FRESNO, Calif. --- After opening up the season with some excellent marks in Santa Barbara the Biola Track & Field continued their strong start to the 2021 season. On Saturday, the Eagles competed in the Central California Invitational Hosted by Fresno Pacific. Following a strong day on both sides of the team, BU secured the first place finish from the women's team (149 points) and a third place finish from the men's team (85 points). 
 

Head Coach Sean Henning was proud of what he saw from  his team this weekend. The trip was more than just another meet, it was preparation for what is to come in eight weeks with Conference Championships being hosted at FPU Track.
 

"It was a good experience to do the drive and compete on the track and in the facility. We believe the home track advantage was lessened so to speak," said Coach Henning. "Most importantly we are happy that we got to come out and complete and have fun."  
 

It has been nearly a year since the track and field team halted competition, unknowingly competing for the last time in their 2020 season at Long Beach State. 

BU took advantage of having the chance to compete again, breaking the school record in the women's 4x100m relay (:47.89) which was set in 2015. It was Emily Alvarez, Abby Buckley, Carissa Kalpakjian and Rebeka Preston accomplishing the feat with a time of :47.36 to ink their names into the record books.  

The Eagles walked away with a few event wins on the women's side with strong performances from Kiersten Huitt, Emily Alvarez and Hanna Bevan. Huitt, a new face with plenty of experience, took the 100m hurdles victory with a time of 14.60, just missing out on her personal bet of 14.51(2019). Huitt was joined in the top-three by Heidi Sowers who finished third with a time of 15.02. Huitt and Sowers also placed fourth and fifth in the 400m hurdles respectively. 

Emily Alvarez continued a strong push for the Eagles in the 400m hurdles, finishing with a time of 1:01.96 for a first place finish. Alvarez was coming off a strong performance in the Sunshine Open hosted by Westmont (Feb. 13) where she won the 600m race by a half-second. 

In the field, it was Hanna Bevan who gave the Eagles another first place finish taking the high jump victory. Bevan not only took the first place finish, but she did so with a personal best mark of 1.62m (5-3.75) to score ten points for BU. The sophomore was closely followed by teammate Olivia Doyle who cleared 1.57m (5-1.75) on the day, earning a second place finish and eight more points for the Eagles. 

With just the 4x400m left for the women, Biola and Fresno Pacific sat tied for first at 139 points. The Firebirds finished in second place in the 4x400m with a time of 3:48.78, scoring eight points to finish at 147 points. 

Although BU's A squad finished nearly ten seconds behind FPU, they added to those five points with three points from the C squad (6th 4:13.31) and the two more points from B squad (7th 4:22.08) earning them 13 points in the event and pushing the Eagles to a final score of 149 points for a first place team finish. 

BU saw great marks on the men's side. Freshman Chase Williams finished second in the 100m with a time of 10.95 just one hundredth of a second behind event winner Roman Johnson (10.94) of San Jose St. The second place finish was Williams' first collegiate mark of his career in the 100m. Williams would score BU three more points with a sixth place finish in the 200m, finishing with 11 points on the day.
 

Mathias Davis was the lone event winner for BU finishing first in the 400m with a time of 49.59 and scoring ten points for the Eagles. Brady DeHaven finished in the top three of the 5000m taking home third with a time of 14:38.13 for six points. DeHaven came within six seconds of the provisional standard in the 5K, setting a personal best by 30 seconds. 

Justin Conklin finished second in the 110m hurdles (15:07) for eight points and added an additional point for the Eagles in the men's high jump. 

The 4x400 relay team of Noah Strenn, Trevor Hormel, Nathan Estrada, Mathias Davis finished in third place behind Academy of Art (3:21.44) and San Jose St. (3:24.13). The finish was just enough to give BU's men's team a third place team finish with 85 points, five points ahead of CSU Bakersfield. 

The Eagles are back in action at the "Battle For LA" meet on Saturday, March 13. The meet will be hosted by Azusa Pacific at the Cougar Athletic Stadium inAzusa, California. Keep an eye at athletics.biola.edu for any meet additions or changes.