By Jacob Norling
April 29, 2022
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) The sun was shining in Santa Barbara this week when the Warriors once again hosted the Golden State Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships. While the men ultimately finished in third place and the women ultimately finished in third as well, several Warriors earned individual honors by the time the sun set on Friday.
 
It all started on Thursday when Anneline Breytenbach ran the 10,000 meter race for the first time this season. Breytenbach not only earned a B-Standard qualifying time with a mark of 37:35.38, but she also ran the seventh-best time in the event in program history.
 
Breytenbach won the event, earning her All-GSAC honors with the fastest Westmont time in the race since 2011.
 
"That was my first 10,000 ever," said a proud Breytenbach. "About two weeks ago Coach Connolly told me I was doing it, and I thought she was joking at first. Once I realized she was serious, I thought to myself, 'why not?' I just wanted to help get the team as many points as I could and try something new while I was at it."
 
Also finding her way onto the Warrior top-10 list on Thursday was Abby Rumohr, who cleared a career-best height of 3.65m (11-11.75) in the pole vault. Rumohr was one of only two competitors to clear 3.65m, but it took Rumohr all three attempts to clear the bar, while it took her opponent just one attempt.
 
Rumohr earned All-GSAC honors with a second-place finish in the event, as she also became one of the four-best pole vaulters in program history with her new career-best mark. Perhaps most notably for Rumohr, she officially punched her ticket to Gulf Shores, Alabama by earning the A-Standard mark of 3.65m.
 
The last group to make headlines on day one was the men's 4x800 meter relay team, who won the event with a time of 7:59.03. Matt Williams, John Baker, Jason Peterson, and Zola Sokhela earned their way onto the All-GSAC team with the first-place finish.
 
Sokhela would continue to make headlines all day long on Friday, with his first race of day two being the 1500. Sokhela allowed The Master's Daniel Rush to lead nearly the entire race before turning it on in the final 200 meters.
 
Sokhela, who eased up in his final strides once he secured victory, earned another All-GSAC honor and another NAIA A-standard with a time of 3:52.55. The next race for Sokhela would be the 400 meter race. In the 400, Sokhela finished a second shy of an NAIA qualifying time, but settled for winning the event and earning All-GSAC honors with a time of 49.54.
 
To cap off his day, Sokhela competed in the 5000 meter race. In his fourth race in less than 36 hours, Sokhela earned All-GSAC honors with a third place finish. Sokhela's time of 14:44.95 earned him a provisional qualifying time for outdoor nationals.
 
"Yeah, that was a lot," said an exhausted Sokhela. "I felt good about each race. Going into the 1500 I knew what I wanted to do and I executed accordingly. It was a little quicker than I expected it to be, but I did what I had to do to win it.
 
"The 400 is what I felt the least confident in. Going in as the top seed and knowing I'm expected to win, while expecting myself to win, was tough. I knew how tired I was going into that race while everyone else came in fresh. I didn't feel great but the last 100 meters it was already decided so that was nice. In the 5K, I was surprised I did as well as I did. I went in with no expectations and went in thinking 'if I can score at least one point for the team, I'll be happy with that'."
 
Elsewhere for the men, the 800 meter race proved to be one of the most thrilling events of the meet. TMU's Anthony Ghiorso led the race by several strides for the first 650 meters of the race, but Westmont's Peterson exploded with one of the strongest kicks of his collegiate career.
 
Ultimately, Peterson pulled ahead with a time of 1:53.21, edging out Ghiorso who posted a time of 1:53.38. Finishing in third for the Warriors was Adam King, who posted a time of 1:53.43. Peterson and King, who both earned All-GSAC honors, each posted a B-Standard time in the event.
 
"It was such a blast," said Peterson. "There's nothing like the excitement of 'can I get him?' Then, the excitement of doing it is unlike anything else. I was just having fun with it today."
 
Running the 1500 meter race for the women was Kari Anema, who joined the list of Warriors to earn All-GSAC honors with a third-place finish. Anema's time of 4:42.69 earned her a B-Standard qualifying time for Outdoor Nationals.
 
Also having an impressive showing for the Warriors was Lily Sween, who won two separate events on Friday. Sween finished first in both the long jump and the triple jump, posting marks of 5.26m (17-3.25) and 10.92m (35-10) respectively.
 
Sween, who will be competing in the heptathlon at Outdoor Nationals, received two All-GSAC honors.
 
The day came to a close with the 4x400 races, which led to two more groups of Warriors earning All-GSAC honors. In the men's 4x400, Peterson, King, Jack Vanden Heuvel, and Ben Bodine won the race with a time of 3:22.12, narrowly edging out Hope International.
 
In the women's 4x800, Siena Keck, Rumohr, Sween, and Jaiden Rodrigues solidified their third-place finish in the meet with a second-place finish in the final race. The All-GSAC quartet posted a time of 3:59.21 to close out the day.
 
At day's end, the schools all gathered for the awards ceremony where the final honors of the day were handed out. For Westmont, two final honors capped off the day. For the women, Sween was named the overall top performer for the meet, and for the men, Sokhela was named the top track athlete.
 
"Being honest, I came into this meet with low expectations," said Sween. "I didn't want to mentally put myself up there and be disappointed in the end. I didn't expect to win the long jump, and I won that, and I didn't expect to win the triple jump, and I won that.
 
"I haven't triple jumped in three years. I took one jump and won the meet with that. I took second place in three other events and I'm just super grateful to be out here. Last year I had a torn hamstring, so to be out here this year, I'm just super thankful and have to give all the glory to God."
 
Leading up to the NAIA Outdoor National Championships, the Warriors have two last-chance qualifiers lined up over the next two weeks. First on the schedule is the Oxy Last Chance Qualifier on May 7, before the Azusa Pacific Last Chance Qualifier which begins on May 13.
 
The NAIA Outdoor National Championships begin on May 25 in Gulf Shores, Alabama.