Warriors secures nationals berth at Westmont Classic

By JACOB NORLING WESTMONT SPORTS WRITER

The Westmont men’s and women’s track and field athletes continued their trek through the outdoor season on Saturday, when they hosted the annual Westmont Classic.

Once again, select Warriors made headlines as the squad continued to punch tickets to the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.

The headline of the day came in the men’s 4x800 relay, when Westmont’s squad edged out The Master’s by one-hundredth of a second to win the race. While TMU’s relay team posted a time of 7:41.81, Westmont’s squad crossed the finish line in 7:41.80.

Ben Bodine, Andres Leon, Jack Vanden Heuvel and Adam King not only edged out their rivals, but the men also posted an NAIA A-Standard mark in the event. This means that in late

May the All-Americans travel to Marian, Indiana to compete in Outdoor Nationals, where they’ll look to add to their collection of hardware.

The 4x800 was the only group of Warriors during the classic to post an A or B standard during the meet, but multiple other Warriors still finished ahead of the competition.

In the men’s 100 meter dash, Narindra Rafidimalala continued to make his presence felt when he posted the best time out of 16 competitors. Rafidimalala’s time of 11.04 was the best mark in the event, and less than half a half-second off of the NAIA B-Standard mark (10.60).

On the women’s side of the 100 meter dash, Charlotte Williams finished second out of 26 competitors, posting a time of 12.74 in the race. The NAIA B-Standard in the event is 12.00.

Vanden Heuvel finished second in an individual race of his own, posting a time of 50.53 in the men’s 400 meter dash. The B-Standard in the 400 is 48.80.

In the women’s 4x100 relay email: sports@newspress.com

McKenna Phillips, Jaiden Rodrigues, Oliva Clark, and Williams ran a meet-best 49.64, which was less than two seconds shy of the NAIA B-Standard (48.00). On the field side of things, Westmont’s Britain Polk posted the second-best mark of the women’s high jump with a leap of 1.45m. The B-Standard in the event is 1.65m.

Next up on the schedule for Westmont is the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational, which will take place in Claremont on April 8. Looking forward, the Warriors will host their final GSAC Championships on April 27 and 28 at Westmont College.

Jacob Norling is the sports information assistant at Westmont College.