Senior hurdler Jordan Chesley matched a personal best with her performance this weekend at the Aztec Invitational. Courtesy: Joe Reinsch
The Azusa Pacific track and field team is continuing to dominate its outdoor season with great performances and added another over the weekend in the sunny city of San Diego, Calif.
The Cougars traveled to San Diego on Friday, March 28 for the 36th Aztec Track & Field Invitational where they competed against many schools, including San Diego State University. The Cougars put up some of their personal best records during the three-day event.
Sophomore javelin thrower Allison Updike registered the second-best javelin throw in Azusa Pacific history to start off the invitational on Friday, with a 152-foot 3-inch throw. This personal record was 15 inches away from the APU record that was set back in 2000 by Vanessa Wilhelm.
Because of Updike’s outstanding performance, all of her throws qualify for the all-time top 10 list. She was also placed in the top five of the national NCAA Division II performance list.
Junior distance runner Elle Farrar beat her personal best record in her first event of distance running, finishing with a time of 18:29.41 in the 5,000-meter race. She beat her old record by 2.5 seconds. Sophomore mid-distance runner Reika Kijima was also able to hit a personal best in her 800-meter event, posting a time of 2:15.25.
Junior hurdler Tanner Henry put up the ninth-fastest Division II time in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.13, beat his personal best by almost four-tenths of a second.
Junior multi-event athlete Justin Young made a 10-foot improvement on his discus throw from his personal best, throwing a distance of 140 feet 7 inches.
Senior sprinter, hurdler and jumper Sameer Sedam and senior sprinter and jumper David Schulte were able to participate in their first long jump of the outdoor season. Sedam had a personal-best leap of 20 feet 10.75 inches while Schulte posted a time very close to Sedam’s, finishing with a personal-best leap of 20 feet 9.25 inches.
Senior mid-distance runner Riley Mckee and senior hurdler Jordan Chesley were close to either beating their personal-best records or matching their same records from previous competitions. McKee was only four-hundredths of a second away from achieving a personal-best time in the 400-meter with a time of 49.43 seconds. Chesley has posted personal-best times during the last three meets. Friday, she posted a time of 1:06.36 in in the 400-meter hurdles, matching a personal best.
APU will be traveling back to San Diego Friday and Saturday, April 4-5, where the team will compete in the Cal-Nevada Collegiate Championships.