By Jacob Norling
February 22, 2025
 
(CLAREMONT, Calif.) Westmont Men's and Women's Track and Field was back in action on Saturday when they competed in the Rossi Relays hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Several relay teams and individuals put on strong showings for the Warriors in Southern California.
 
For Westmont's women, Grace Soberanis, Kennah Shaffer, Jaiden Rodrigues, and Charlotte Williams ran the third-fastest time in the 4x100 relay, posting a time of 47.96. The quartet posted the fourth-fastest time in program history on Saturday. For Rodrigues and Williams, the duo has a part in five of Westmont's 10-fastest 4x100's in program history.
 
Those same four also competed in the 800 sprint medley relay, where they finished in fifth with a time of 1:48.45.
 
"Those four passed the baton nimbly around the track for an impressive early season performance," offered head coach Russell Smelley.
 
For Westmont's men, their 4000 meter Distance Medley Relay team took care of business, posting the fastest time of the event out of 18 competitors. That race was run by Jack Vanden Heuvel, Andres Leon, Joshua Lin, and Zola Sokhela, as the men won the event by nearly 12 seconds with a time of 10:07.55.
 
On the field side of things, Shaffer stayed busy in the women's long jump, where the rising track star finished fifth in the event with a mark of 5.20m (17-0.75). In the men's long jump, John Sakaguchi finished third in the event with a mark of 6.98m (22-10.75). Saguchi's jump placed him on the very edge of Westmont's top-10 performers list.
 
Russell Smelley shared the individual highlight of the day was Joel Nakazawa's performance in the hammer, where he posted a new personal best by 13 meters with a throw of 46.50m.
 
Westmont will now look to next month, where March will offer Westmont five different opportunities to compete. The highlight of March will be a month from today, when the Warriors will host the Westmont Classic in Santa Barbara on March 22.
 
Looking further down the two, the Warriors are a little more than two months away from the PacWest Championships, which will take place in Fresno on April 25 and 26.