The UC Riverside men’s and women’s teams took part in the indoor Husky Classic in Seattle to compete in their second meet of the season. After having four athletes break old school records in the first meet of season, the Highlanders set multiple new records again.
On the men’s side, Kenneth Grimble won his heat in the 400m with a time of 50.82 and placed 31st in the final tally. Jerome Rideaux had a solid outing in the 400m as well as he placed 18th with a time of 49.79. Michael Koger almost matched his previous school record with a time 48.93, finishing in eighth. It was Peter Guenther’s 400m run that erased Koger’s two-week-old record of 48.87 as Guenther finished with a time of 48.44 which was good for third place.
In the 60m event, Hernell Dyer finished in fifth place in the finals with a time of 6.84 as he eclipsed Justin Harris’s record in the 60m. Michael Hern finished in 12th in the 60m final with a time of 7.01.
In the 3,000m distance event, the Highlanders had Talal Khan finishing in 32nd place with a time of 8:28.27 while teammate Omar Gonzalez placed 43rd place with a time of 8:39.43.
The group of Peter Guenther, Bryan Adams, Sean Ferrera and Michael Koger continued to work well together in the 4x400m relay event, as they broke their own record from the last meet, placing in a tie for third with a blistering time of 3:13.01.
In the field events, Travis Smith and Ryan Swafford shattered school records as well. Travis Smith broke his own school record with a toss of 17.03m in the shot put. Smith’s performance was good for third place overall. In the triple jump, Ryan Swafford had such a great performance that he broke the school record twice after barely missing out on the school record at the last meet by half an inch. In Swafford’s first jump of the day, he topped the school record with a 15.06m leap. Swafford then topped his previous jump with a 15.22m leap. Swafford finished in fourth in the triple jump.
On the women’s side Danielle Littleton ran a 8.85 and Briana Kennedy-Feldhaus ran a 9.01 in the 60H. Littleton finished in 19th place while Kennedy-Feldhaus placed in 27th place. In the 400m dash, Yozmine Modeste placed 11th with a time of 57.12, and Michelle Macias ran a 58.87, good for 30th place. In the 4x400m relay, the group of Michelle Macias, Adriana Paz, Alisha Brown, Raquel Hefflin finished in 16th place with a time of 3:58.29. In the distance 3,000m event, Tanya Valenzuela ran a time of 10:16.73, which was good for 10th place. In the mile run, Alisha Brown placed 37th with a time of 4:57.61. Meanwhile, Raquel Hefflin competed in the Mile Invite, where she placed 26th with a time of 4:52.80.
In the field events, Danielle Littleton placed 23rd in the long jump with a leap of 5.30m. Also competing in the long jump was Jacquelyn DuBuis who finished in 41st with a jump of 4.71m. In the shot put, Ashley Gatewood placed 23rd with a throw of 12.93m. In the weight throw, Deja Watkins placed 37th with a throw of 14.83m.
The Highlanders will next compete March 3 at the All Cal Challenge Cup.