SAN MARCOS, CA — After a two week layoff, the completed La Verne track and field teams competed at Cal State San Marcos on Friday. The Leopards performed well for a mid-March meet, competing in a mixed field of NCAA Division I, II, and III squads along with top junior college programs.

The throwers started the day with Michael Benschop posting a personal best in the javelin and Madison Xie doing the same in the discus.

Not to be outdone, the women's 4x100 really team (Jazzlyn Johnson, Dawson Bell, Princess Macon, and Eriell Duckworth) put up a season's best mark of 53.03. Macon also had a personal best in the 400m.

The hurdlers made their statement with Zachary Reid opening up his outdoor season at 14.96 in the 110 hurdles. He placed third overall and first among DIII athletes. His time ranks him No. 8 on the NCAA qualifying list. Joshua Collier put up big performances in both the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles. He finished right behind Reid in the 110 hurdles and was first among DIII competitors in the 400m hurdles. His time of 53.85 ranks him No. 3 in the 400m hurdles and his time of 15.20 puts him at No. 19 in the 110m hurdles.

In the evening's distance events, Gwen Maddox and AJ Reyes both ran personal bests in the 5000m. Reyes finished third overall and put himself at No. 11 on the NCAA qualifying list with a time of 14:42.44. Maddox set her new PR at 18:59.26. To close out the day Fernando Cortez (32:16.62) and Robert Renoso (33:54.89 ) ran PRs in the 10K ranking themselves No. 3 and No. 8, respectively on the Leopard All-time list.

From the Coach

"We're excited about what the coming weeks have in store. Going into next week and SCIAC #2 at Redlands we will go back to training and look to improve on our standing both on the SCIAC performance list as well as the NCAA performance list," said La Verne Track and Field head coach Kevin Reid.

Next Meet

The Leopards compete next at SCIAC No. 2 hosted at the University of Redlands on Saturday, March 30 at 10 a.m.