SBCC freshman Emily Bernath captured the 800-meter title at the prestigious Mt. SAC Invitational on Saturday in Walnut.
The freshman from Buena High ran a personal-best 2:14.86 to beat the top-ranked 800 runner in the state, Melissa Leyva of Sequoias, in their first head-to-head matchup.
Bernath led wire-to-wire and won by 0.33 hundredths of a second over Lillian Asseria of Glendale in a field that featured four of the top six 800 runners in the state. Leyva was third in 2:15.23.
Bernath already had the No. 2 all-time mark in SBCC history and Saturday’s effort moved her closer to the school record of 2:12.7, set in 1984 by Ali Owen.
SBCC had numerous personal-best marks in the elite meet, which only invited the top 24-27 from California in the running events and as few as 12 in the field events.
The men’s 4 x 400 relay squad of Cliff Lekas (49.5), James Herb (50.5), Geoff Brown (48.6) and Tristan Lake (50.0) ran the No. 4 all-time SBCC mark to win their heat by nearly three seconds in 3:18.71. The foursome is eyeing the school record of 3:17.04, which dates all the way back to 1974.
The women’s 4 x 400 relay took fifth in 4:02.56, missing their season best by a hundredth of a second. The squad of Bernath (61.0), Kalina Rock (61.3), Sara Jungersten (61.7) and Emily Walker (58.1) is just off the SBCC school record of 4:00.44 set in 1978.
Jungersten and Walker also competed in the open 400 with Walker just missing her personal best with a 59.23 effort and Jungersten earning a personal best of 59.72. Both runners were part of the 4 x 100 relay squad (49.26, another personal best) along with Rock and freshman Samantha Wikmark. Wikmark ran her second-best 100 time of the season at 12.86.
Kodie Hebert had one of the top finishes of the day as she placed fourth in the javelin with her second personal-best mark in as many weeks. Her toss of 35.04m moves the freshman to No. 5 on the SBCC all-time list. The mark also moves her back to the top of the leader board in the WSC.
In the men’s javelin, Aaron Mateski just missed out on a top-five medal with his sixth-place throw of 53.67m.
Kathryn Rucker took third in the women’s high jump at 1.62m, her second-best effort of the season. Nicole Bartlett also hit her second-best mark with a 4:53.70 clocking in the 1500, good for fifth place
Kristina Khalil and Amy Connor had season-best marks in the 100 hurdles at 16.47 and 17.24 respectively.
Cody Bidlow ran on to the SBCC all-time list at No. 9 with his 200 mark of 22.06. John Nealon ran his second PR in a row in the 800, winning his heat in 1:57.46.
The Vaqueros return to action on Friday in the WSC Prelims at Ventura College.
All running events will be prelims (top 9 advancing to finals) with the exception of the 10,000m (top 6 advance to So Cal Championships) and all field events will be Finals (top 6 advance to So Cal prelims). Field events begin at 11 a.m. and running events start at noon.
