A Down South Adventure

Castle High School Alumni, Bryan Clay (That's in the 808. Get some HI.)

So the Warriors travelled to smoggy The Angels, California this past weekend to compete in a couple of highly competitive meets. The Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University welcomed in teams from California, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, and even British Columbia, making it the meet to be at (if you didn't qualify for Mt. SAC.) This was definitely the best competition we've seen since Cal/Nev Champs back in March. Plenty of D1, D2, as well as solid NAIA and D3 teams were in attendance, but that didn't stop the Warriors from repping the red and gold with pride and authority.

April Montgomery highlighted the day with a huge pr in the 800, a 2:12 which will surely clinch her a spot at nationals this year. She won her heat, and her time earned her 5th overrall, beating out a field of over 60 runners from around the western U.S. Marissa Hager was 3rd in her heat, running a swift 2:19 after being heavily boxed in a pushed around for the first 600 meters until she could break free.

Martin Ramos ran two steeples in 14 hours. He will pr and hit a provisional at CCAA's.

In the women's 1500, Denali Foldager ran a 4:55 and was the first Woman Warrior across. She was followed by Clarissa Rivera, who ran a lifetime pr of 5:08, Andrea Johnson in 5: 14, and then Dreamweaver, who crossed in 5:23 after coming off a few missed weeks of training due to a quad strain.

The men's 1500 saw the seasons first Warrior to break 4 minutes. Freshman Eric Gutierrez dipped under the barrier with a 3:59.92, good enough for 9th overall in a very competitive field. Shane Brookshire had his breakout race of the season, clocking an 8 second pr in the race to finish in 4:03. That now means that Stan State's top 5 distance men are all 4:03 or better in the 1500, and 15:35 or better in the 5k, a great indicator of a young program on the rise. The best part: only one of those studs won't be returning next season.

In the men's 5k, Dawson Vorderbruegge set an 11 second pr, finishing in 15:17. That was good enough for 3rd in his heat, and 8th overall. Joey Nunes had a tough race, finishing in 15:43, but is bouncing back and ready to compete well at conference. With all the distance men running the 5k at CCAA's, it will be a race to see who can board the sub-15 train. My gut feeling: There's only room for 3. Which 3, you may ask? That's classified...