On Saturday, February 20, the Saint Xavier women’s and men’s track and field team competed in the NAIA Last Chance Qualifier, hosted by Olivet University. Both the men and the women had terrific outings with multiple racers from both teams placing in the top 5 of their respective events.
The first event to yield great results for the Cougars was the men’s 5000 meter run, where freshman Ivan Diaz would finish in 7th place with a time of 17:59.44. The next notable event was the men’s 60 meter dash, where sophomore Keith Kyonn would once again have a great outing as he finished in 5th place with a time of 7.11 to qualify for the 60 meter dash finals later in the evening.
In the finals of the 60 meter dash, Kyonn would once again place in 5th despite recording a better run time of 7.06.
In the men’s 1 mile run, the Cougars would dominate as both runners for the Cougars would place in the top three with senior Janis Pastars placing in 1st with a time of 4:24.77, and junior Abel Hernandez placing in 3rd with a time of 4:28.51.
The Cougars’ success would only continue as senior Rexford Wiafe would place in 2nd in the men’s 800 meter run with a time of 1:56.23. In the men’s 200 meter dash, a familiar face would once again make his presence felt as Kyonn would place in 4th for his third top-5 finish of the day with a time of 22.52.
Also, junior Al Bernal would have a good outing as he finished in 37th place with a time of 24.52. In the men’s 3000 meter run, freshman Alan Guzman would make an impact, finishing in 6th place with a time of 9:22.43. Senior Victor Solis would also have a great showing in this race, placing in 12th with a time of 9:31.83.
In the final event that the men’s team competed in, the men’s shot put, sophomore Josh Wallick would finish in 20th place with a distance of 10.51m. The women would also have a fantastic day on the track, starting with the women’s 1 mile run, where sophomore Ellie Willging would take 1st place with a time of 5:17.14.
Also, freshman Jess Wittmayer would give the Cougars another top 10 finish in this race, placing in 8th with a time of 5:39.44. In the women’s 1000 meter run, freshman Deandra Stokes would give the women their second 1st place finish in as many events with a blazing time of 3:09.99.
In the women’s 600 meter run, junior Rachel Koronkiewicz would place in 7th with a time of 1:50.25, continuing the streak of top 10 performances from the women. In the women’s 800 meter run, junior Nicole Watkins would have a great performance, finishing in 4th place with a time of 2:19.78. Also, freshman Alondra Delfin would have a good performance in this race, placing in 16th with a time of 2:31.70.
In the women’s 3000 meter run, the women’s streak of consecutive races with a top 10 finish would come to an end. However, the Cougars would have two racers place in this race as junior Courtney Correa would finish in 15th place with a time of 11:45.27, while freshman Miranda Tiffany would place in 20th with a time of 12:18.03.
In the women’s long jump prelims, the Cougars would get another top five finish from freshman Alex Lambros, as she would finish in 5th place with a distance of 4.95m, allowing her to compete in the long jump finals. In the long jump finals, Lambros would finish in 6th place despite jumping the exact same distance of 4.95m as she did in the prelims.
In the women’s triple jump prelims, Lambros would once again place in the top five with a 4th place finish and a distance of 10.60m to qualify for the triple jump finals. In the triple jump finals, Lambros would once again place in 4th even though she would finish this jump with a distance of 10.76m.
Overall, both teams did very well with the men finishing in 6th place in the competition, while the women finished in 7th place. The Cougars next meet will be from March 3-5 as both teams will have runners competing in the 2016 NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Johnson City, Tennessee.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor