The Highlanders started the 2014 indoor track and field season by breaking multiple school records last Friday at the Northern Arizona Lumberjack Team challenge. Caleb Stuart broke indoor records in weight throw, along with Ted Hooper and Danielle Littleton in men’s and women’s long jump.
Stuart, a senior from Riverside Poly High school, broke his own record of 19.00 meters that he set in 2012 with a throw of 19.82 meters. Hooper, a junior from Arcadia High School, also topped his own previous record from last February, improving his jump from 7.19 meters to 7.56 meters.
The third record was broken by Littleton, from Oceanside, Calif., who broke Lauren Reid’s five-year-old UCR record with a 5.66 meter jump. She also showed her athletic ability in the 60-meter hurdles with a fourth-place finish of 8.69.
On the women’s team, Tiffini Stone placed first in the triple jump with an 11.42 meter jump. The 4×400 relay team which included Noelle Abboud, Taylor Fleming, Keisha May and Amber Wright placed sixth by clocking in at 3:53.69. Abboud led five Highlanders in the 60-meter with a time of 7.65. Wright competed admirably in the 200-meter, completing the 11th best time (25.30) followed closely behind by Camile Deadwiler with a time of 25.32. Rachel Tice also came in ninth place in the shot put with a distance of 13.08 meters.
On the men’s side, there were several notable finishes in the field events. Michael Lewis Jr. placed second in the triple jump with 14.23 meters, followed by Jameson Madzingira who got third with a 13.85 meters jump. In the weight throw, Carl Nahigan placed fourth with a 16.94 meters, while teammate Uchenna Oniah was right behind him with a fifth-place throw of 16.86 meters.
The men also had a pair of top five finishes on the track. The first came from Michael Kroger, the redshirt freshman from Gardena, Calif, who placed third with a 48.79 finish in the 400-meter. The second was earned from a combined team effort from Dylan Gates, Marcus Cummings, Kenny Grimble and BJ Smith in the 4×400 relay who placed fifth with a time of 3:19.85.
