Tritons men and women take first at the California Collegiate Invitational and hit personal best as well as qualifying marks for the NCAAs.

UCSD swept the California Collegiate Invitational at home, with both men’s and women’s track-and-field teams finishing in first place. The men’s team earned a tally of 207 points, with Cal State Long Beach  coming in second (161.83) and Cal Poly Pomona in third (133.16). On the women’s side, UCSD finished with 267 points, with Long Beach again coming in second (161.5) and Cal Poly Pomona taking the third place (128.5).

On one of the marquee events of the day, the Tritons swept the women’s 5,000-meter run, with juniors Corinne Hinkle (17:36.09), Marie Diaz (17:37.6) and Paige Hughes (17:37.58) taking the three top spots. The times are good for fifth, sixth and seventh on UCSD’s all-time performances for the distance.

UCSD continued to dominate in distance races as senior Mario Flores and junior Daniel Franz took first and second places, respectively, in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Both students hit personal bests and provisional qualifying marks for the NCAAs. Flores and Franz’s stellar performances now place them among UCSD’s all-time performances on the distance, at the fifth and seventh marks, respectively.

“I’m really pleased with the big PR and especially season’s best,” Flores told the UCSD Athletics Department. ”The race plan was to go through five laps on our pace and to really push it on the last couple of laps … Right now, the goal is mostly paying attention in practice to get better in [the] race as the season goes on. Hopefully, this is just going to continue and feel strong and comfortable with the pace. It’s the goal right now to get to nationals.”

Freshman Matt Bowen dominated the men’s long jump and triple jump, where he hit 22-11  3/4 in the long jump and 49-2 1/4 in the triple jump, taking first place in both events. Recently named California Collegiate Athletics Association athlete of the week, Triton sophomore Derek Van de Streek finished right behind Bowen in the triple jump.

Sophomore Jared Senese edged out Cal State San Marcos’ sophomore Justin Washington in the last 200 meters of the 800-meter run and finished first with 1:52.28. For the women’s 800-meter run, senior Sabrina Pimentel (2:13.91) placed first and sophomore Ella Verhees (2:14.79) placed second.

Another Triton grabbed an NCAA-provisional qualifier when senior Chantia Justice jumped 39-2 1/2 in the triple jump. She was followed by freshman Tais Marinho-Gomez (38-4 3/4) and junior Kristin Sato (37-7 3/4) as the blue and gold dominated the competition. UCSD also placed first and second in the women’s long jump, where sophomore Casey Buck and senior Veronica Bradley had season-best jumps of 17-11 and 17-8.

Sophomore Marisa Padilla won the women’s 400-meter run with a personal best of 57.29, setting the Tritons up for dominant relays.

In the 4×400 women’s relay team, Pimentel, sophomore Jackie Chalmers, senior Ellexi Snover and Padilla improved their season best and won with a time of 3:45.44, good for sixth in the all-time record book.

“I went into this race hoping to PR, so it felt great,” Padilla said. “I had a really good second half of my race. We definitely have a chance to do well [in the relays]; it’s an exciting year, especially for the 4×4.”

For the men’s relay, senior Connor Macky, sophomore Sam Ozenbaugh, Van de Streek and Senese played first with a time of 3:18.36.

In other events, sophomore Savanna Forry won the women’s high jump and freshman Raymond Silver did the same for the men, clearing 5-4 1/4 and 6-7 respectively. Senior Nash Howe continued his excellent year, winning his third javelin competition of the year with a throw of 210-8. Finally, junior Michelle Cummins completed the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.64, grabbing yet another first place finish for the Tritons.

The Tritons’ next meet will be at Cal State San Marcos on Saturday, April 11, for the 2015 Mangrum Invitational.