The San Bernardino Valley College track teams split up last weekend, testing themselves against various levels of competition.
A handful of distance runners headed to Cal State San Marcos last Friday, where they participated in the Mangrum Invitational against a number of athletes from NCAA Division 2 and 3 schools.
Sophomore Jacob Mendiola finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase event, chopping five seconds off his personal best with a time of 9 minutes, 17.53 seconds. It is the top time in the state this season, and the sixth-best time in the nation for community college level runners.
Zach Calderon finished ninth in the 10,000 meters, posting a time of 32:41.06, which reaches the state "B" standard, and is the eighth-best time in the state this year. Fellow distance runner Kevin Nava also posted a personal best in the 5,000 meters, with a time of 15:41.73.
Freshman Xander Merkwan posted a second place finish in his heat of the 1500 meters, taking five seconds off his personal best, finishing at 4:17.04.
Sara Jaquez was the only female runner from SBVC at the event. The sophomore from Grand Terrace High finished third in her heat of the 800 meters with a time of 2:22.47, the eighth-best time in the state this year.
Saturday, the rest of the squad was off to El Camino College for the Dave Shannon Invitational, which featured community college teams from around Southern California.
Members of the women's team had strong showings throughout the day.
Freshman Liliana Wilson won her heat in the 100 meters with a personal best time of 13.23 seconds, then finished fourth overall in the 200 meters, posting another personal best at 27.13 seconds. Melanie Bravo won both her heats in the 100 meters (13.68 seconds) and 200 meters (29.61 seconds).
Jade Campbell posted her season best in the 400 meters, finishing fifth overall with a time of 59.97 seconds. Zailah Armenta set her personal best in the 800 meters, finishing second in her heat with a time of 2:38.98.
The women's relay teams finished second in both of their races. The 4x100 team of Dianna Calleja, Jessie Espinoza, Wilson, and Campbell posted its season best time of 51.13 seconds, reaching the state "B" standard. The 4x400 team of Wilson, Espinoza, Campbell, and Armenta posted a time of 4:21.96.
On the men's side, freshman Semaj Johnson won his heat in the 100 meters, posting a personal best time of 11.10 seconds, then finished seventh overall in the 200 meters, with another personal best time of 22.23 seconds. Sophomore Solomon German was right with Johnson in his heat results, finishing ninth overall in the 100 (11.05 seconds) and a personal best in the 200 (22.21 seconds), good for sixth overall.
A pair of sophomores – Elijah Koskey and Keshion Mackel – finished alongside one another in the 400 meters, with Koskey finishing fifth overall with a time of 50.17 seconds, and Mackel posting a personal best at 50.48 for sixth.
Those four then combined on a third-place finish in the 4x100 meter relay, with a time of 42.88 seconds.
The lone distance runner at El Camino was freshman Erik Sanchez, who posted a personal best in the 5,000 meters, with a time of 18:21.62.