FULL RESULTS
RENO, Nevada.- The Fresno Pacific Sunbirds opened up the 2025 season in style breaking records and putting up nation best marks at the Silver & Blue Invitational at the University of Nevada-Reno's new indoor track facility at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.
On the women's side,
Brianna Green ran a blistering 23.68 for 200m,, becoming Fresno Pacific's third fastest eve, while putting up a national DII leading mark.
Nydia Chance also excelled for the powerhouse sprint squad, running an all-time standard of 7.43 in the finals of the 60m sprint, a time which places her sixth in the nation. Other standout performances came from freshman
Mattie Whipple in the mile and the 800m run. Whipple won the mile in 5:08.55, and finished third in the 800m run with a time of 2:15.10, placing her 6th in the Fresno Pacific record books in her first outing on the track as a Sunbird. Showing why they were All-Americans last year,
Kenadhi Haslip,
Ariana Vera,
Shaniya Randolph, and
Brianna Green finished a close second with a time 3:47.51 in the 4x400m relay.
On the men's side, three-time 2024 All-American Shemar Palmer wasted no time letting everyone knows his plans for this season, running 21.09 in the 200m, a time good enough for third in the nation. Freshman Malachi Carrasco kicked off his career as a Sunbird by flying over the high jump bar with a new lifetime-best 2.09m/6'10.25", making him the second-best high jumper in Fresno Pacific history and places him with the eighth best mark in the nation. Fellow freshman Jonathan Biffle was also a winner in his first collegiate meet, crossing the line in 8.18 seconds in the 60m hurdles. Senior Bo Olsen had podium finishes in his two races, going first and second in the 1,000m run and 600m run, respectively. Olsen's 1,000m time of 2:32.12 is a facility record, and his 1:19.78 is an all-time school best at 600m. Damien Smith was right on Olsen's shoulder in that 600m in 1:19.96. Rounding out the performances for the men, senior Adrian Hodges had his best career season-opener in the triple jump, bounding for the win in 14.61m/47'11.25.
"It was a great ice-breaker meet for the squads and we will just keep trusting the process," said coach Robert Foster.
Coach Ray Winter concluded "We don't really expect fireworks at the first meet or two since it takes a couple of them to be able to demonstrate our fitness, but we definitely had some special performances out of the gate from a few people that are indicators of where we are headed this season. Our student-athletes are as focused as they ever have been and we are proud of their investments in excellence."
Up next, the Sunbirds will be back in Reno on January 23rd and 24th for the Nevada Invite and Multi.
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