Photo Essay | The Panthers Put Paws on the Track: A SCIAC breakdown
Photos Courtesy of Jonny Hortaleza
What was the track and field team’s prediction for their championship meet? Pain.
The Southern California Intercollegiate Conference (SCIAC) tested the threshold of track and field athletes from all of its schools, who have been training since the beginning of October for this moment.
Saturday, April 26 marked day one of the SCIAC Championship meet, mainly consisting of the preliminary events, setting the stage for finals and point-scoring opportunities.
Final events are scored on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 point scale—10 being the number of points earned by the first place finisher, one being the point earned by the eighth place finisher. Athletes must tow the line with the preliminaries—performing at the level where they can advance, but not overexert themselves before the final.
For the men’s 1500-meter preliminary, the difference came down to a tenth of a second. Business graduate student Gil Bothwell narrowly edged into the eighth qualifying position with a 4:05.42-minute time, joining junior computer engineering major Lucas Turano who finished in the fourth spot, and sophomore screen-acting major Gavin White who finished in sixth. This marked the first time three Chapman men’s runners would collectively compete in the SCIAC 1500-meter final.
Turano ran the 1500-meter final, earning fifth place and scoring four points for Chapman. His time of 3:56.56 minutes broke the 1500-meter Chapman school record.
On day one of SCIAC, championship titles were earned by sophomore Brenda Daza, a sociology and psychology double major, in the 10k (37:10.60 minutes), senior Annika Carlson, a communication studies major, in the 3000-meter steeplechase (10:44.60 minutes) and sophomore Derek Amlicke, an economics major, in the pole vault (4.91 meters).
Amlicke was spearheading for Chapman in the men’s pole vault. Graduate business administration and accounting student Jesse McMillan decided to scratch out of the meet and save himself for nationals because of a groin injury. He has been Chapman’s top vaulter and has won the SCIAC competition for the past three years.
Amlicke said that he needed to lock in and step up, not only for the sake of the team but in remembrance of pole vault coach Greg Stull, who suddenly passed on April 13.
“It’s been really tough at practice recently because it’s just the vaulters,” Amlicke said “(There’s been) no sort of central authority besides Jesse, and he’s been injured, so he’s taken on the role of the coach for us. Doing well meant a lot, I mean, we did it for our coach.”
Amlicke on his approach, vaulting himself into first place.
To mentally prepare, one of Carlson’s strategies is to write notes on her wrist. An acronym that Stull used to say resonates with her—a reminder that calms and centers her before racing.
“One I’ve been writing for a while is SFW, which means ‘strong, fast, well-trained,’” she said. “That’s something that Coach Stull would always tell me, and it just means a lot to me to be thinking of that and thinking of him.”
The entire track and field team wore wristbands with the message, “Coach Stull Always With Us” to commemorate his passing.
Going into day two, the Chapman men’s team was placed third in the conference with 33 points, behind the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) with 38 and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (CMS) with 91. The women’s team was placed fourth with 29 points behind Redlands University (30 pts), Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (33 pts) and CMS (64 pts).
Coach Barron Maizland said his team's goal for day two was to “come take care of business.”
“The hay is in the barn,” he said. “That means all the work is done—you can’t get fitter, we can’t get stronger. You know, it’s too late.”
At Occidental College—the venue for the competition—athletes were performing their pre-meet rituals. The infield was akin to patients in a mental asylum. Athletes were frog-jumping, raising their hip abductors on all fours, and stripping down warm-up layers, all the while on-deck competitors strode and weaved between them.
How does one prepare for an event that will truly test their pain tolerance and physical limits? What is the “why” that drives them?
Lorenzo Collier, a junior political science and mathematics double major, has dedicated his collegiate career to running—committed to both the cross country and track and field teams. In reflecting on his 10K event, he said that it’s hard to prepare to sacrifice your body for the next half hour of pure pain.
“But the satisfaction is there, the dopamine rush is there,” he said. “And to be able to step off the track, knowing that you gave it your all, it makes everything worth it; makes the pain worth it; makes the months of hard work worth it.”
Collier embraced his teammate after racing the 5K.
Daza, recounting her 10K win, was trying to stick to her and Maizland’s game plan to “start pushing the gas” with 1200 meters left.
Daza: “I started speeding up, and then with like 800 (meters) to go, I really started to separate. And then like, with 600 (meters), I like I knew I had it. I knew I had to win. So then that whole last lap, I mean, I was like just trying not to cry. Because it was a really big moment…Like, you know, you imagine something in your head and that happens and it’s like, ‘whoa,’ it's so surreal.”
Daza finished off her race strong, earning the women’s 10K title.
Many athletes shared the sentiment that the team was their main motivator, driving them through the season.
“It definitely helps with these other people also suffering, and knowing how it is being a student athlete at a collegiate level. It helps push you throughout your training,” said freshman business real estate major Ricky Poulsen.
When an athlete was racing, their teammates would run back and forth across the infield to cheer them on as they passed. Before the 5K, freshman software engineering major Mason Farley, who wasn’t competing in the event, was stretching out. Being a track spectator isn’t for the faint of heart. Farley ran back and forth, relentlessly cheering on Poulsen for the 12 and a half laps of his race.
The support was not exclusive to one’s own team. Athletes across team lines hugged, dapped up and congratulated each other. After Carlson crossed the finish line, she shook the hands of all the other competing runners. Even all of the spectating parents would clap in a unanimous, steady rhythm for the triple-jumpers.
The most anticipated event of the meet was the last: the four by 400-meter relay. With this arises the legendary phenomenon called “The Chapman Curve.” Along with the team, a lineup of shirtless, fit men with painted letters on their chest spelling out, “GO CHAPMAN 4X4!!” posted up along the track curve.
Everyone wrapped their arms around the person next to them. Swaying side to side, the chants of “Chapman, Chapman, Chapman” swelled as the Chapman runner raced by.
Track & field athletes showing their Panther pride for “The Chapman Curve.”
SCIAC was an opportunity for greatness that many Chapman athletes seized. Thirteen athletes became conference champions, nine school records were set and 11 were all-SCIAC finishers.
Conference Champions:
Men’s:
200 meter: Fara (21.09 seconds)
400 meter: Fara (46.55 seconds), winning the race by over 2.3 seconds.
Triple jump: Isaac Robin jumped 14.16 meters, the equivalent of 46 and a half feet.
Pole vault: Amlicke (4.72 meters)
Women’s:
4x100 relay: Kaylee Smith, Khyra Stiner, Lizarde and Allie Kremer (46.72 seconds)
4x400 relay: Smith, Makenna Lizarde, Proud Kitnitchiva and Kremer (3:50.00 minutes) This is a new SCIAC Championships record.
400 meter: Kremer (56.70 seconds) and Smith (56.73 seconds).
1500 meter: Carlson (4:36.97 minutes)
5000 meter: Carlson (17:27.58 minutes)
10000 meter: Daza (37:10.60 minutes)
400 meter hurdles: Kitnitchiva (1:02.34 minutes)
3000 meter steeplechase: Carlson (10:44.60 minutes)
Discus throw: Chloe Mitchell threw 41.10 meters, the equivalent of 134.8 feet. In the last throw of the competition, freshman Mitchell propelled herself from second to first.
School Record Breakers:
Men’s:
4x100 relay: Jonah Kim, Fara, Nick Burton, Wyn Smoole (3:17.77 minutes)
1500 meter: Turano (3:56.56 minutes)
200 meter: Fara (21.09 seconds)
400 meter: Mason Fara (46.55 seconds)
Decathlon: Smoole (6084 points) and Danny Johnson (5959 points).
Women’s:
4x400 relay: Smith, Lizarde, Kitnitchiva and Kremer (3:50.00 minutes)
200 meter: Smith (24.81 seconds)
5K: Carlson (17:27.58 minutes)
Discus throw: Mitchell (41.10 m)
All-SCIAC finishers:
Men’s:
Javelin: Burton placed second (54.84 meters).
Decathlon: Smoole (6084 points) and Johnson (5959 points) finished second and third.
Shot put: Sam Frost placed third (14.28 meters).
Women’s:
Heptathlon: Kayla Kim placed third (3595 points).
Triple jump: Regina O'Leary placed third (10.94 meters).
Shot put: Eva Ndoye placed second (10.96 meters).
Pole vault: Samantha Daniels placed second (3.18 meters).
100 meter: Lizarde placed second (12.29 seconds).
200 meter: Smith placed third (24.81 seconds).
100 meter hurdles: Stiner placed second (15.09 seconds).
The Chapman women’s team closed the margin considerably, ending with just four points behind CMS—200 to 196. The Chapman men’s team placed third (135 pts) behind Pomona-Pitzer (148 pts) and CMS (202 pts).
“I don’t know what (CMS is) so happy about,” said assistant coach Tony Veney. “Because, you know, like I said, they may have dodged a bullet, but I think we might have nicked an ear.”
Photos by Maya Hawks & @jhortaleza04