By. Sunday Abarca
Editorial Staff
This month on Thursday, April 18th, 2019 Adams State track and field team flew off to California. There, they competed at three different track meets which consisted of the Bryan Clay Invitational & Multi, MT. SAC RELAYS, and Long Beach Invitational. Adams was looking to squeeze in a few more individuals into the rankings for conference and nationals.
The first of the three meets was the Bryan Clay Invitational & Multi. On the first day, our men’s distance team was strongly represented throughout the 10,000m race. Our top athlete was Dalton Graham, finishing 6th overall with a time of 30:03.48. Adams also had Danny Dominguez finishing in 14th place with a time of 30:25.34. Along with Dane Blomquist and Joey Bender coming in 20th and 21st place.
On the women’s side, Melena Grover finished in sixth place in the 10,000m race with a time of 34:55.08. Kaylee Bogina also did well, finishing in ninth place with a time of 35:12.82, as well as Sadie Baker who finished 16th with a time of 36:11.34.
For day two of the meet, Adams finished with several more strong marks in the distance events. Elias Gedyon finished in 12th place for the 5000m. Joshua Joseph also finished in 26th place with a time of 12:56.78.
On the women’s side, Eilish Flanagan finished 8th in the 5000m race with a time of 16:0039.
The only sprinter at the meet was Augustine Larranaga, who competed in the 400m. Larranaga ran a personal best finishing in 5th place with a time of 48.57.
In the second meet, we had three athletes compete at MT Sac, which is one of the biggest college meets worldwide.
Senior Diana Johnson competed in the 100m dash, finishing 17th with a time of 11.74. Also competing at MT Sac was Oweneika Watson, representing Adams in the 100m hurdles and long jump. In the hurdles, Watson ran a time of 13.83 placing her in 12th. In long jump, Watson finished 19th with a jump up 17-5.
On the men’s side at MT Sac, Kale Adams ran in the 3000m steeplechase, placing 16th overall with a time of 9:06.79.
At the Long Beach Invitational Adams had a few distance athletes compete.
On the women’s side was Rosin Flanagan and Stephanie Cotter. Both women ran in the 800m and 1,500m race. Flanagan finished in second place and currently holds the school record with a time of 2:08.34 in the 800m. Cotter was 20th in the 800m with a time of 2:13.34.
On the men’s side, Paddy Robb and Austin Speer both competed in the 800m race. Robb finished with a time of 1:54.56, which placed him in 38th place. Speer ended up running 1:56.64 which landed him in 55th place.Wrapping it up in an interview with Larranaga, he states, “Conference is next weekend and I think we have a strong team both on the men’s and women’s side. If all goes as planned, we’ll both take home the gold.”
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