By Jacob Norling
April 11, 2022
 
(CLAREMONT, Calif.) Westmont Men's and Women's Track and Field continued their season on Saturday at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational in Claremont. The Warriors did not earn as many NAIA Outdoor National Championship qualifying times as in weeks past, but multiple athletes still posted season bests in numerous events.
 
The qualifying highlight of the meet came on the men's side in the 1500 meter run. Zola Sokhela, the reigning 1500 outdoor national champion, led all competitors with a time of 3:49.46, which was more than four seconds ahead of the NAIA A-Standard.
 
Coming in a stride behind Sokhela was a pair of Warriors, Jack Vanden Heuvel and Adam King, who earned provisional qualifying times as well. Vanden Heuvel finished the race in 3:54.94 while King completed the race in 3:55.22. Both the men came in ahead of the NAIA B-Standard of 3:56.50.
 
While the three qualifying times in the men's 1500 were the only qualifying times for Westmont on Saturday, a handful of Warriors still posted notable marks in several events.
 
On top of competing in the 1500, Sokhela competed in the 400 meter dash as well, posting a time of 48.83. While Sokhela posted the third-best time in the event, he unfortunately missed both the A and B-Standard in the race (48.26, 48.85).
 
King and Vanden Heuvel ran impressive races as well in the 800 meter run, posting times of 1:54.11 and 1:55.47, respectively. However, both men fell short of the provisional standard of 1:53.80. In King's race, the redshirt sophomore ran a new personal best and won his section of the race.
 
On the women's side, Lily Sween was the lone Warrior to finish ahead of all competitors in an individual event, as she earned a mark of 5.59m (18-4.25) in the long jump. While Sween fell short of the provisional mark of 5.65m, her season-best jump placed her as fifth on the list of top-10 Westmont Women's track athletes in the event.
 
Elsewhere for the Warriors, multiple athletes set new personal-bests as the day came to a close. In the women's pole vault, Moriah Chiang cleared 3.13m (10-3.25) for the first time in her career. For the men, Ethan Heo set a new personal record in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 16.33, and Matthew Williams did the same in the 800 with a time of 2:01.69.
 
Also for the men, Damien Ureste ran a personal best time of 10:17.48 in the 3000 meter steeplechase, and Ryan Hooten cleared 4.45m (14-7.25) in the pole vault for the first time in his career.
 
Lastly, Landon Torres ran a season-best time of 18:46.60 on the women's 5000 meter run.
 
The Warriors will now turn their attention to this coming Friday, April 15, when the clubs will split up and compete at both the Easter Open (Santa Barbara City College) and Bryan Clay Invitational (Azusa Pacific). Most notably on the horizon, Westmont will once again host the GSAC Championships beginning on April 28 in Santa Barbara.