Track and field headed to Irvine for the Steve Scott Invitational this past weekend. The event was a tune-up for next California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships that would be set in La Jolla.
(Courtesy of CPP Athletics Department)
On Saturday, a 31-year-old record was broken as freshman thrower Ana Tovi had a career-best throw of 50.45 meters in the discus, which placed her fifth out of 29 throwers. Tovi’s previous best was set at Triton Invitational with a throw of 47.89 meters.
“I felt good, I am in a really good position and don’t feel like my confidence level is going to go down. I am confident that I can hit my personal record again or improve it and that’s my goal,” Tovi said.
The previous record was 50.06 meters that was set in 1988. Tovi’s throw now ranks second in the CCAA and 10th in all of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II.
“She’s really talented and her technique is cleaning up. She is a different thrower now and is now cleaning things up to where she can really set marks and that’ll be a good thing heading into conference,” throwing coach Joseph Blue said.
In the shot put, the top women’s finisher was freshman Miracle Maseuli, who threw 11.19 meters. Maseuli finished 16th out of 20 throwers.
On the men’s side of throwing, junior Ryan Peacock was the top Bronco finisher in the discus as he threw 48.71 meters, earning him 10th place out of 26 throwers.
Junior Gerado Flores had a personal best in the hammer, with a throw of 42.76 meters. Flores’ throw placed him 11th out of 14 throwers.
“He’s learning a new event and is getting better and better. We are hoping that he can pull some points in the conference in his new event in the hammer,” Blue said. “He said he wanted to step up and score some extra points for us, and it might even be his best event.”
In the running portion of the meet, senior Chris Uzoma, sophomore Kaelin Moore, freshman Ryan Fields and Nicholas Guajardo set an NCAA provisional mark in the men’s 4×400 relay, with a time of 3 minutes, 12.62 seconds, finishing third.
Fields and Moore finished in the top 13 in the 110-meter hurdles and Moore finished 11th with a time of 15.04 seconds.
Fields finished 13th with a time of 15.23.
The Broncos will now head to La Jolla on Thursday for the start of the CCAA Championships, hosted by UC San Diego.
The meet will last until Saturday, with the top three performers in each event getting to be on top of the podium.
On May 13, the team will find out who will make a trip to Kingsville, Texas, for the NCAA Division II Championships.
Athletes with provisional marks are not an automatic bid into nationals but do have a chance to enter. Nationals are set to start on May 23 and end on May 25.