LA VERNE, CA - La Verne is in sixth place with 9 points after the first day of the SCIAC Track & Field Championships which they are hosting in Ortmayer Stadium.  There were five finals on day one - two on the track with the steeplechase and the 10,000 meters and three in the field with the long jump, hammer throw and javelin throw.  Kenneth Davis finished fourth in the long jump with a huge collegiate best mark of 22-1.5.  David Lara finished fifth in the javelin throw with a season best of 158-9.

Additional competitors in Saturday's finals included Thomas Taniguchi who set a 33 second personal best while finishing 11th in the 10,000 with a time of 32:34.69 to move up to #5 all-time in La Verne history.  Edward Carrillo ran 33:58.83 in the 10,000.  Brandon Pedroza threw 105-7 in the hammer throw while Michael Kenfield threw 124-3 in the javelin throw.  In the long jump Hunter Bond jumped 20-4.25 and Elijah Martinez jumped 18-1.75.

There were preliminary rounds in seven running events on Saturday.  Automatic qualifers for Sunday's finals included Zachary Reid in the 110 meter high hurdles, Joshua Collier in the 400 meter hurdles and Tyler Thomas in the 100 and 200 meters.  Reid ran a season best of 14.72, Collier ran a personal best of 54.49 and Thomas ran 10.77 and 21.64 respectively.  Jared Albaugh also qualifed for the 1500 meter final with a time of 4:01.34 and Collier qualified for the 110m high hurdle final with a time of 15.20.

Also competing for the Leopards in the preliminaries were:

100 meters: Hunter Bond, 11.41; Isiah Dodson, 11.61; Jaden Mendoza, 11.96; Ottobah Imhotep, 12.28

200 meters: Bond, 23.09; Dodson, 23.83; Jayden Figueroa, 23.88; Mendoza 24.37; Imhotep 25.78

400 meters: Figueroa, 51.13; Ivan Estrada, 51.30; Austin Haines, 52.62 (season best)

800 meters: Nicolas Saenz, 1:57.77; Zyeir Shabete, 1:59.48; Andres Flores-Marquez, 2:04.66 (season best)

1500 meters: Mateo Cole, 4:13.86; Flores-Marquez, 4:14.94 (PR); Santiago Herrera, 4:22.58; Marcelo Martinez, 4:35.39

Men's field events begin tomorrow at 12:00 pm with the discus throw.  The running events begin at 3:35 pm with the 4 x 100 relay.