SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Day One of the PacWest Track and Field Championships drew to a close on Friday evening, with Fresno Pacific picking up three individual conference crowns. The Sunbird men ended Friday in third place as a team, while the FPU women scored in three events.

"Today only six of the 21 events were contested as finals, but between those finals and the many running preliminary rounds, it felt like every bit of a full championship day," said head coach Ray Winter. "We battled wind all day but it certainly didn't slow anyone down. On the women's side, we ran some historic speed in the 100m and 200m to set us up for an incredibly competitive finals day at what amounts to a pre-nationals meet in the sprints. The PacWest is just that strong."
 
Senior Bryan Banuelos came away with the individual title in the men's 10K, doing so with a time of 31:34.29 to hold off Biola's Jacob Shirota and Azusa Pacific's Jared Wright in a tight finish. Sophomore Julissa Avila turned in a PR time of 37:55.14 on the women's side, good enough for fourth place on the podium. That mark puts her third all-time for FPU. 

"Bryan now has a 10k crown to go next to last year's 5k title run," noted Winter. "The crowd was going crazy as four men entered the final straightaway together and Bryan had a gear no one else did."
 
Senior Jesse Franco dominated the men's hammer throw with a first-place distance of 51.13m (167' 9") in the second flight, finishing nearly 20 full feet ahead of second place. Teammate Chavez Grey set a new PR with a mark of 43.23m (141' 10"), landing in sixth place in his collegiate championship debut.
 
Senior Elizabeth Naranjo gave the Sunbirds a seventh-place finish in the women's hammer, posting a new PR with a distance of 41.10m (134' 10"). In the women's pole vault, sophomore Trinity Ross finished in seventh place with a bar height of 3.57m (11' 8 ½"), her best performance to date in the Blue and Orange.
 
Of the 41.50 team points FPU tallied in men's events on Friday, 19.5 came from a tremendous showing in the javelin. Junior Dejan Mileusnic (67.20m/220' 5") picked up the conference crown, while sophomore Forrest Gray gave the 'Birds a 1-2 finish behind a mark of 57.20m (187' 8"). Senior Russell Zelazo ended in a tie for eight with a toss of 46.20m (151' 7"), helping him share the podium with APU's Nicholas Jordan.

A notable prelim performance came from Shemar Palmer in the 200m, who seemingly coasted to a first-place finish at 20.43.

"Shemar was already on the nation's short list of stars to watch rise, and then today he dropped a 20.43 in the 200m, though wind-aided, to move into the #1 spot in the nation," noted Winter.
 
Sophomore Jackson Paramo sits in fifth place in the decathlon following a day that included 3,113 total points and wins in both the 100 (11.13) and the 400 (51.48). The 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault and javelin will round on the decathlon on Saturday afternoon.
 
Day Two of the PacWest Championships is set to get underway on Saturday at 11:00 a.m., with field events kickstarting the day.

"Tomorrow's finals are going to be really unbelievable on the track and in the field," said Winter.

To follow live results and view the schedule in its entirety, please click here.