Provisional Day

Friday, March 11

Eagle Rock, Calif.

All Day

California Baptist University

Occidental Distance Carnival

Photo by: Sammi Wellman

3/11/2016 9:38:00 PM | Men's Track

By: Sammi Sheppard, Director of Sports Information

RESULTS

EAGLE ROCK, Calif. — After last weekend dusted off the cobwebs for California Baptist University, the Lancers were off to the races in their respective events. Despite battling inclement weather, CBU had a pretty good start at the Occidental Distance Carnival with two NCAA Division II B-cuts and other qualifying marks.

In the longer events of the night, Abdel El-Hajjami and Valentin Robert both guaranteed their spots in the conference championship's 5,000-meter race, while also both picking up consideration time for the DII Championship Meet. El-Hajjami finished the race in a personal-best time of 14 minutes, 31.25 seconds, while Robert followed in 14:33.13.

Anthony Lozano also clocked in the 5K in under the 15-minute mark, grabbing a 14:53.58 time, while Duncan Perillat crossed the finish line at 15:09.84. Jorge Estrada wasn't too far behind Perillat, crossing the finish line in 15:29. Lozano, Perillat and Estrada's times also qualify the three Lancers for the PacWest meet, joining El-Hajjami and Robert.

Dennis Messmer debuted with a bang for the Lancers, not only taking 11^th overall in the 800-meter event, but guaranteeing a spot in the PacWest Championship Meet. He clocked in at 1:54.70 seconds to win his heat. Messmer's personal-best time is also one of CBU's top-10 finest, ranking ninth in the all-time list. It's also under two seconds off from an NCAA Division II provisional mark (1:52.33).

Lucas Graham also qualified for the conference championship meet at the end of April, clocking in at 1:56.61. It placed him 23^rd overall in the race with mixed divisions.

Anthony Avila had a good showing in the 1500-meter event, clocking in at 4:08.75. He's five seconds off from qualifying for the PacWest Championship (4:03.27), but there is still a lot of races left for the sophomore to shave some seconds off his time. Ken Kipkorir also ran in the event, finishing in 4:12.48.

The Lancers will look to keep momentum going in their favor as they continue on the road to the NCAA Division II Championship in May, heading to the San Diego State Aztec Invitational next Friday.