out the jump squad was
Abigail Wolf, who competed in the high jump, clearing 4' 7", which was 22nd overall.
The throwers saw
Aaliyah Espinoza leading for VU in both events, claiming 10th in discus throw (125'9") and hammer throw with a 38.81m (127' 4") haul which put her in 12th.
Gimena Hurtado followed the senior in both events with a new personal best in discus (36.42-119' 6"), placing her in 14th. Her 36.37m (119' 4") measure in the hammer throw netted her 20th.
In the 100m,
Elizabeth Betten took 17th to lead the Lions (12.55). She was also the top Lion in the 200m, rolling out a 25.39 time to take 14th. Closing out the 100m,
Angelique Addae was 35th, coming in at 12.96, while
Jillian Orm was 49th with a 13.25 sprint.
Haley Svendsen walked away from the 100H with a new career-best run, finishing in 16th with a 16.04 time. Svendsen continued to be the Lion pace setter in the 400H, with another personal-best race at 1:05.80 to take seventh.
Hannah Finch was 10th at 1:07.26.
The 4x400 relay team of
Haley Butenschoen,
Kaitlyn Smith ,
Isabella Alvarez ,
Elizabeth Betten, and
Brady Wylie finished fifth with a 4:03.21 time.
The Lions put out a large sample of runners in both the 800m and 1500m. Mary Sawzuk led the Lion cast in the 800m with a 15th-place finish (2:19.26). The 1500m saw
Haley Butenschoen file into 19th with a new personal-best (4:50.65). Sawczuk was 31st, just three seconds behind the freshman at 4:53.82. The remaining Lion competitors were separated by a second, with
Brady Wylie (4:58.65),
Zoe Tavares (4:59.15), and
Hailey Quiroz (PR 4:59.38) rounding out the group.
The 3000M steeplechase saw
Chase Sullivan take ninth with a 12:08.01 run.
Adrianna Huffstuttler was next in 14th (12:38.24).
Macey Thomas was 16th with a 12:49.90 finish to rack up a new personal best. Finch was 20th in her debut of the event, coming in at 14:33.16.
Six competitors took on the 5000M, with captain
Madyson Nakamura sealing the best spot in fourth (17:48.80).
Isabella Sword netted the next top 10 spot 18:22.66.
Kaitlyn Barragan (19:31.27) and
Emily Noyes (18:42.73) both had career-best runs in the event.
What's Next? VU will shift its sights to the Bryan Clay Invitational next Friday in Azusa.
