California Baptist University
Mt. SAC Relays
Spreading the Success
4/15/2016 8:47:00 PM | Men's Track, Cross Country & Track
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Despite being spread throughout Southern California at three different meets, California Baptist University's men's track team wasn't short of highlight performances Friday.
Even with the wind playing a factor in the Mt. SAC Meet at Cerritos College, Valentin Robert bettered his time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The junior — who has secured his spot at the NCAA Division II Championships in May and now has the fastest time in all of the division this season — clocked in at eight minutes, 50.89 seconds to set a new school record in the process.
Abdel El-Hajjami also put in a solid effort in the event, grabbing a season-best time of 9:01.04. The senior, who made his first appearance at the NCAA Division II Championship last year, already has a provisional mark, but is just nine seconds off an automatic mark to secure his spot with Robert.
In perhaps the most exciting matchup of the night at Azusa Pacific University for the Bryan Clay Invitational, Anthony Lozano and Dennis Messmer battled it out in the final 100 meters of the 1500-meter race. They were neck-and-neck coming down the stretch in the final 30 minutes, passing a runner from North Texas in the process.
The pair were so in sync with each other, neither had the edge and both finished in identical times of 3:53.50. While not a personal record for Lozano, who is less than a second off a conditional Division II mark, the time is almost a full second better than Messmer's previous best time and puts him ninth in the all-time record list.
Mirco Zenzen also improved on his personal-best time, finishing the 1500m in 4:07.16. Elliot Choe had the biggest improvement of the night, shaving 11 seconds off his time to hold a new personal-best in the 1500m (4:08.84). He also grabbed the highest finish in his heat, taking fourth.
Also at APU, Lucas Graham and James Atwell each set new season records in the 800-meter event. Graham beat his previous season best by almost one full second, clocking in at 1:55.79. He already has a spot at the PacWest Championship Meet and is just three seconds off an NCAA Division II conditional mark.
Atwell's improvement wasn't as big as his teammate's, but it was a new personal best. He finished the 800m race in 1:59.46, beating his previous record by .16 seconds. The time is just over one second off from an automatic mark for the PacWest Championships.
Earlier in the day, David Aguilar (32:55.49), Jeremiah Gotts (33:33.16) and Bismarck Kikilach (34:32.82) each qualified for the PacWest Championships in the 10K event.
The Lancers finish up the Beach Invitational tomorrow morning. CBU then takes the next week off to prepare for the conference championship meet, hosted by Azusa Pacific April 28-29. The Lancers currently have nine runners who have a guaranteed spot in the PacWest meet, with several others who have solid conditional times.
Players Mentioned
