April 7, 2013
San Diego, CA - Our Toreros were faced with a tough wind this past Saturday, and with spring time here the San Diego weather has begun to heat up. However, our Torero runners fought through the wind and heat to continue bettering their performances even from the Aztec Invitational.
Kicking of the day was senior Emerald Raney who ran in the first heat of the 1500 meter with past Olympian Alice Schmidt. It is always an honor for our Toreros to compete with elite athletes! Rounding of the race were the young guns Olivia Houser, Sydney Olagaray, and Rita Kuckertz whom held strong after a tough week of workouts. Also, we can not count out another gutsy performance from junior Rudy Mendoza who attempt to stay with the competition as they sped around the track.
Running the hurdles for the Toreros was senior Stephanie Tucker, who matched her season bests in both the 100 and 400 meter hurdles. She is looking to break her existing hurdle records and achieve Personal Bests in both events as the end of the season approaches.
Next up was the second race for our Mid-Distance athletes, as they took on the brutal 800 meter. Senior Emerald Raney kicked it off yet again running a season best of 2:23.12. Following Raney's performance was freshman Malik Hayes who blazed around the track as a birthday treat for his family in a near season best of 1:55.56.
Lastly, was the 3,000 meter where the bulk of our Torero runners found themselves attained many Personal Bests. For the women, junior and MVP Gillian Gorelik worked in tandem with teammate Ashton Padberg lead the pack in a season best time of 10:30.46. Following these two, were many Personal Bests by freshmen Dani LeMieux and Kalin Padberg, and senior Lauren Infusino. These ground shaking performances are more merits to add to the laundry list of Personal Bests from the Torero's Aztec Invitational marks.
As for the men, the first heat was taken out fast and senior Cameron Erhardt held onto the coattails to finish in a time of 9:07.36. An honorable mention went sophomore Neil Martin who ran a Personal Best 3,000 meter in 9:28.54. Freshman Conor Brandt was also honorably mentioned after a gutsy surge toward the end of his race, which pushed his Torero team to the finish. However, the MVP for the men was senior John Cutter who ran a strategically smart race and held strong throughout.
Torero runners are continuing to post successful results as they approach the peak of their season. Watch for them to burn rubber this upcoming weekend at the UNLV Invitiational!
Results:Men1500 meterRudy Mendoza 4:19.46
800 meterMalik Hayes 1:55.56
3,000 meterCameron Erhardt 9:07.36John Cutter 9:15.70Conor Brandt 9:18.46Justin Brown-Pinizotto 9:27.03Neil Martin 9:28.54 (PB)John Garcia 9:36.18Ciano Ordinola 9:45.90
Women1500 meterEmerald Raney 4:54.59Olivia Houser 5:04.08Sydney Olagaray 5:06.02Rita Kuckertz 5:18.59
100 HurdlesStephanie Tucker 18.61
400 HurdlesStephanie Tucker 1:19.82
800 meterEmerald Raney 2:23.12Olivia Houser 2:29.24Sydney Olagaray 2:37.29
3,000 meterGillian Gorelik 10:30.94Ashton Padberg 10:32.57Lauren Infusino10:34.05 (PB)Kalin Padberg 10:51.47 (PB)Dani LeMieux 10:58.31 (PB)Mackenzie Entrikin 11:17.74Christina Winters 11:18.10Jessica McCarthy 11:20.99Kathryn Adamson 11:46.75Vikki Hambley 12:38.15
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