Carrasco, throwers carry Leopards on SCIAC Championship Day 1

Carrasco, throwers carry Leopards on SCIAC Championship Day 1

LOS ANGELES — Andrew Carrasco successfully defended his hammer championship to lead the University of La Verne men's track and field team on the first day of SCIAC Championships on Friday.

Carrasco, a junior from Upland, recorded a toss of 54.67 meters (179 feet, 4 inches) and was more than 13 feet clear of second place finisher Alex Rich of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Chris Gura just missed out on the hammer podium, finishing fourth with a toss of 46.85m (153-08), and TJ Randall finished seventh (44.50; 146-00) to give the Leopards atotal of 17 points in the event alone.

Gura added a second place finish in the discus with a throw of 42.36m (139-00) and Randall added points in the event as well, finishing sixth with a toss of 39.62m (130-00).

Jacob Lopez rounded out La Verne's scoring with a sixth place finish in the long jump. The senior recorded a leap of 6.38m (20-11.25). Lopez is a title favorite in the triple jump, which will take place tomorrow.

All track events with the exception of the steeplechase and the 10,000m were preliminaries for finals on Saturday. Events on the track begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday with the 4x100m relays featuring the top ranked La Verne team of Nick Gonsalves, Robert Oshodin, Joshua Francis and Austin Warrington.

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                          Men - Team Rankings - 6 Events Scored                       
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    1) Claremont-Mudd-Scripps      84        2) Occidental                 42         
    3) La Verne                    31        4) Pomona-Pitzer              29         
    5) Whittier                    14        6) Cal Lutheran               11         
    7) Redlands                     9        8) Chapman                     8         
    9) Caltech                      6