Beach Notches Three Event Victories on Final Day of Beach Opener

Saturday, March 5

Long Beach, Calif.

All Day

Long Beach State University

Beach Opener

Photo by: John Fajardo

Beach Notches Three Event Victories on Final Day of Beach Opener

3/5/2022 5:21:00 PM | Track and Field

Full Results

The women’s relay teams swept the 4x100m and 4x400m.

By: Collin Robinson, Associate Athletics Communications Director

LONG BEACH, Calif. - The Long Beach State track and field finished up competition at the Beach Opener on Saturday with three event victories. The women's relay teams were the highlight of the day, sweeping the 4x100m and 4x400m races.

In the 4x100m, LeNaya Griffin, Jaelyn Predium, Rahni Turner, and Kaitlyn Williams raced to a 46.73 to claim the victory. The quartet finished three-tenths ahead of the second place finishing team of Cal Poly Pomona.

Griffin and Predium returned to the track with Hailey Danskin and Rahni Turner for the 4x400m relay race and came out victorious again. Their time of 3:50.46 was two seconds faster than the second place UCSD team.

Ryley Fick was dominant in the women's 3000m, beating out her teammate Allie Scimia by 14 seconds. Her time of 9:52.55 marks a new lifetime-best for the junior and moves her into fifth on the Long Beach State all-time list. Scimia's second place finish came with a time of 10:06.88 in her outdoor debut.

Both Fick and Scimia also competed in the women's 1500m run today. The duo finished third and fourth with times of 4:32.96 and 4:40.51, respectively.

On the men's side of the 3000m run, Raymon Ornelas finished third with a time of 8:33.66. It moves him into seventh in program history with a new lifetime-best. Ricky Villa turned in a twelfth place finish with a time of 8:45.42 in the event.

Crystal Washington turned in a strong performance in her first Triple Jump finishing first among all collegiate athletes. Her mark of 11.97m (39' 3.25") was second overall, just eight inches behind the top jumper.

Elsewhere in the other jump events, Cyprus Rice finished second in the men's Pole Vault with a clearance of 4.65m (15' 4.25"). Mikayla Ray also finished second in the Pole Vault on the women's side, clearing 3.68m (12' 0.75"). The trio of Kaitlyn Williams (5.76m), Tayah DeSousa, and Maddie DeBorde finished three through five in the women's Long Jump.

The throwers continued their success as Malia Talavou finished third in the women's Shot Put (13.31m) and fourth in the women's Discus (46.65m) to lead the way. In men's Shot Put, Charlie Vernoy (16.18m) and Sebastian Coleman (15.76m) finished third and fifth, respectively.

Some of the other top performers on the track include a pair of second place finishes in the 800m. Bronwyn Bunnell posted a runner-up time of 2:16.43 on the women's side while Mohammed Mohamed ran a 1:52.67 for the men's team.
In the men's 1500m, the Phillips brothers made up two of the top three spots. Michael Phillips posted a time of 3:52.06 to finish second while Connor Phillips came in at 3:54.77 for a third place finish.

Along with their relay victories, Predium and Griffin notched top three finishes in their other events. Griffin ran a 24.21 in the women's 200m just missing out on a Long Beach State top ten time in her third place finish. Predium finished third as well in the women's 100m Dash with a time of 12.21.

The Beach returns to action next weekend as they head up the freeway for the Trojan Invitational, hosted by USC. The two-day meet will feature action all day Friday and Saturday.