The Bulldog track & field teams competed in the Oxy Distance Carnival on Friday night and then traveled to nearby Claremont for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Top-4 Meet on Saturday.  Overall, Redlands gained solid individual results, with the men finishing second and the women coming in third.

On Friday, sophomore Stephanie Mera (Redlands, CA) improved upon her Redlands top-10 mark in the 5000m Run with her time of 19:06.61.  In addition, sophomore Onesa Bowman (Pomona, CA) took sixth overall in the 800m Run at 2:22.06 while freshman Heather Mayer (Spring Valley, CA) came in seventh with her time of 2:23.03.  For the men, sophomore Jake Baechle (Aurora, OH) finished third overall in the 800m Run, completing the race in 1:55.92.  Senior Chris Smith (Fremont, CA) also bettered his top-10 time in the 5000m Run, crossing the finish line in 15:08.06.

Saturday’s meet saw more impressive individual showings as senior Natalie Calderon (Pasadena, CA) won the 200m Dash (26.10), Long Jump (18’ 5”), and Triple Jump (37’ 3”).  She also teamed up with Bowman, Mayer, freshman Katie Ostrinski (Riverside, CA) and freshman Pilar Page (Las Vegas, NV) to take first in the 4x400m Relay with a time of 4:11.90, which was nearly two seconds faster than the second place.  Freshman Mackenzie Smith (Hoquiam, WA) bettered her top-10 toss in the Javelin by winning the event at 129’ 5”, which is the second-best mark in Redlands history.  Freshman Kortney Watring (shown in photo; Riverside, CA) continued to impress during her rookie year by taking third overall in the Long Jump with her leap of 15’ 11 ½” while improving upon her top-10 mark in the Triple Jump with a leap of 36’ 5 ½”.  Freshman Kelsey Bermudez (La Verne, CA) also landed among Redlands’ best with her Triple Jump of 33’ 10 ¾”.  In addition, freshman Lara Hughes-Stinson (Dana Point, CA) broke into the Redlands top-10 in the Pole Vault by clearing 8’ ½”.  For the men, senior Kevin Vollmer (Van Nuys, CA) moved up in the top-10 list with his first-place time of 21.74 in the 200m Dash.  Sophomore Richard Valenti (Palm Desert, CA) placed among the Bulldogs’ best with his top-10 throw in the Hammer of 153’ 1” for third place.  He also took third in the Discus with a toss of 142’ 2”.  Freshman Ross Blanchard (Novato, CA) added to the team’s success with his second-place showing of 16.42 in the 110m Hurdles.  In addition, freshman Andy Green (Bellevue, WA) won the Triple Jump with his leap of 44’ 4 ¼” to go along with his fourth-place mark in the Long Jump at 20’ 8 ½”.  Senior Harley Gilson-Smith (Portland, OR) finished third in the Pole Vault by clearing 13’ 5 ¼” while junior Brad Morrow (Williams, CA) took second in the Javelin with his toss of 172’ 6”.  Rounding out the top performers, senior John Shelley (Owls Head, ME) provided a third-place mark in the Javelin at 162’ 8”. 

Overall, the Bulldog men scored 42 points for second place behind Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges while the women took third with 41 points as CMS and Cal Lutheran University finished ahead of them.

Redlands track & field looks forward to hosting the Redlands Meet on Friday, March 21, at 4 p.m. on Ashel Cunningham Track.