Westmont student named GSAC Track Athlete of the Month

By JACOB NORLING WESTMONT SPORTS WRITER

ALISO VIEJO — After an historic showing at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships, Westmont’s Zola Sokhela has been named the Golden State Athletic Conference Track Athlete of the Month.

At the beginning of March in Brookings, South Dakota, Sokhela earned his unprecedented 10th and 11th NAIA All-American honors.

Sokhela achieved All-American status in both the mile and the 1000 meter run, with the biggest headline coming during his performance in the thousand.

Two hours after a 4:08.53 mile (and a runner-up finish), Sokhela returned to the track for his final race of indoor season, and he ensured he had nothing left in the tank by the time he crossed the finish line.

With a new program-record time of 2:25.42, Sokhela pulled away from the pack during the race’s final stretch, and in doing so, claimed his fourth individual National Championship.

This is the third time in his career that Sokhela has been named GSAC Athlete of the month, with his first honor coming in April of 2021, and his second coming in March of last year. The rest of the Warriors were back in action during the Pomona-Pitzer invitational this past weekend, with Westmont garnering multiple NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships provisional marks. Specifically, it was Westmont’s pole vaulters that stood out most to Westmont head coach Russell Smelley.

The Westmont men’s track and field team’s newly crowned Golden Eagle Ryan Hooten achieved the first NAIA B-Standard of his career on Saturday, when he cleared 4.70m (15-5) for a new personal-record.

In the women’s pole vault

Abby Rumohr also posted an NAIA provisional mark, when she cleared 3.63m (11-10.75). Also posting PR’s in the pole vault were Britain Polk and Moriah Chang, who each cleared 3.48m (11-5).

“This weekend might have been one of the finest weekends of Westmont pole-vaulting ever,” said Smelley. “To have four vaulters knocking on the door qualifying and to have one qualify, it was enough to bring a smile to Ryan Hooten’s face.” email: sports@newspress.com

Elsewhere, senior Adam King also ran an NAIA B-Standard clip in the men’s 800 meter run, when the former NAIA All-American ran a personal-best 1:52.10.

The Warriors are now less than three weeks away from hosting their final GSAC Championships, which will begin on April 27 at Westmont College in Montecito.

Jacob Norling is the sports information assistant at Westmont College.