By Jacob Norling
February 21, 2024
 
(IRVINE, Calif.) Westmont Men's and Women's Track and Field competed in their first meet away from home this past weekend, when the team traveled down south to compete in the Golden Eagle Invitational. Transition seems to be a common theme for all Westmont teams in the school's first year at the NCAA Division II level, but fitting in with the theme of transition, are the new faces that have already begun to enter the record books for Russell Smelley's team.
 
For the women, local freshman Makenzie Fauver took third-place in the women's 60 meter hurdles on Saturday, finishing the event with a time of 9.29. In only her second meet as a Warrior, Fauver's time places her as the fifth-fastest finisher in the event in Westmont's program history. The 9.29-mark places her right between Sondra Blockman, who ran it in 9.21 in 2011, and Kristan Holding, who finished in 9.30 in 2014.
 
On the men's side, several Warriors found themselves inside the program's top-10 performer list. As far as new faces go, the men's 3000 meter run saw a pair of Warriors make headlines, with transfer Bryce Gardhouse becoming the number-three performer in program history, and freshman Luke Hein breaking the freshman-class record.
 
For Gardhouse, who earned All-PacWest honors in cross country, the junior-transfer finished the race in third-place with a time of 8:21.37. For Hein, the freshman's time of 8:42.46 was two seconds faster than the previous best from a Westmont freshman, which was set in 2017 by Warrior-great Michael Oldach (8:44.55).
 
Hein was not the only freshman to set a new class record on Saturday, with first-year Justin Hess not only setting the new freshman standard, but also becoming the number-six performer in program history in the men's 600 meter run. Hess finished the 600 in 1:21.31, which was less-than-a-second faster than Jeff Thompson's 1:21.39 set in 2005. Freshman Joshua Lin also threatened to break Thompson's mark, with Lin's time of 1:21.64 good enough to make him the number-eight performer in program history.
 
It was a familiar face for Westmont winning the men's 600, however, as former NAIA All-American Ben Bodine was the meet's fastest competitor, finishing the race in a personal-best time of 1:20.88. The performance made Bodine the number-four performer in program history, with this specific race being the seventh-fastest time in program history.
 
Bodine's time was less-than-a-second slower than Zola Sokhela's 1:20.08 from January of last year.
 
Also making headlines was long jumper Narindra Rafidimalala, whose mark of 7.21m was the furthest of the meet, and also the number-eight performance on Westmont's top-10 list.
 
The Warriors will look to re-write the record books again on March 9, when they host Navy in a Dual Meet at Westmont College.