The Kingsmen and Regals track and field teams competed in the first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference multi-dual meet of their season against the University of Redlands and Whittier College on March 5.

The Kingsmen came out on top with a clean sweep, beating Whittier 126-27 and Redlands 82-80. The Regals split taking out Whittier 114-43 and falling to Redlands 90-73.

The Regals were able to pull out seven wins out of 19 events they competed in. Senior sprinter and jumper Amanda Hamilton was able to pull out three of the seven wins for California Lutheran University. Hamilton won the 100m with a time of 12.53, the 200m with a time of 25.83 and the triple jump with the distance of 11.50m.

“I did alright, it was a long day. I kind of managed to get points in some events that I don’t normally do that they just threw me in so that was good,” Hamilton said.

Cal Lutheran dominated the throwing events collecting the top spot on three out of the four events. Freshman thrower Alexa Barnes won the discus event at a distance of 37.53m. Sophomore thrower Carson Nicodemus claimed the first spot in the hammer throw with a distance of 34.15m. Senior Allie Hadley rounded out the throwing events beating her opponents with a throw of 43.01m in the javelin event, four meters further than the second place finisher.

“Yesterday was a great way to open up the season. The girls team beat Whittier and came within a couple points of beating Redlands,” Hadley said.

In the 400m hurdles the Regals took the top two spots in the event. Sophomore Carlie Burow came in first with a time of 1 minute and 6.35 seconds. Junior Sabrina Sewell came in second by three seconds with a time of 1:09.03.

“We are made up of a lot of freshmen and are a young team and I think they have stepped up a lot in the events,” Head Coach Matt Lea said. “They are really taking the mold of the team and understanding that we are not senior-ridden. We are doing really well as a whole for how young we are.”

The Kingsmen finished the day with five first place finishes and a clean sweep of Whittier and Redlands.

Senior thrower Michael Bassette collected three out of the five Kingsmen wins of the day. Bassette took the shot put crown with a distance of 14.89m beating the second place finisher by two meters. Cal Lutheran took the top two spots in the discus competition as well. Bassette took first with a distance of 42.07m, three meters further than teammate sophomore Ryan Fisher who threw a distance of 39.86m. Bassette finished off his three-win sweep with a first place spot in the hammer throw at a distance of 46.51m beating the second place finisher by 10 meters.

The Kingsmen continued their wins with a first place finish in the 400m dash taking the top two spots. Freshman Daniel Medina took first with a time of 51.89 to edge out his teammate senior Cody McElligott, who ran a 52.45. Sophomore jumper Michael White was able to claim the first place spot at a distance of 6.57m.

Senior Ben Chavez II pulled out a sixth and seventh place finish in the 100m and 200m, respectively, with a time of 11.47 in the 100m and 23.15 in the 200m. Senior Nick Privitelli pulled out a third place finish in the 1500m with a time of 4:04.30. Senior hurdler Trever Wood placed fifth in the 110m hurdles with his personal best time at 15.61. Wood also pulled out a second place finish in the high jump at 1.80m, beating Redlands and giving the Kingsmen the advantage in the points.

“They threw me in at 4×100 and I didn’t practice it all week because of my knees. We ended up getting third in 4×100 and I got fifth in the hurdles but my time was at my season best,” Wood said. “They threw me into high jump just because we needed points and I ended up beating Redlands and that really helped us in the end to beat them.”

The Kingsmen and Regals will compete in the Oxy Distance Carnival/Spring Break Classic on March 11 at 11:00 a.m.

Courtney Sooy
Staff Writer
Published March 9th, 2016