FULLERTON, Calif. --- Competing for the first time since finishing work at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships Biola Track & Field turned its full attention to the outdoor season at Saturday's Ben Brown Invite hosted by CSU Fullerton.
 
The Eagles did not compete with a full squad, but the squad that did attend put forth a strong showing in a large, talented field. The Eagles had a new national qualifier, a pole vault win and a few personal bests during a busy day at the Titan Track Complex.
 
"All in all, it was a solid day for us," said Head Coach Sean Henning. "We didn't compete a full squad on the women's side, holding out the girls who ran at indoor nationals last weekend, but we will all be competing this coming weekend at the Point Loma Invitational."
 
Teddi Wright competed in her first triple jump of the season and performed well enough to earn a NAIA 'B' standard. The sophomore jumped 11.5m, which was good enough to lead her to a fourth-place finish in the event.
 
Nicole Falkenstein took no time off after earning her fifth career NAIA All-American honor at last week's championships. Her poles are still on their way home from Tennessee, but that did not stop the senior from winning the women's pole vault by going 3.55m on a windy day in Fullerton. She was .15m higher than the second-place finisher from CSU Fullerton.
 
Christina Clark also had a go in that event. She finished two inches off of her personal-best as she placed seventh at 3.25m.
 
Amber Godinez and Christian Yaotani stood out in the sprint events. Godinez set a season-best in the women's 100m hurdle with a :16.71 (15^th) and Yaotani won both of his heats (100m/200m) as he continues to work for improvement.
 
The mile was another strong event for Biola's women. Stephanie Chaires and Emily Ransom finished in 18^th and 19^th overall as they worked with each other to post some evenly split finishes. It was Ransom's first appearance of the season. They finished 5:21 and 5:23, respectively.
 
Cross Country standouts Kaitlin Quaid and Kelly Thomas each ran well in the 5,000m. The first-year Eagles finished first and eighth in the 'B' running of the mile. Quaid's 18:23 led the pack as Thomas finished with an 18:56.
 
"They ran even and very smart races, I was very happy with it," said Henning.
 
Henning was also very pleased with the adaptability of the men he had competing in the hammer throw. The hammer throw event was originally scheduled for Friday evening, but even after it got rescheduled for Saturday morning Andrew Cecil and Dylan Fredenburg still managed to both record personal-bests. Fredenburg and Cecil finished back-to-back at 36^th and 37^th overall. (34.81m, 33.71m)
 
"They did a good job of adapting and preparing again for the event," said Henning.
 
In the men's distance group Henning noted the performances by Andrew Daedler in the mile (2^nd – 4:14) and Aditya Lal (9^th – 1:57) and Wes Noyes (4^th – 1:56) in the 800m.
 
Biola Track & Field is back in action on Saturday March 19 at the Ross and Sharon Irwin College Scoring Meet hosted by Point Loma.