LONG BEACH & AZUSA, Calif.- The Sunbirds Track & Field teams were busy breaking records in Southern California this weekend, representing strongly at both the Beach Invitational and Bryan Clay Invitational.

On the women's side, Julia Martinez broke the school record in the 5k in a time of 17:14.07, a mark held since 2017. Fellow teammates Aly Chavez and Avery Gibson also had massive lifetime bests of 17:40.65 and 17:58.63 to become fifth and tenth all-time, respectively. The record-breaking party continued for Brianna Green as she broke her own school record in the 100m hurdles (13.56) to move into sixth in the nation. The women's 4 x 100m relay team of Chance, Green, Copeland, and Randolph ran a season best of 44.87 to move into fourth in the nation, and 2024 national runner-up in the 200m Sariyah Copeland made big strides forward in her specialty, now sitting 14th in the nation with her season-best mark of 23.58. Freshman Avril Mendoza continued her moves up the national rankings in the 400m hurdles, improving her time to 1:00.46 and is now 17th in the nation. Other big moves were made in the middle distances as Mattie Whipple ran 2:10.58 in the 800m to become Fresno Pacific's second best ever. The party continued in the 1500m for Maria Magnusdottir and Aly Chavez, both running lifetime bests of 4:40.68 and 4:45.96 to become fourth and ninth all-time. Luca Romeo improved on her best in the hammer throw, sending it out to 151'3".

The men also collaborated across two invitationals to put the PacWest on notice that they have big plans next weekend as they host the PacWest Championships in Fresno. Shemar Palmer continued his national prominence in the long sprints, winning the 200m at the Bryan Clay Invitational in 20.59. Freshman Jonathan Biffle lowered his best in the 400m hurdles to 51.68, now moving him to 11th in the nation. Bo Olsen is now the sole owner of Fresno Pacific's school record in the 800m, running a 1:49.65 to move to 17th in the nation with that effort. Mid-distance mate Emanuel Salas also improved on his season best by winning his heat in 1:51.56 and carried that into the 1500m as well, moving to fourth all-time in that event with a 3:49.93. Bryan Banuelos also ran a competitive season-best in that event (3:51.58), and Abesolom Teffra ran 3:55.19 to make the all-time top ten list. Daniel Galvez made his debut in the 3000m steeplechase, running 10:08.71 and now ninth all-time for the Sunbirds in the event. 

"The men take their national seventh ranking and the women take their national ninth ranking into the PacWest Championship meet held next week at FPU on April 24-25." program director Ray Winter said of the historic weekend, "I don't think we could ask for a better preview weekend to hosting a conference championship meet. Both the men and the women are elevating at the perfect time and the postseason will prove to be the greatest in school history for both programs. It's an exciting time to be a Sunbird and I certainly hope the community comes out to watch us perform at home next weekend as we chase titles

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