TRK | School Records Fall for SMC at APU Distance Carnival

Saturday, April 3

Azusa, CA

3:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

Azusa Pacific Distance Carnival

TRK | School Records Fall for SMC at APU Distance Carnival

4/3/2021 11:49:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

AZUSA, Calif. — Competing into the evening just one day before Easter Sunday, Saint Mary's Track took place in the annual Azusa Pacific Distance Carnival in Southern California. This is one of the fastest meets of the season for many reasons, and part of that has to deal with the competition. Perhaps everyone should take notice of Saint Mary's, who continued to set the track ablaze with fast times that competed for top spots, while also breaking multiple school records.

SCHOOL RECORDS, PART I
It seems lately that whenever a school record falls on the women's side, Rayna Stanziano is the culprit behind the top mark. She was stellar on Saturday, breaking the existing school record in the 800m, but she did not finish best among the Gaels on Saturday. Abigayle Mitchell was the star of the show, finishing in second place overall with a 2:12.50, a mark that shattered the school record. It was her best showing of the season in any event, and she was followed very closely behind by Stanziano, who was just a shade behind her at 2:12.87 for a time that was also better than the previous school record.

SCHOOL RECORDS, PART II
Another regular in the record books at Saint Mary's is Nolan Dozier, who continued to blaze a trail at the top as he bested his previous school record in the 5000m race. He continued to impress on the season with a second-place finish behind James Young of the Academy of Art, who set an NCAA DII provisional with his mark. Dozier finished the race with a time of 14:16.76, which was two-tenths of a second faster than his previous school record that he set on May 11, 2019 at the Oxy Invitational.

THERE WERE PRs, TOO
Many Gaels found themselves with career-best performances on Saturday behind the record holders, starting with Emily Field, who finished in the upper-half of the deep field with a 4:54.81 that eclipsed her previous best. Hannah Wohlenberg was competing in the 5k for the first time in nearly three years, and her first at Saint Mary's and recorded a time of 17:15.12, a mark that is in the top-five in SMC history. Molly Dreher also ran her first-ever 5k in competition and put up a 17:47.96, while finishing ahead of Daylana Ferguson and Jinana Cortero, who had huge improvements in their 5k times. On the men's side, Chandler Maciel also ran in the 5k like Dozier, and he finished in ninth overall with a personal-best time of 14:54.13. Freshman Derek O'Connor also hit a PR in the 5k with a mark of 15:13.63.

UP NEXT
Saint Mary's will take one weekend off before heading back to Azusa Pacific for the Bryan Clay Invite on Saturday, April 17. The large, two-day track event will feature Saint Mary's competing in a variety of races on the second day (Saturday) before heading back to Northern California for the remaining of the year, including the annual WCC Championships on May 8 in Livermore.

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