The UC Riverside men’s and women’s track and field teams gave a strong performance at the 33rd Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational last weekend at Drake Stadium. UCLA hosted the meet, which was supposed to start Friday but was postponed due to inclement weather. The Highlanders had a couple of strong performances as they readied themselves for the Big West Conference Championship meet in a couple of weeks.
On the men’s side, Kenneth Grimble ran a solid time of 54.83 in the 400m hurdles placing second as teammate Eric Evans placed fourth with a time of 55.28. In the 400m dash, Kevin Fashola ran a lifetime best with a time of 49.04 placing first. The Highlanders had four athletes run in the 200m dash: Farhan Jangda ran a 23.19 placing in ninth, Daniel Dinh ran a 22.30 placing 11th, Timothy Lo ran a 23.00 placing 12th and Bryan Kasprzak ran a 23.25 placing in 14th. In the 800m dash Rashaad Moore placed ninth with a time of 2:01.65. In the 400m invitational dash, Bryan Adams ran a 49.65 placing in seventh. Michael Koger ran a 52.96 placing seventh in the 400m hurdles invitational.
In the men’s field events, Steven Robillard threw a 54.86 in the javelin placing fourth overall. In the triple jump, Jameson Madzingira finished in fifth place with a jump of 45′ 5″. Madzingira’s mark was a personal best and also qualified him for the Big West Championship.
On the women’s side, Briana Kennedy-Feldhaus ran the 100 hurdles in third place with a solid time of 14.71, with teammate Jazmine Lewis placing fifth with a time of 15.18. In the 400 hurdles invitational, Adriana Paz set a personal best with a time of 1:02.50 placing fourth, while teammate Jazmine Harper placed seventh with a time of 1:06.11 setting a collegiate personal best.With her first hurdle race in six weeks, Danielle Littleton had a solid race in the 100m hurdles invitational placing 10th overall with a time of 14.20.
In the women’s field events, Littleton had a leap of 5.91m placing seventh in the long jump event. In the high jump, Jazmine Lewis had a jump of 1.60m placing fifth overall. Lewis also placed second in the javelin with a throw of 36.76m.
The Highlanders will next compete at both the Mt. Sac Relays and the Beach Invitational this upcoming weekend.
