Long Beach State Sweeps The Challenge Cup For Third Year In A Row

Friday, March 15

Fullerton, Calif.

All Day

Long Beach State University

Challenge Cup

Photo by: John Fajardo

Long Beach State Sweeps The Challenge Cup For Third Year In A Row

3/15/2024 9:23:00 PM | Track and Field

LBSU Men Win The Cup For The 23rd Time; The Beach Women Win Cup For 12th Time

Complete Results

FULLERTON, Calif.—Long Beach State swept the men's and women's track and field titles at the 29th Challenge Cup Friday night at the Titan Track Complex.

MEN
Long Beach State scored 212 points to win its third consecutive Challenge Cup. The Beach's point total is the most for the team in 2015 (222). Friday night is the 23rd time in 29 years of the meet that LBSU took home the top honors. UC Irvine (157) was second, followed by UC Santa Barbara (135) and Cal State Fullerton (88).

The Beach went 1-2 in the 3000m, 1500m, and 800m.

Mario Tavares broke the Long Beach State school record in the 3000m with a time of 8:23.63. This lowered the school record by nearly three seconds, as the old record was 8:26.02, which Jimmy Grabow ran in 2005.

Will Frankenfeld's 8:28.75 in the 3000m was the fourth fastest time in school history and earned him second place.

Alex Kalmar led the 1-2 in the 1500m with Cameron Rhone. Kalmar won in 3:50.20, while Rhone ran 3:50.98 to become the runner-up.

Kyle Reden and Jay Brown were 1-2 in the 800m. Reden ran 1:52.05, while Brown turned in a time of 1:53.02.

The 4x100m relay of Naythn Scruggs, Tristyn Flores, Malik Harness, and Omri Shiff won the race in a time of 40.80.

Elijah Harris reset his best in the long jump, winning the event with a leap of 24-8 1/2. Harris was the triple jump winning after going 49-0 1/4.

Pablo Gamez was the hammer throw champion, posting a toss of 198-7.

Nikolaj Freschlin won the javelin with the fourth-longest throw in school history, 229-8.

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL POINT SCORERS
Harness (10.77) and Flores (10.82) came in second and third, respectively, in the 100m.

Patrick Henderson finished second in the 400m (47.99).

Cyprus Rice (16-3 1/4) and Daniel Palacio (15-3 1/2) placed second and third in the pole vault, respectively.

Canaan Wharry was second in the hammer throw (190-3).

Scruggs and Harness went 3-4 in the 200m. Scruggs ran 21.79, while Harness posted 21.84.

Novye' James finished third in the long jump (23-6 1/4).

Conrad Bernstein placed third in the javelin (194-8).

The shot put saw Jaylon Wells (55-11 3/4) and Aiden Pastorian (55-1 1/2) come in third and fourth.

TJ Wiggins (170-10) and Wharry (169-5) placed third and fourth in the discus, respectively.

Shiff's fifth place in the 400m (48.65) earned the squad points. '

Aidan Turner (15.54) and Milo Orona (16.23) scored points in the 110m hurdles after finishing eighth and ninth, respectively. Orona later finished third in the high jump (6-1 1/4), while Turner was sixth at the same height, but it took him more chances to clear the height.

The 4x400m relay featured Anthony Coleman, Henderson, Shiff, and Scruggs. The team placed fourth (3:23.59).

WOMEN
Long Beach State won its third consecutive Challenge Cup by scoring 191.5 points. It is the 12th time in 29 Challenge Cups that the Beach has won the women's side. UC Irvine was second (179.5), followed by Cal State Fullerton (138.5) and UC Santa Barbara (101.5).

Rori Denness-Lamont reset her school record in the javelin, winning the event with a toss of 174-5. She won the javelin by over 30 feet as Jolie Robinson of UC Irvine finished second at 140-4.

Denness-Lamont broke her previous school mark of 172-7 that she set two weeks ago at the Beach Opener and the previous Challenge Cup record in the javelin of 163-8, set in 2008 by Long Beach State's Alex Shaw.

Rahni Turner won the 100m hurdles by running a new meet record time of 13.32. The previous mark was 13.37, which was set by Megan George in 2017. Turner returned to run 24.95 to finish third in the 200m.

Sofia Lavreshina won the 400m by recording the seventh fastest time in school history, 54.72. Lavreshina was seventh in the 200m (25.44).

Leia Jones and Marikay Schwab were 1-and-2 in the 1500m. Jones' winning time was 4:37.16, while Schwab ran 4:39.92. Jones was also fifth in the 800m (2:17.76).

The Beach recorded another 1-2 in the 3000m, with Allie Scimia winning the race (10:20.74) and Schwab coming second again (10:23.60).

Maddie Franco won the 3000m steeplechase by posting the eighth fastest time in school history, 11:10.25.

The 4x100m relay of Turner, Kaitlyn Williams, Lavreshina, and Tayah DeSousa won the event by running 46.66.

Giszelle Hrehor won the hammer throw with a toss of 182-2. She later finished fifth in the discus (128-6).

Natasha Tehrani won the pole vault with the fourth-highest leap of 13-0 1/4

KiiKii Brown tied with UC Santa Barbara's Kennedy Johnson for first in the triple jump (38-0 3/4).

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL POINT SCORERS
Annie Murphy was the runner-up in the pole vault (12-2 1/4). She added a fourth-place showing in the triple jump (35-6 1/2).

Jenelle Hurley raised her career best in the javelin to 127-8 to finish third. She returned to finish second in the high jump (5-1 1/4).

Maddie DeBorde was third in the long jump (17-2 3/4).

Keeley Rasmussen was third in the discus (135-2), fourth in the hammer throw (172-6), and 10th in the shot put (37-6).

DeSousa finished fourth in the long jump (18-5 3/4), while Brown scored sixth (18-4 1/2). DeSousa later scored in the 100m hurdles (14.74).

Kendall Harrison was fourth in the 800m (2:16.78).

Isela Ochoa scored in the 400m after running 59.61 (ninth overall).

Williams (9th, 12.45) and Sofia Bailey (12th, 12.68) scored points for LBSU in the 100m. Bailey tied for fourth in the high jump (4-11 1/2) and earned 4.5 points in the event.

Alli Bryan's 34-2 3/4 in the shot earned the Beach the final point of the event (13th overall).

Harrison, Lavreshina, Turner, and Williams competed in the 4x400m relay and finished fifth (4:23.88).

The Beach returns to action next week at three events. Long Beach State begins the week at the UC Riverside Spring Break Multis from Mar. 21-22. The Beach travel to the San Diego State Aztec Invitational on March 22-23 before wrapping up the weekend at USC's Ron & Sharlene Allice Trojan Invitational on Mar. 23.

~#GoBeach~