The San Bernardino Valley College men's track team opened the championship season with an impressive showing at the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference championships at San Diego Mesa.
Ten athletes qualified to participate in the Southern California Regionals, which will begin May 3 at Saddleback College with preliminaries, with the championships set for May 10.
All four members of the SBVC relay teams qualified for regionals in their individual events. Solomon German continued shaving time off his personal bests, as he finished third in the 100 meters with a time of 10.63 seconds – which is the 12th fastest time in the state this season. He then posted a personal best in the 200, finishing fourth at 21.78 seconds.
Teammates Semaj Johnson, Keshion Mackel, and Elijah Koskey all advanced to the regionals in the 400 meters. Johnson finished third at 49.89 seconds, with Mackel finishing fifth at 50.72 seconds, and Koskey in sixth at 50.91 seconds. The foursome then combined to finish in second place in both the 4x100 relay (43.01 seconds) and 4x400 relay (3:19.83).
Several distance runners also qualified over the weekend. Jacob Mendiola began his qualifying journey on Thursday, running in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the University of La Verne Leopard Invitational. Against athletes from four-year schools, Mendiola finished seventh, posting the fastest time by a California two-year athlete of the season at 9:13.63 – the second fastest time in school history. Mendiola then came back Saturday to finish third in the 5000 meters, posting a time of 15:20.79.
Mendiola will be joined at the regionals in the steeplechase by Noah Townsend, who posted a personal best while finishing second at 10:20.64, and in the 5000 meters by Kevin Nava, who finished fifth at 15:44.38. The fifth place finish wasn't Nava's only qualification, as he finished second in the 10,000 meters – which was run Wednesday – with a time of 32:35.91. Zach Calderon was third in the 10,000, finishing at 32:54.8.
Vinnie Quiroz is ramping up for the final stretch, posting season bests in the 1500 meters (third place, 4:06.76) and 800 meters (sixth place, 1:58.42). Nicholas Juarez will also head to the regionals after finishing sixth in the 1500 with a personal best time of 4:11.76.