T-Birds Finish Regular Season at Mesa Invitational
Mesa, Ariz. - The men's and women's track & field teams wrapped up their regular season competition with the Mesa Invitational on Friday evening, which included one new individual national qualifier, a new school record holder, and several others who improved their national qualifying marks.
On the men's side, freshman Noah Miller qualified for nationals for the first time this season and in his collegiate career with a mark of 15.56 meters (51 feet, 0.75 inches) in the shot put. Freshman Caden Resendez improved his mark in the 3000-meter steeplechase by nearly 21 seconds with a time of 9:37.52. Freshman Desmond Lott threw a mark of 48.86 meters (160 feet, 3 inches) in the discus, about an eight-foot improvement from his previous best.
For the women, sophomores Ellis Collins (11:10.57), Mary Siml (11:13.04) and Tanaeya Johnson (11:53.20) all saw huge improvements in the 3000-meter steeplechase, with Collins coming out as the new school record holder in the event and Siml being second all-time. Both athletes bested the previous record of 11:21.04 that has been held by Samantha Miller since 2017. Freshman Kassidy Faraci threw a mark of 38.04 meters (124 feet, 9 inches) in the javelin, improving her mark by six inches.
The T-Birds now move on to postseason competition with the NJCAA Region I Championships next up on the schedule. The men's decathlon and women's heptathlon region championship will take place April 19th and 20th, and the remaining events taking place April 27th and 29th. Mesa will host the meet for the 12th consecutive year.