Great Weather Brings Out Best in Eagles

Meet Results 

(2/9/08 - Men's Track and Field) AZUSA - A trio of school records fell while several personal marks were also achieved as the Concordia men's indoor track and field squad competed away from home for the first time in 2008 at the Azusa Pacific Qualifier, Friday and Saturday in Cougar Stadium.

Newcomer Nathan Winkler gave head coach Martin Gonzalez and sprint coach Jose Hernandez one of their biggest joys of the season as he set school records in both the 60m and 200m races. Besting the previous mark of 7.20 set by Terrence Paschal in 2002, Winkler finished fifth among all preliminary competitors in the 60m with a time of 7.06. He was just .01 behind that mark in the finals, but still moved up two spots to third place.

Michael Leonetti was also under ther previous school record in the prelims as he ran 7.18 before clocking 7.19 in the finals for a 6th place finish. Leonetti also competed in the 60m hurdles and logged a time of 9.04.

Later on in the meet, Winkler also put his name in the record books for 200 meters. He posted a time of 22.20 and finished 4th overall, eclipsing the previous record set by Grant Carey of 22.82 back in 1999. Ben Coulumbe and Rod West also competed in both events, finishing even at 7.33 in the 60 before running 23.33 and 23.38 in the 200, respectively.

For the first time in program history, the Eagles sent a thrower into the weight throw competition. Chad Smith earned the honor of first-ever Eagle to take part in the event and set the standard quite high with a toss of 48'7.5". All-American Paul Castaneda continued his progress toward nationals as he continues to lead the nation in the shot put after posting a meet-best throw of 58'0.5".

Tony Pulido highlighted a series of runners competing in the middle distance events for the Eagles. Stretching himself to this new distance, Pulido recorded a personal best time of 8:59.02 to take 4th place while Axel Ambriz was two slots behind him at 9:12.07. Jarid Rollins posted a time of 1:28.47 in the 600, Ryan Allen clocked 2:35.41 in the 1,000 while Guillermo Cazares crossed the line in 4:31.19 for the mile.

Concordia is scheduled for a pair of meets this coming weekend, February 15-16. Some of the team will compete at Azusa Pacific once more while other members will head East on I-10 to compete in the Pomona-Pitzer All-Comers meet.