The meet weekend recap
The Trojans started their weekend in California Thursday evening under the lights at the Cal State LA Twilight. Elijah Figueroa figueroa competed in the men's 100 meters and narrowly missed his best time in cold and rainy conditions with a time of 11.44 seconds. He would come back later that evening and run a collegiate PR of 23.17 seconds in the 200 meters despite suffering a minor hamstring pull in the final meters. Hakiim Hassan ran a personal best time of 2:06.23 in the 800 meters to place 16th. Trinidad State would be a large portion of the field in the men's 5,000m with a total 6 athletes. The group was led by Vincent Kipchirchir in 4th place with a time of 15:14.30. He was closely followed by Reagan Longei and Ayub Sayid, 15:17.98 and 15:19.83, respectively. In over a minute personal best, Collin Moore ran a time of 15:25.44. Kyle Awelagte also lowered his personal best with a time of 15:30.36. To close out the strong 5,000m performances, Kameron Eustace ran a huge personal best with a time of 15:36.78.
The Trojans were back in action less than 12 hours later at the Beach Invitational hosted by Long Beach State University. In the men's 10,000 meters Jarred Baca ran a stellar race qualifying to the National meet with a time of 32:44.11. He was followed by Daniel Recio who also ran a personal best of 33:13.57. Loryn Trujillo ran over a 20 second personal best in the women's 5,000 meters with a time of 19:06.87. Kyle Awelagte followed his great race at Cal State LA with another 5,000m race in a time of 15:35.77 and a 6th place finish in his heat. Ayub Sayid hhighlighted the weekend in the men's 3,000m steeplechase where he kicked from 3rd place to first in the final 200 meters to win the event. His time moved him up on the NJCAA national list to 6th. Vincent Kipchirchir finished his weekend with a great steeplechase in a time of 9:49.99. Kameron Eustace also competed in the steeplechase for his first time in 10:50.08.
In the afternoon at the Bryan Clay Invitational, the men's middle-distance athletes ran the 800m. Adrian Villarreal ran a personal best of 1:55.31. Scott Hubbard was right behind also with a personal best of 1:55.34.
Saturday morning, Reagan Longei ran a great 1,500m race in a NJCAA qualifying mark time of 4:01.06 at the Beach Invitational. Also at the Beach Invitational, with two more personal best times of 4:09.68 and 4:29.46, Collin Moore and Hakiim Hassan rounded out the distance events. Elijah Figueroa had a big improvement in the men's 400m with a time of 51.84 and 4th place finish in his heat.
Back over in Azusa at the Bryan Clay Invitational, Adrian Villarreal and Scott Hubbard ran NJCAA qualifying marks of 3:56.83 and 3:57.78 respectfully. Both times were personal bests at the distance.
The trojans will immediately get back to the track with a small contingent of athletes running at the Don Kirby Tailwind Open at UNM Thursday April 20.