Men finish first, women third in Mondo Mid-Major Challenge

State Hornet Staff

In the last meet before the new Mondo surface track is to be installed at Hornet Stadium, the Sacramento State men’s and women’s track and field teams finished first and third, respectively.

The men’s team scored 186 points in the Mondo Mid-Major Challenge, 58 points ahead of second place Fresno State. The women’s team improved on their fifth place finish in the Cal-Nevada Championships, scoring 124 points.

Junior sprinter Dominique Whittington contributed to a strong women’s outing, winning the 400 meter dash with a time of 53.90 seconds. Her time was a Mondo Mid-Major meet record, finishing 46 hundredths of a second faster than previous record holder and former olympian Ugo Eke of UC Davis.

“That was the best race I ran all season,” Whittington said. “It was actually the second fastest race I’ve ran in my life.”

Sophomore Miranda Dumas continued the success on the women’s side, finishing first in the pole vault, with a distance of 3.80 meters. She also finished third in the high jump, with a distance of 1.60 meters.

Senior thrower Emily Kersting finished first in the javelin throw, with a distance of 44.68 meters, 1.7 meters ahead of Kira Rienecker, of rival UC Davis Aggies.

For the men’s team, senior middle-distance runner Nathanael Litwiller finished first in the 800 meters, with a time of 1:51.74 minutes, narrowly defeating John Jamieson of Fresno State by four hundredths of a second.

The 4×100 relay team of sophomores Michael Turner and Osaretin Ogbeide, junior Bryan Cuellar and senior Evan Meehan finished first with a time of 41.53 seconds.

Both teams had strong performances from a variety of athletes. For the women’s squad, junior sprinter Caprice Powell finished second in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.94 seconds, and third in the 200 meters with a time of 24.66 seconds.

Sophomore hurdler Devin Collins finished second in the 200 meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.44 minutes, and third in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 14.20 seconds.

Sophomore hurdler Kassandra Corrington finished second in the Heptathlon, with a total score of 4747 points, 301 points behind Karolin Anders of Anchorage, Alaska.

For the men, sprinter Meehan finished second in the 100 meter dash by six hundredths of a second to Fresno State’s Anthony Riggins.

In the field events, sophomore jumper Steven Pust finished second in the Pole Vault, with a distance of 4.70 meters. Michael Turner, a sophomore jumper, finished third in the long jump, traveling 6.81 meters. Senior thrower Alberto Millan finished third in the shot put, with a throw of 16.35 meters.

The Hornets will now travel to the Mt. Sac Multi meet in Walnut, Calif., on Thursday.