Mt. SAC ResultsAzusa Pacific ResultsBeach Invite ResultsWALNUT, Calif.--- In a weekend dubbed "the greatest weekend of track and field in Pilot history" by men's head coach Rob Conner, the Portland Pilots made the most of their trip to Southern California. While the Mt. SAC Relays highlighted the weekend's performances, Pilot athletes also competed at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University and the Beach Invite. Thursday night at Mt. SAC featured four Pilots in two heats of the 10,000-meter. Alex Dillard started the meet off on a high note for the Pilots with a victory in heat A of the men's 10,000-meter. His time of 29:42.27 was a personal-best. In the Olympic Development heat of the men's 10,000-meter, Danny Martinez was second in the race with a personal-best of 29:28.21. Also in the heat were Stephen Kersh and Chase Caulkins, they finished with times of 30:41.38 and 30:54.16.
Friday night featured three Pilots in heat A of the men's 5,000-meter. David Perry placed third with a 13:59.10; Charlie McDonald was ninth and ran a personal-best of 14:09.97; Timo Goehler rounded out the trio at 14:26.29.
"The number of athletes who either qualified for regionals or posted all-time top-10 UP marks is quite astonishing," added Conner.
The women's distance team had one of their best performances in recent memory as multiple women hit regional qualifying standards. "It was an amazing weekend for our team, with lots of PRs, wins, and regional qualifiers," said head women's coach Ian Solof.
Julia Fonk shaved two seconds off her 1,500-meter mark while placing fourth in her heat with a 4:25.88.
Keeping her undefeated outdoor season record untarnished was Lorea Ibarazabal. She slipped under the 2:10 barrier with her new personal-best of 2:09.93. She is now third on the all-time performance list for Portland.
Merel van Steenbergen was strong in her heat of the women's 10,000-meter, her time of 34:16.85 places her at second all-time for Portland. In a later heat, Gina Paletta also ran well and snagged a sub-35 mark, clocking a 34:56.85.
In the women's 5,000-meter, Anna Luijten had major success. She used the second-half of the race to move up the field, eventually finished third in 16:32.42. Tansey Lystad ran away from the field in her section of the 5,000-meter and finished with a personal-best of 16:22.46. Her time is good for third on the all-time list. Natasha Verma posted a time of 16:51.71 in the same section.
"Several people had marks among the top five in school history. Tansey and Lorea both had big wins at Mt Sac to go with their victories two weeks ago at Stanford," said coach Solof. "I couldn't be prouder of this entire women's team."
At the Bryan Clay Invite, Madison Leek broke the 57 seconds in the women's 400-meter and posted the third-best time in school history with a 56.78. Later in the day, she ran 25.44 in the women's 200-meter for second all-time.
Also at the Byran Clay Invite, Korey Thieleke won his heat in both the 100 and 200-meter dash. He posted marks of 21.64 and 10.99, respectively. Thieleke may sound familiar to Pilot fans from the men's basketball season; this was his first meet of the track season.
Matt Chastain placed second overall at the meet in the men's triple jump. He set a new PR of 46'7.5. In the high jump, Matt Winterer cleared 6'7.5 and almost had two makes at a height of 6'10.
Kaylie van Loo, also a member of the UP basketball family, threw the javelin at the Beach Invite. Her heave of 146'11 places her at second on the all-time school list.
The Pilots will look to continue their record-breaking performances at the Mt. Hood Invitational on April 26
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