Two stadium records fell on Saturday at the Westmont Collegiate Classic Track and Field Meet.
Westmont’s Elysia Hodges broke her own stadium record in winning the women’s 400 meter hurdles in a time of 59.68. Hodges’ time was 0.26 seconds faster than the previous stadium she set one year ago (March 30, 2013). Hodges easily beat the NAIA automatically qualifying time of 64.00.
Surpassing a stadium record that had stood for 33 years was Antoinette Nana Djimou of the French National Team. Two dozen combined events athletes from the national team of France are training for two and one-half weeks at Westmont. Nana Djimou put the shot 14.45 meters (47-5), which was 0.04 meters farther than Cal State Bakersfield’s Sharen Hamilton threw in 1981.
Nana Djimou was the gold medalist in the heptathlon in the 2012 European Championships and in the indoor pentathlon in the 2011 and 2013 European Indoor Championships.
Westmont’s Becky Collier earned a NAIA National Championship automatic qualifying mark of 1.70 in the high jump. She took second in the event to Sarah Hill of Fresno Pacific who jumped 1.75 meters.
Taylor Frantom cleared 3.51 meters in the pole vault to post a provisional qualifying mark for the NAIA National Championships. Frantom finished second to Cimran Virdi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In the men’s 400 meter dash, Westmont Tyler Moore finished second with a time of 48.47, notching a provisional qualifying mark. William Lee of MIT took first with a time of 48.09.
Also claiming a provisional qualification was Westmont’s Shane Rowan in the triple jump with a mark of 14.26 meters. Rowan finished third behind Josiah Ford (14.60m) and Donte McDaniel (14.32m), both of Fresno Pacific.
The Westmont men’s 4 x 800 meter team of Nathan Evans, David Donner, Evan Bradford and John Nealon finished with a time of 7:45.31. The time met the provisional qualification standard and came within 0.31 seconds of an automatic qualification.
