ELAC Men’s T&F Wins Long Jump at CSULA and have Top National Marks
LOS ANGELES, CA — The Huskies men’s track and field team won the long jump event for the fourth time this season at the Cal State L.A. Twilight Open at the Jesse Owens Track & Field Stadium today.
Only Brigham Young Univeristy has keep the Huskies from an undefeated season in the long jump. The Huskies however, have yet to compete against top California Community College competition, but they will soon begin that quest next week.
At the Twilight Open, it was three Huskies versus five jumpers from host Cal State Los Angeles in the long Jump. ELAC placed first, second and fourth.
East Los Angeles College freshman Garrison Harris (GA / Elbert County HS) won the event. He fouled on four of five subsequent tries. All-American sophomore Joshua Taylor (Franklin High School) placed second and freshman Dijon Donaldson (Bellflower HS) took fourth.
Harris’ top mark of 7.13 meters (23.4 feet) is ranked at No. 17 in the nation. Taylor’s best jump of 6.99 (23.39 feet) is ranked No. 27 nationally and Donaldson’s top mark of 6.77 (22.21 feet) comes in at No. 44.
ELAC has a good shot at sending its 4x100-meter relay team to the Southern California Championships in May, however, the Huskies did not compete in the event today and haven’t in almost a month.
PAW TRACKS
100-meter dash: Three Huskies ran personal records in this event. Freshman Jakob Tilford (Colony HS) is the first Husky to run under eleven seconds. He finished in 10.98 and placed fifth overall in a field of 21. Other PRs were from two freshmen, Nicholas Hutson (Paramount HS) in 12.09 and Hector Gutierrez (South East HS) who won his heat in 12.10. Sophomore Jamal Brinkley (Santiago HS) placed second in his heat in 11.42.
200-meter dash: Three Huskies competed in this event, Tilford, Gutierrez and Hutson. Tilford placed fifth overall in a field of 24. Gutierrez placed sixth in the third heat and Hutson placed third in the fourth heat.
400-meter dash: Tilford, the only Husky to compete in this event, did not compete and has not since early March. This event, however, is his best and is probably his only individual chance of advancing to SoCal.
800-meter run: The ever-improving Garcia just missed a lifetime best mark and edged Cal State L.A. junior Luis Ayala-Sierra for third place 2:11:58 to 2:11.94. Cardenas sprinted as well at the finish line and placed fifth over Cal State L.A. junior Jacob Silva, 2:20.74 to 2:21.56.
1,500-meter run: Garcia finished with a personal best in this event for the third time this season. He edged Silva for second place in a photo-like finish, 4:38.33 to 4:38.66. Cardenas placed fourth in just more than a second over Cal State L.A. junior Didier Pina, 4:46.89 to 4:48.33.
5,000-meter run: Sophomore Nathan Rangel (Montebello HS) took fourth place in 17:29.28.
4x400-meter relay team: The Husky team did not compete. ELAC cancelled last week’s meet so the relay team has not seen action in almost a month but has a legitimate chance at moving on to the post season if they improve their time by more than 15 seconds.
Triple Jump: Competing against four-year university men in this meet, Taylor placed fifth in his third leap. Donaldson took seventh place.
Up Next
The Huskies compete at the Beach Invitational at the Long Beach State Jack Rose Track, April 20 (jumpers and Rangel) and April 21 (runners). The meet will feature some of the best collegiate athletes from around the nation—2,356 in total including the nationally ranked ELAC jumpers who compete on Friday, April 20 at 10 a.m.
Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index or on Facebook at ELAC Huskies Athletics (@elachuskiesathletics).
story submitted by Tadzio Garcia