FRESNO, Calif. –The Fresno Pacific men's and women's track & field teams wrapped up competition at the 2018 PacWest Championships on Saturday at FPU Track. The Sunbirds had a tremendous day at the track, as the two programs combined for six individual champions and several all-conference honors.
The men (183 points) and women (170.5) both officially placed second at the meet. Azusa Pacific grabbed both titles with 185 points on the women's side and 218 points on the men's.
"Both our men's and women's programs represented Fresno Pacific in as fine a fashion as we ever have," said head coach
Ray Winter. "It really was a fight for every point, and in the end even though we came out in second place and fell short of our goal, I think we all know we left it out on the track this weekend and are proud of what we accomplished. Obviously the many individual conference champions and all-conference honors that we garnered this weekend are highlights, but every single point that was earned and every support effort that we got from each student-athlete and our coaches and staff made a huge impact on our effort. We all rallied around each other and it was certainly a memorable journey."
Brie Courseault led the women and was named the Most Outstanding Track Athlete of the Meet after capturing four different first-place medals. She won the 200m (24.36) and the 400m (54.38) in convincing fashion, while also helping the 4x100m (46.93) and 4x400m (3:47.96) relays bring home victories. She lowered her own school record in the 400m and improved upon her provisional mark for the NCAA Championships.
"Brie was a very worthy recipient of the track athlete of the meet in the female competition, having won two events in outstanding fashion and being a leader on both of the winning relays as well," noted Winter. "I could not be more proud of her. The next month for her and many of her teammates will be exciting as we fine-tune and look towards competing at the national level."
The sprint crew joined Courseault in having a dominant meet, which was highlighted in the 200m dash as FPU swept the top three spots. Courseault was followed by
Danae Manibog (24.55) and
Kala McClain (24.81) in second and third, respectively, while
Kyra Bailey finished in seventh (25.50). Manibog jumped up to third all-time in program history, while Bailey moved to eighth all-time at FPU with the mark. The foursome also won the 4x100.
McClain picked up an individual title as well, as the junior won the 100m dash in 12.04 while having to deal with two false starts. Manibog added a second-place finish in the 400m, which improved her season-best mark to 54.93 (second all-time at FPU).
The Sunbirds received a strong meet from
Cathrin Wicke, as the versatile athlete highlighted her meet with a win in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:00.18 (just off the school record). She also joined Courseault, Bailey and Manibog on the 4x400 winning relay.
Other strong results included
Christy Norris taking second in the shot put (40-11.75),
Annie Regier finishing second in the high jump (5-05) and
Gianna Cassinerio taking third and moving to sixth all-time in program history in the triple jump (38-10.50).
For the men's meet, the highlight came in the 4x400 relay as the Sunbirds came from behind to take down APU in the final 50 to bring the home crowd to its feet.
Michael Taylor was the anchor who ran down the Cougars to give FPU a time of 3:15.39. He was joined by
Armon Plummer,
Lawrence Cairo Jr. and
Scott Hickam. Taylor also finished third in the 400m (48.93) and seventh in the 200m (22.34).
The Sunbirds also received victories from Hickam in the 400 hurdles (53.12) and
Tim Holmes in the hammer (159-00) on the day. Holmes moves to ninth all-time in program history with the toss.
Andre Woodson had a solid meet for FPU, running against Olympian Mobolade Ajomale in the 100m and 200m. Woodson took second in both events with times of 10.77 and 21.68, respectively. His time in the 200 moves him up to seventh all-time at FPU. He also started off the 4x100m relay that took second (41.95), as he was joined by Plummer,
Norman Napolitano and Taylor.
In the 800m,
Josh Zavala had a breakout race to finish fourth with PR time of 1:54.00. It is a provisional mark for NCAA's and just outside the all-time program record book.
FPU also received strong races from
Alex Torres, who finished fifth in the 5,000m (15:04.39), and
Tamaj Johnson and
Xavier Jones, who finished third (14.93) and fourth (15.07) in the 110 hurdles. Johnson moves to 10th all-time at FPU.
The morning was started off by
Elijah McDowell taking second in the high jump (6-02.75), while teammates
Jaeden Herms (6-02.75) and
Sam Burt (5-07.00) took fourth and ninth, respectively. McDowell added a third-place finish in the triple jump with a stretch of 45-02.25.
For the decathlon,
Julian Gonzalez took third (5,726 points) and
Andrew Morin (5,631) placed fourth to provide key points for the Sunbirds. Gonzalez now ranks ninth all-time at FPU in the multi-event competition.
The Sunbirds will head to a last-chance meet next weekend as multiple Sunbirds will look to qualify for the NCAA Championships, held May 24-26 in Charlotte, N.C. FPU competes at the Sacramento State Open on Saturday, May 5.
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