Injuries Hurt Track & Field at SCIAC Multi Duals

Whittier College track and field took part in the third SCIAC meet of the season, the SCIAC Multi Duals hosted by the University of Redlands on April 12.

The women were 2-5 in the meet, winning against Caltech and La Verne.  The three throwers are showing their depth in the shot put and discus with all three women finishing in the top seven in discus and top nine in shot put.  Shuree Gangloff ‘09 had an average meet by her standards, but still scored 97 total points with an overall finish of first in discus (123' 0"), fifth in shot put (35' 3.25"), sixth in hammer (133' 5"), and eleventh in javelin (90' 5").   Essence Scott ‘11 had a great day with a personal record of 34' 7.5" in the shot put to place seventh and move up to fifth all-time. She also did well in the discus with a 103' 1" for seventh place.  Sheila Enos ‘11 was not to be left out of the party of throwers as she went 115' 8" in discus for fourth place and 32' 11.25" in shot put for ninth place.    

Rosario Rios-Aquilar ‘08 had a total of 92.75 points with an overall finish of second in the high jump (5'1"), second in the 400 hurdles (67.86), seventh in the javelin (98' 9"), and running a leg of the 4x100 relay for a fifth place. It was Rios-Aguilar's first ever run in the 400 hurdles and the time stands at second all-time at Whittier College.  Kashima Patridge ‘11 was second in the long jump at 17' 7.5" and is now within one inch of tying the school record. She is also within six inches of the provisional mark for the NCAA championships. Partridge also finished ninth in the 100 (13.64) and ran the anchor leg of the 4x100 relay.  Two freshmen ran the 3000 steeplechase for the first time and came up with great performances. Jessica Mena ran a 13:43.99 for third place and is now #5 all-time at Whittier.  Meghan Reynolds ran a 15:19.07 to finish sixth and is #7 all-time.  There were many other great efforts including a great race in the 4 x 100 relay as the team of Patridge, Rios-Aquilar, Stephanie Anderson ‘11, and Ashley Vierra ‘10 are now within .18 seconds of the team record and the 4 x 400 relay team of Vierra, Reynolds, Mena, and Erin Patterson ‘10 put in a season-best performance with an improvement of over 17 seconds to run a 4:29. 22. 

The men are dealing with major injuries and it showed. Three of Whittier's strongest competitors, Chris Gartrell '08, Ryan Munoz '09 and Devin Farrow ‘10 were unable to compete due to injury.  TC Collymore ‘10 led the team as he scored 110 total points on the night with a first place finish in the triple jump at 45' 8.5".  He now leads the conference in the event and is within 2.75" of provisionally qualifying for the National Championships. He also placed second in the high jump, seventh in the javelin, and tenth in the long jump.  Thomas Martinez ‘11 ran his first ever 3000 steeplechase and placed fifth with a solid time of 10:21.46.  Nick Daum ‘08 had a personal best of 4:17.12 in the 1500 for a ninth place finish.  Brad Seitz '11 reached 160' 0" in the javelin for sixth place.  Matt Carroll ‘09 had a big improvement in the shot put to place sixth with a throw of 41' 5".  Brandon Wilcox ‘11 also did well in the shot put with a 41' 3.75" throw for ninth place.

The Poets are in action again on April 19 at the Tiny Lister Classic hosted by Cal St.-Los Angeles.  The meet begins at 10:00am.