By Jacob Norling
April 23, 2021
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) The Warriors' Track and Field teams began competition at the GSAC Championships on Friday down on Westmont's track, where the event has been hosted every year since the track opened in 2010 (except for 2020).
 
The Warriors come into Friday with history on their side, with the Men's team having won seven consecutive GSAC Championships, and the Women having won three straight. After day one of competition, the rest of the GSAC has shown no intention to let history continue repeating itself.
 
Westmont's Women's team leads the pack with 71.50 points after day one, which is 6.5 ahead of William Jessup, while the Men's team is in second as they trail Arizona Christian 74-63.
 
One of the highlights of Westmont's day was in the Men's pole vault, when Seth Wilmoth broke his own school record. Wilmoth cleared 5.06 meters (16-7.25) to finish first in the event, passing his previous best mark of 5.05 which he originally set in March of 2019.
 
Jarad Harper posted another impressive mark for the Men's team in the long jump, when he finished second after landing at 6.61 meters (21-8.25).
 
The individual highlight for the Men on the track side of things was Thaddeus Kowalik's performance in the 3000 meter steeplechase. Kowalik was able to outlast Joshua Duarte of the Masters to win the steeplechase when he posted a time of 9:39.46, which was less than a half second faster than Duarte.
 
For the Women the Warriors collected points with a pair of second place finishes in javelin and discus. Haleigh Batty finished second in the Javelin with a launch of 30.78 meters (101), and Sydney Marr took second place in the discus with a toss of 36.76 meters (120-7).
 
Batty stayed busy in the long jump, again taking second in the event this time with a mark of 5.17 meters (16-11.5). Westmont's Champion of Character Award recipient Tori Davis finished tied with Batty in the long jump, posting a mark of 5.17 meters as well.
 
On the track, Emma Lottman finished second in the 3000 meter steeplechase with a time of 12:31.15. And in the 4x800 meter relay, the Warriors took second place with Casey Jensen, Alicia Morales, Gretchen Scherrei, and Kacie Kwan finishing in 10:02.15.
 
Numerous Warriors for both men's and women's qualified for the finals tomorrow after an impressive display in prelims on Friday.
 
The second and final day of the GSAC Championships begin at 10:30 AM tomorrow morning with the continuation of the decathlon. Live coverage will begin on the Westmont athletics website ahead of the Women's 4x100 relay at 12:30 PM.
 
The final scheduled event of the day is the Men's 4x400 relay at 4:05 PM with the award ceremony scheduled for 4:30 PM. If the Warriors plan on being the focus of the ceremony once again, they'll need an impressive showing all day long.