By Jacob Norling

(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.)

Westmont Men's and Women's Track and Field is off to the races in 2024 after hosting the Sunshine Indoor Open on Saturday in Santa Barbara. While the meet included teams from the Division I, NAIA, and junior college levels, the competition was Westmont Track and Field's first as members of NCAA Division II.
 
Individually, Westmont's story of the day was Narindra Rafidimalala, who was the first Warrior to make history this season. Rafidimalala had a solid showing in the 60m dash with an eighth-place finish and a time of seven-seconds flat, and he also posted the second-best triple-jump mark of the day, which came in at 14.03m.
 
The reason Rafidimalala stole headlines on Saturday is the fact that he broke Westmont's school record in the long jump, as he completed the event with a program-best leap of 7.42m. The previous record was held by Paul Herman, who held the top-spot since the early 60's with a mark of 7.41m.
 
"Being able to make that big jump today was because of the hard work the whole team has been putting in," offered a humble Rafidimalala. "We've been working every day and really looking forward to the Sunshine Open, and it was great to get to be back out here today.
 
"I'm looking forward to the season ahead. Hopefully there's a lot more personal-records ahead because I'm just always trying to be better than I was yesterday."
 
Makai Bruce also had a strong showing in the long jump, as he posted a second-place finish with a mark of 6.85m.
 
Aside from Rafidimalala, other highlights included Ben Bodine's performance in the men's 600 meter dash, where he won the event with a time of 1:21.10. Two other Warriors joined Bodine in the top-four, with Justin Hess coming in third with a time of 1:21.74, and Joshua Lin coming in fourth with a time of 1:22.43.
 
In the morning, Simeon Michelson started Westmont's day off strong in the 3000m race walk, when he won the event with a time of 15:46.92.
 
On the women's side, Anneline Breytenbach and Abigail Hundley had a strong showing in the 1000, where they finished in second and third, respectively. Breytenbach completed the race in 3:08.52, while Hundley crossed the finish line in 3:13.57.
 
Also for the women, both Madalyn Hofman and Miranda Irwin competed in the pentathlon, with Hofman coming in second with 2,707 points, and Irwin coming in third with 2,609.
 
The Warriors will return to competition on Saturday, February 17, when they compete in the Concordia Indoor Invite.