By Jeff Raymond

(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont hosted both the Klein/Nwaba Combined Events competition and the Westmont Collegiate Classic over the past three days. The meets featured numerous personal bests and PacWest Conference qualifying marks.

"It was a PR weekend," commented Coach Russell Smelley.

Rory Erskine placed second in the decathlon competition with a personal-best score of 5868. He produced career-best marks in six of the 10 events. Teammate Gabe LaBorin was on pace to eclipse the 6000 point mark, but an unfortunate no-height in the pole vault dropped him to third place with 5669 points. Over the two days, LaBorin set new personal records in five events, including times of 49.72 in the 400 and 4:24.74 in the 1,500.

Noella Breytenbach finished third in the women's heptathlon with a score of 3592 points. She was followed by teammate Sophia Morton, who scored 3423 points.

The Westmont Collegiate Classic began on Saturday morning, and David Oyebade quickly produced a school-record performance. He won the hammer throw with a mark of 51.94 meters (177-0) to raise his own school record. He also won the discus with a toss of 44.29 meters (145-4), and placed second in the shot put with a personal best distance of 14.17 meters (46-6).

In the javelin, Lucas DeDora won with a toss of 61.12 meters (200-6), which was a personal best. Sage Kramer, who recently joined the track team after excelling for four years with the women's basketball program, won the javelin with a mark of 34.16 meters (112-0).

John Sakaguchi won the triple jump (13.07 / 42-10 ½), edging out teammate James Brewer (13.05m /42-9.75). Sakaguchi also took second in the long jump (6.87m / 22-6.25), and second in the 100 (10.99).

For the women, Ava Hseih won the long jump (5.02m / 16-5,5) and Kayla Wheatley won the triple jump (9.83m / 32-3). Madeleine Koenig set a personal best to win the pole vault with a height of 3.65 meters (11-11.75).

The running events produced many strong performances by the Warriors. The men's 800 was a highlight as four Westmont runners ran the best times of their careers and met the PacWest qualifying time. Luke Hein came in second in 1:54.02, followed by Hunter Skoglund in 1:55.03, Tyler Allan in 1:56.36, and Danny Allan in 1:56.58.

Also of note, Noah Ray, who ran unattached while redshirting the current season, set a stadium record with his winning time of 1:49.73

On the women's side, Claire Van Horn matched the men's performance by running a personal best and PacWest qualifying time of 2:16.36 in the 800. Audrey Cokely, who finished third, produced a significant career best with a time of 2:22.85.

Kaedon Anderson led a strong contingent in the mile, winning with a time of 4:18.32. He was followed closely by teammates Timothy Johnson (4:19.91) and William Covington (4:19.93). Izabella Guerrero won the women's 400 in 58.81, while Justin Hess took second in the men's 400 in 49.29. Ana Hoke won the 100 hurdles in 15.46, and Janelle Wanliss captured the 400 hurdles in 1:03.08.

Crusoe Buzzard won the men's 400 hurdles in 55.31. The Warrior women also claimed the 4 x 100 relay in 48.52 and the 4 x 400 relay in 3:58.19.

A select group of athletes will travel to compete in the UC San Diego Triton Invitational on April 3-4.