LA VERNE, Calif. — Zaria Opara won the hammer throw and shot put and Sarah Bjornson took the high jump to lead Cal Lutheran women's track & field at the SCIAC Championships on Saturday and Sunday. The Regals placed seventh with 39 points. Opara was also named the Jennifer Stary award winner. It is an annual award to a senior athlete who best exemplifies the conference's high ideals during their association with SCIAC Track & Field.
Opara went back-to-back in the hammer and claimed her first title in the shot put. She recorded marks of 49.17 meters in the hammer and 11.96m in the shot put and earned All-SCIAC twice. Bjornson won her second high jump title as she cleared 1.62m. She also won the event in 2021. Her mark put her third on the program's top-10 list and was also a personal best.
The Regals added nine more top-10 finishes. Cheyanne Rodriguez was fifth in the hammer (42.31m), Jasmyne Holliday was sixth in the 100 dash (12.54 seconds), Bjornson was seventh in the pole vault (3.07m), Fatima Cervantes was ninth in the 400 hurdles (1:11.15), Holliday was ninth in the 200 dash (26.25), Taylor Kemp was ninth in the discus (32.50m), Brooke Hougo was 10th in the 3000 meter steeplechase (12:45.45), Kemp was 10th in the javelin (27.65m) and hammer (34.22m), and Jodie Oparanaku was 10th in the 100 hurdles (16.81). Holliday's times in the 100m and 200m, Rodriguez's mark in the hammer, and Kemp's mark in the discus were all personal bests.
In the finals of distance and field events, the Regals placed top-20, nine more times. Cervantes was 11th in the high jump (1.42m), Rodriguez was 11th in the discus (31.75m), Cora Hautekeete was 12th in the 3000m steeplechase (12:55.84), Sadie Rico was 12th in the hammer (33.15m), Cervantes was 13th in the triple jump (9.83m), Rodriguez was 15th in the javelin (26.23m), Liv Gichanga was 16th in the hammer (30.64m), Sophia Green was 17th in the hammer (29.14m), and Oparanaku was 17th in the long jump (4.65m).
The Regals had 10 more competitors competing in seven events. Oparanaku was 15th in the prelims of the 400 hurdles (1:17.90), Rico was 21st in the shot put (8.85m), Niora Abraham was 23rd in the long jump (24.93m), Rico was 25th in the discus (24.93m), Green was 29th in the shot put (8.23m), Rodriguez was 30th in the shot put (7.99m), Abraham was 31st in the prelims of the 100 dash (15.65), Gichanga was 31st in the shot put (6.32m), Abraham was 37th in the prelims of the 200 dash (33.75), and Isabela Garcia-Work was 39th in the prelims of the 1500 run (6:30.30). Garcia-Work's time in the 1500m was a personal best.
The Regals continue the season with the Occidental Invite on Saturday at 11 a.m.
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