Long Beach State Wins Both Men’s and Women’s Challenge Cup

Friday, April 8

Long Beach, Calif.

All Day

Long Beach State University

Challenge Cup

Long Beach State Wins Both Men’s and Women’s Challenge Cup

4/8/2022 8:00:00 PM | Track and Field

Final Scores Final Results Photo Gallery

In the 27th annual Challenge Cup, the Beach collected their 21st men’s cup and 9th women’s cup.

By: Collin Robinson, Associate Athletics Communications Director

LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Long Beach State track and field team dominated the 27th annual Challenge Cup at the Jack Rose Track on Friday afternoon. The men's victory marks their second consecutive cup and 21st overall while the women's victory is their ninth overall and first since 2015.

Both the men and women finished with 205 total points in their victories. For the women, it's the highest point total by any team to raise the cup since 2012 and most for the program since 2008. On the men's side, it is the most points by a winner since 2015 when the Beach won with 222 points.

Final Scores | Results

The Beach altered the record books some more, led by the duo of Rahni Turner and Joseph Anderson in the Hurdles. Turner finished first in the women's 100m Hurdles with a time of 13.60 to move into fourth on Long Beach State's all-time list while Anderson posted a win in the men's 110m Hurdles with a time of 13.98 to move into a tie for fifth in program history. The Oregon transfer also took home the victory in the men's 400m Hurdle race with a time of 53.93.

LeNaya Griffin had another fantastic performance on the day. In the women's 400m, she crossed the line first in 53.74 seconds to match her lifetime-best and number two-ranked time in LBSU history. As if that was not enough, she also posted a 24.06 in the 200m Dash which marks a new lifetime-best and puts her at ninth on the all-time list.

Keeley Rasmussen etched her name into the record books as well. Posting a mark of 53.36m (175-1) in women's Hammer, the freshman picked up the victory by over a foot and moved into ninth on Long Beach State's all-time list.

The Beach got their day started with a victory as the women's 4x100m team of LeNaya Griffin, Jaelyn Predium, Rahni Turner, and Kaitlyn Williams posted a season-best 46.02 in the first event of the day to cross the line first. They were quickly followed by a men's 4x100m Relay victory as Malik Harness, Joseph Anderson, Mekhi Mays, and Anthony Palumbo's time of 40.83 gave them the top spot.

Anthony Munoz picked up the third LBSU win of the day, posting a time of 10:52.34 in the men's 3000m Steeplechase. He was followed by a one-two finish in the men's 1500m from Alex Kalmar (3:52.71) and Ricky Villa (3:54.67). For Villa, the time marks a new lifetime-best for the senior.

The Beach picked up one more distance win as Mohammed Mohamed claimed the spot in the men's 800m Run once again. His time of 1:50.18 just missed the meet record, but gives him back-to-back wins in the event. Connor Phillips posted a new lifetime-best in the event as well with a time of 1:52.09 for a third place finish.

Kaitlyn Williams notched the final win on the track for Long Beach State, crossing the line first in the women's 100m Dash. Her time of 11.89 beat out the runner-up by one-one hundredths of a second for the victory.

Jason Smith stayed red hot with two more wins on the day. In High Jump, he cleared the bar at 2.14m (7-0.25) for a new season-best for the victory and then launched himself 7.55m (24-9.25) for the top spot in Long Jump. He has now won all five jump events that he has competed in this season.

The women's team nearly swept all four jump events on the day. Starting with the High Jump, Calista Apostol cleared the bar at 1.65m (5-5) for the victory, followed by Maggie Lear's clearance of 3.68m (12-0.75) for the win and a new lifetime-best in Pole Vault. Crystal Washington claimed another Triple Jump victory, jumping 12.32m (40-5) for the next jump win.

The lone jump they did not have a winner was the women's Long Jump, but the Beach did claim the second through seventh placements in the event. Imani Carmouche led the way with a 5.64m (18-6) for the runner-up spot, just narrowly beating out teammate Rahni Turner, who posted a mark of 5.62m (18-5.25).

The men's throwers closed out the day with some finishes. The trio of Charlie Vernoy, Alec Jones, and Sebastian Coleman claimed the top three marks in both Discus and Hammer. In Hammer, Coleman's mark of 63.99m (209-11) beat out Jones (63.54m) and Vernoy (61.84m). The order was reversed in Discus as Vernoy posted a throw of 55.89m (183-4) for the top spot ahead of Jones (54.82m) and Coleman (54.21m).

For Vernoy, his Hammer throw marks a new lifetime-best and moves him into tenth on the all-time program list. He also finished third in Shot Put for his third podium finish of the day.

Last but certainly not least, Marcos Gonzalez brought home the victory in men's Javelin. His throw of 61.50m (201-9) edged out the runner-up by eight inches for Long Beach State's 20th event victory of the Challenge Cup.

The Beach is not done for the weekend, as they send several athletes down to La Jolla, Calif. tomorrow for the Triton Invitational hosted by UC San Diego.