California Baptist University
WAC Championships
Soca, Reynaga, and Mamouni Qualify in Prelims on Day 1 of WAC OTF Championships
5/9/2024 9:51:00 PM | Cross Country & Track
OREM, UT--- The Western Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Conference Championships commenced on Thursday in Orem, Utah, for the California Baptist University track team.
Most of the day was preliminary action at the Hal Wing Track as the Lancers earned three qualifiers to Saturday's finals in the men's and women's 1500M races.
The 1500's were the prominent event on the day for CBU, with 15 runners competing over multiple heats in the prelims. Lamiae Mamouni was the first qualifier of the day as she competed in the opening heat of the Women's 1.5K. Mamouni clocked in at 4:41.94 and grabbed one of the at-large qualifiers to advance to Saturday's finals. Mamouni was ten seconds behind her personal best time that she ran at the Bryan Clay Invitational and, earned her a fifth top-10 finish of the Outdoor Season.
Carlota Rodes missed the qualifier cutoff by a few spots but still turned in an impressive time of 4:47.19 in her first 1.5K competition of the season. Liliana Mlynarczyk was the only other racer in the Women's 1.5K inside of the top 25 as she checked in at 4:52.72.
On the men's side of the 1.5K races, both Valentin Soca and Matias Reynaga would definitively win their heats to advance to the finals. Soca kicked off the defense of his Individual Champion run at last year's Championships in Nacogdoches and blew away the competition in his heat. Soca would outpace the group and cross the finish line first by a comfortable margin at 3:53.25. However, Matias Reynaga would claim the best time of all three heats at 3:49.95 to advance to the finals along with Soca. Matej Hrebacka (13th) and Giedrius Valincius (17th) would both turn in top 20 performances, while Massimiliano Berti would round out the field with a top 25 time.
The Lancers would also compete in the 200M and 10K races, but Mamouni, Reynaga, and Soca would be the lone competitors to earn spots in the finals from day one.
The OTF Championships continue into day two, where the Lancers will compete in multiple events with a chance to bring home individual hardware. All events can be watched live on ESPN+ and followed on live results through meettrax.
Players Mentioned
