Bulldogs impressive at Oxy

The University of Redlands Track & Field team competed at the Oxy Invitational hosted by Occidental College on Saturday. The Bulldogs were led by impressive performances from SCIAC Track & Field athlete of the year Natalie Calderon and Sophomore 800m runner Jake Baechle.

Calderon placed second in the Long (19'4 ¾") and Triple (39'6 ½") Jumps both of which were season best performances and good enough to rank her first in the NCAA Division III.  Additionally her distance in the Triple Jump set a new SCIAC record.  Freshman Kelsey Bermudez broke her own school record in the pole vault by jumping 10'2 ½".

Jake Baechle improved on his NCAA Provisional qualifying time in the 800 meters by running 1:51.76. Baechle teamed with Seniors Kevin Vollmer, and Chris Bogues and Freshman Andy Green to place second in the 4x400 meter relay.  Their time of 3:15.69 was improvement on their NCAA provisional qualifying time.  The night was capped by Senior Chris Smith's impressive second place showing in the 10,000 meters. Smith's time of 31:31.62 places him second on the University of Redlands all time list.

This was the Bulldogs' final meet before they travel east to compete at the NCAA Division III Championships hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh on May 22 to 24.  Currently the bulldogs have 8 athletes qualified in 9 different events.  The final NCAA selection will be announced on Sunday May 19^th.