Amidst a year of uncertainties and adjustments, Azusa Pacific Athletics continue to succeed and exceed expectations.

Here is a recap of the sporting events of the week:

Track and Field

Over the past weekend, most of the APU Track and Field team competed across three different meets. 

The indoor squad raced at the Last Chance meet in Staten Island, New Jersey and Boston while select distance runners, jumpers and throwers competed at the local outdoor meet, Rossi Relays, in Claremont, Calif. 

In New Jersey, the Women’s 4×400 team improved their previous provisional qualifying time of 3:47 to 3:44. The team is made up of Alayna Verner, Marian Ledesma, Jaylah Walker and Kiayra Holmes. 

The Men’s Distance Medley Relay team, made of Josh Velasco, Daniel Bessolo, Ben Sumner, and Aryton Ledesma, was able to hit a provisional qualifying time of 10:02.

In Boston, two new school records were set. 

The first came from the Women’s Distance Medley Relay where the team of Mikayla Akers, Briseida Garcia-Meza, Jaylah Walker and Marian Ledesma were able to put out an impressive 11:41.21. With this time, they qualified for the National Championships that will take place in two weeks and currently hold the 12th best time in Division II. 

A few hours later, Ayrton Ledesma broke the previous school record of 8:12 with his time of 8:09.37 in the 3k.

At Claremont, Luisa Fischer and Logan Peyton dominated in the Javelin, both exceeding the provisional marks. 

Peyton hit the provisional mark last week in his season opener at the All-Comers meet in Pomona and improved his personal best to 62.98m (206’ 7’’). He currently sits at the top of the national rankings. 

Fischer currently sits at second place in the national rankings after hitting the provisional mark with a throw of 42.43m (139’ 2’’).

The team will compete next Saturday at the Long Beach State outdoor meet where many will open their season or continue to chase the National provisional marks in preparation to defend their PacWest Championship titles and National title for the Women. 

Men’s Tennis

With their fifth and sixth consecutive wins this week, the Cougars captured two wins to advance to 6-1 overall. 

Their match, on Feb. 21, resulted in a 7-0 win over Point Loma. Ryan Nuno & Leyton Bohren, who won 6-3, and Ethan Smith & Sam Sippel, who won 7-6, secured the doubles point for Azusa Pacific.

 The singles results are as follows: Ivan Noel Hornburg (6-2, 6-3), Caden Samkutty (6-1, 6-2), Miha Velicki (6-2, 6-2), Sam Sippel (6-3, 6-3), Elias Emilio Walter (6-4, 2-6, 6-3) and Ryan Nuno (6-3, 6-3). 

Walter collected a PacWest Player of the Week award after his Biola (last week) and Point Loma performances. 

The Men also defeated Concordia Irvine on Saturday, Feb. 26, 6-1. In doubles, Bohren and Nuno secured the first win of the match with a 6-2 win. Sippel and Smith secured the doubles point with a 6-3 win. 

In singles, Sippel got the first win with a 6-4 and 6-0 final followed by a 6-2 and 6-3 win from Walter. Nuno delivered another win with a 4-6, 6-4, and 6-2 final. Velicki secured a 6-4, 6-3 win and Hornburg finished with a close win going 6-4, 7-6, and finally winning 10-7. 

The Cougars have a short but well-deserved break before they host Division I Weber State on Wednesday, March 9th. 

Basketball

Both Men’s and Women’s teams closed out their regular seasons last week. 

The Women’s team, who captured the PacWest Championship title a few weeks ago, finished their regular season 21-3 and 17-2 in PacWest play after their final overtime win over Concordia Saturday night. 

They now enter the PacWest tournament as a No. 1 seed and will play No. 8 seed, Fresno Pacific, on March 3rd. 

The Men went 2-1 in their final week before heading into the PacWest tournament. Earlier in the week, they defeated Academy of Art 78-69 and Dominican. 

They dropped their final game to Concordia Irvine University 67-72,  fumbling the PacWest title. The Cougars will enter the PacWest tournament as the No. 2 seed and will face off against Hawaii Hilo on March 2nd.

Both the Men’s and Women’s PacWest Tournament will take place at Fresno Pacific.