By Dylan Long, March 5, 2024
Both the Cal Poly Pomona’s men’s and women’s track and field teams broke a school record at the Rossi Relays Feb. 24. The men’s 4×100-meter relay and the women’s 800-meter sprint medley each broke the previous school record time.
It was a strong weekend for both the men’s and women’s teams, with the women finishing first and the men finishing second by a half point to Claremont.
Head coach Chris Bradford touched on how impressed he was with both teams.
“It was great to see our teams compete at such a high level this early in the season, I think we outperformed our expectations doing what we did,” Bradford said. “This is normally a point in the season when you are just trying to get your feet wet, so I loved seeing the results that we ended up getting across the board.”
The successful weekend was headlined by two relay teams breaking school records in their respective events.
The men’s 4×100 team of Ekene Onwaeze, Deandre Smith, Joshua Johnson and Colin Quinn shattered the school record with a time of 40.20, besting the previous time of 40.31, set just last season.
The women’s 800 medley team of Tianna Jardstrom, Ari Milton, Yuna Queniat and Jaelyn Thomas, on the other hand, broke a 42-year school record with a time of 1:46.81.
“It’s something that you never expect to happen this early in the season,” Bradford said. “We always know that we are capable of doing special things like that, but to break two records in the same weekend is as good as it gets.”
Outside of the record-breaking 800 medley finish, the women’s teams put up impressive numbers at the Rossi Relays, notching some huge wins that led to their first-place finish.
Bradford shared his thoughts on the performance of the women’s track and field team.
“I was thoroughly impressed with our group this weekend, from top to bottom our girls came to play this weekend,” Bradford said. “I can’t wait to see this team continue to improve and get better week-to-week as the season progresses.”
Nyah Paulding dominated with two first-place finishes of her own in the women’s long jump and triple jump. Other highlights included the Broncos’ second-place finish in the 4×200, Isabelle Carreon’s second-place finish in the pole vault and Shona Christensen’s third-place finish in the hammer throw.
The men’s team also had a stellar showing at the Rossi Relays. Junior Alessio Sommacal placed first in the men’s 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.24, a full 0.7 of a second faster than the second-place finisher.
Francisco Zavaleta notched a first-place finish in the men’s 3000-meter run, with a time of 8:19.39. Nicholas Albro and Juan Ramos were also able to score points for the Broncos in the event.
The Broncos earned two other first-place finishes on the track in the 4×200-meter sprint relay and the 4×400-meter Relay.
The men’s field events featured some solid results as well, helping CPP reach its impressive 147-point total at the meet. CPP impressively swept the top three spots on the pole vault with Matteo Madrassi taking first, Ian Strode placing second and Jaeden Correa sliding in at third. Madrassi’s first-place score came in at 4.85m.
Junior Alan Rennie took home first in the men’s discus throw, with his meet-leading toss coming in at 45.28m.
Outside of those first-place finishes, the Broncos had some other solid numbers put up. Kailen Smith nabbed second in the high jump, Colin Harris placed fifth in the long jump and Mar’Agen Fowler picked up a few top eight finishes in hammer, discus, and shot put.
The Broncos now move their attention to the next meet on the schedule, The Beach Opener hosted by Long Beach State.
“The Beach Opener is definitely a very important event for us and I think we gained a lot of confidence after how this past weekend played out,” Bradford said. “Our goal is always to continue to improve from week to week and I think we are headed on that path so far this year.”
The Broncos will look to keep the momentum going after their record-breaking weekend at the Rossi Relays when they travel to Cal State Fullerton to compete in the Ben Brown Invitational Friday, March 8 through Saturday, March 9.
Feature image courtesy of CPP Athletics
