ELAC Men’s T&F Wins an Event vs. 4-Year University Competition
LOS ANGELES, CA — The Huskies men’s track and field team won the long jump event down the street in the Cal State LA Invitational at the Jesse Owens Track & Field Stadium.
East Los Angeles College All-American sophomore Joshua Taylor (Franklin High School) stunned four-year university competition with a leap of 6.99 meters (22 ft. 11. 40 in.) to win the long jump. His jumped into the current record books with the top mark in the state among California Community College men.
Taylor was in first place after each of his jumps, three of them personal records, and won the event by over 1-1/2 feet against second place finisher Arizona Christian University’s Alias Sturges as well as a handful of athletes from Cal State LA.
The 4 x 400 relay team won its heat over second place finisher Northern Arizona University and placed sixth overall in a field of nine teams won by Cal State LA. The ELAC team rotated positions from their personal best run from last week, running each leg as follows: Garrison Harris (GA / Elbert County HS), Jakob Tilford (Colony HS), Kirk Baril (Millbrae Mills HS) and Steven Garcia (Montebello HS).
Stat Sheet
100-meter dash: Baril placed third in his heat in 11.28 sprinting faster than two runners from Cal State San Marcos who finished in 11.42 and 11.43. Baril finished in an impressive 17th place overall out of 42 competitors. Nicholas Hutson (Paramount HS) edged Northern Arizona’s Clay Cabral 12.41 to 12.55.
200-meter dash: Two Huskies placed in the top half of this sprint of 37 men, each with personal best times. Baril placed 11th overall and Harris 17th. Hector Gutierrez (South East HS) and Hutson finished 7th and 8th, respectively, in the third heat.
400-meter dash: Tilford and Harris competed in the top heat and placed second and fifth, respectively. Tilford’s time got him an overall third-place finish from a field of 29 men and Harris finished 8th overall.
800-meter run: Garcia ran a personal best of 2:16:84 and edged teammate Joshua Cardenas (Schurr HS) who finished in 2:19.50. Cardenas finished more than two seconds faster than Jacob Silva of Cal State Los Angeles.
1,500-meter run: Two Huskies ran their initial 1500 run of the season. Nathan Rangel (Montebello HS) took 10th place in his heat in 4:34.30 and Garcia finished three spots behind Rangel in 4:48.30. Cardenas took 12th place in his heat.
3,000-meter run: Rangel ran a personal record in probably his last 3,000 run of the season, which is not an official event in the South Coast Conference or the postseason. Rangel beat Cal State Los Angeles’s Didier Pina 10:05.44 to 10:38.20.
Triple Jump: Taylor placed second with his first leap of his initial triple jump of the season against 6 four-year university men including three men from Cal State LA by an average of two feet each.
Next Up
The Huskies continue competition against four-year university competition at the Redlands Invitational Meet on March 16 in the Ashel Cunningham Track on the campus of the University of Redlands.
Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index or on Facebook at ELAC Huskies Athletics (@elachuskiesathletics).
story submitted by Tadzio Garcia