Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Track & Field team faced some tough competition within the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships this past weekend as they totaled 35.50 points.

After the two days they beat out Chapman and Caltech and almost caught Cal Lutheran University (46) as they finished 7^th at the SCIAC Championships.

Julian Sandoval (El Monte, Calif.) who continues to look for that berth into the NCAA Division III National Championships placed 2^nd in the 5000m (15:00.39) giving him All-SCIAC honors.  Ruben Solorza (Whittier, Calif.) joined him on the podium but in the 10,000m as he placed 3^rd overall with a 32:01.96.

The next closest individual to making All-SCIAC was freshman William Howells (Webster Grove, MO) who missed All-SCIAC recognition by just .2 seconds, putting him 4^th in the 1500m.

In the 110m Hurdles Craig Rogers (Whittier, Calif.) posted a time of 16.42, which put him 5^th and KamRon Perry (San Jose, Calif.) rounded out the distance with a 9^th place finish in the 3000m Steeplechase with a time of 10:15.04.

The Poets put together a 4 x 400 Relay team of Rogers, Iqbal, Joshua Minnie (Oceanside, Calif.), and Perry but they took 7^th with a time of 3:29.47.

In the jumps, Rogers returned in the High Jump finishing 9^th (1.77m).  Miguel Redmond (San Jose, Calif.), took 4^th in the Pole Vault (4.26m) and Tomo Pollard (La Jolla, Calif.) finished 17^th in the Long Jump (6.04m). 

Pollard returned in the triple jump but again couldn't crack the top 10 as he finished 12^th (12.15m).  Then in the throws, Andrew Jimenez (Tehachapi, Calif.) took over.  He took 5^th in the Shot Put (13.98m), 14^th in the Discus (35.24m), and 14^th in the Hammer (33.71m).  Gilbert Hernandez (Menifee, Calif.) also took part in the throws and finished 20^th in the Shot Put (10.39m) and 7^th in the Discus (39.57m).           

The Occidental Invite is set to begin this Saturday, May 6 hosted by Occidental College with a small contingent of athletes going to participate.