SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- Biola's indoor track and field season opened with a strong showing as a number of Eagles earned early-season national qualifying marks at the Westmont Sunshine Indoor Open on Saturday afternoon at the Westmont Track.
Biola had a total of five national qualifiers on Saturday including a pair of relays. The Biola distance medley realy team of
Jane Kerner,
Tayllor Lemphers,
Brooke Forsi and
Nychele Fischetti recorded a time of 12:14.89, well under the Automatic qualifying time of 12:41 in the event. It is the fifth-straight year the DMR team has qualified for nationals.
The 4x400 team of
Ashley Bush, Forsi, Lemphers and
Alexandra Sciarra earned a provisional standard with a 4:02.07.
Individually,
Taylor McCahon picked up an automatic mark and won the pole vault by clearing 3.48 meters. She will be joined at the NAIA Indoor Championships by
Carissa Bowman, who qualified in the 3,000 for the second-straight season with a 10:14.84, also well under the "A" cut.
Rounding out the qualifiers on Saturday was
Kevin Horchler, who picked up a provisional time in the mile with a run of 4:20.93.
Other noteable performances on the men's side came from
Jordan Smith, who won the high jump by clearing 6-feet, 5-inches.
Gabe Aeschliman recorded a personal best and placed third in the 400 with a time of 49.60.
Tyler Sharp also ran a personal best in the 400 with a 50.45, good enough for seventh place.
Of note for the women,
Carly Tillery placed third in the mile with a time of 5:46.71 with
Clarissa Kenney also recording a third-place finish in the 1,000 in 3:12.90.
Biola returns to action next week as the team heads up to Azusa Pacific University for the indoor qualifier on Saturday.
