By Jacob Norling
April 29, 2024
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's and Women's Track and Field were a part of history this weekend, when the club became the first Westmont program to host a PacWest Championship event. On Friday and Saturday, the Warriors played host to the best track and field athletes the conference had to offer, with a few Westmont athletes placing their names amongst the PacWest's best.
 
On Friday, Narindra Rafidimalala was the first Warrior to find themselves on the PacWest podium. In his best event, the men's long jump, Rafidimalala finished third in the event, earning a bronze PacWest medal with a jump of 7.19m (23-7.25). Concordia's Dylan Fox won the event with a mark of 7.62 (25-0), which broke the previous PacWest record of 7.55m. The previous PacWest record was also Fox's, a record he set at the PacWest Championships in 2023.
 
Rafidimalala also competed in the men's 100 meter dash finals, where he ultimately finished in sixth place with a time of 10.88. The PacWest champion ended up being Art U's Ajani Ince, who won the race with a time of 10.41.
 
On the women's side on Friday, former NAIA All-American Abby Rumohr just missed earning a medal in the women's pole vault. The senior's best clearance of 3.67 (12-0.25) was tied for the third-best in the event, but Biola's Reanna Maroon cleared the bar in fewer tries. Winning the event was Point Loma's Peyton Yoshida, who successfully cleared 3.77m (12-4.50).
 
On Saturday the Warriors did not have any athletes on the podium, but freshman Joshua Lin did have a strong showing in the men's 400 meter dash, where the first-year finished in fifth place with a time of 48.92. Elsewhere, Westmont's standout sprinter Jaiden Rodrigues finished 11th in the women's 100 meter dash preliminaries, crossing the finish line in 12.21.
 
In the men's 800 meter run, Jack Vanden Heuvel came close to earning a medal, when he finished in fourth place with a time of 1:51.63. In the women's 3000 meter steeplechase, Abigail Hundley was Westmont's lone competitor, and the Warrior finished the event in sixth with a time of 11:26.44.
 
In her final meet, Sonja Sween competed in the women's long jump, with the senior finishing in sixth place with a mark of 5.15m. Joel Nakazawa competed in the men's discus for Westmont, with his best mark of 42.88m placing him in fifth.
 
As a team, Westmont's men finished in seventh with 34 points. For Westmont's women, the Warriors finished in seventh with 23. Azusa Pacific won both PacWest Championships once again, with the Cougar's men earning 243 points, and the Cougar's women earning 218.
 
For Westmont, head coach Russell Smelley will take a small group of Warriors to Columbia, South Carolina next week, where the Warriors will compete in the National Christian College Athletics Association Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.