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Jared Whitt honored Pasadena City College with a gold medal in the triple jump as well as contributed in getting silver medals in 4×100 and 4×400 meter relays, while Kessa Rychlik took fourth place in 400 meter and brought a bronze medal to the team in 4×100 meter relay on Friday in Arnie Robinson International at San Diego Mesa College.

28 athletes represented PCC at the competition.

Despite the fact that the beginning of the track and field season did not look inspiring for PCC since many athletes were injured, the end of the season promises the desired medals and high results.

Whitt was a hero of every track and field meet of the 2019 season. He had his ups and downs but always stepped up on a pedestal. At this meet Whitt pleased his fans and coaches with the first place in triple jump. In his first attempt he overstepped the take off mark but the second attempt happened to be victorious – 47-07.75.

“The past meet went pretty well. I felt pretty good. It was not the best condition but I still felt better than I should have considering the fact that was pretty cold outside,” champion Whitt said. “I won at the end of the day.”

Whitt could not hit 50 feet as he has been trying to get in every meet but the season is not done yet. At his next competition which will take place on Friday in Santa Barbara, Whitt set a goal to finally harness the fractious 50 feet.

Also, Whitt finished the first at the heat for 100 meters at 11.39. But the 4×100 relay team of Uri S. Mafate, Quinten May, Whitt and Asher Smith took second place at 43.36. The 4×400 relay was a success for PCC athletes as well. The quad of May, Mafate, Whitt and Dylan Che got silver at 3:30.96 losing the first place to Mt. San Antonio College at 3:30.31.

“Jared did well,” head coach Innocent Egbunike said. “He run the 4×400 [meters relay] which he has never run before. Which is very good for us.”

Sophomore Rychlick beat her personal best in the 400 meter hurdles at 1:05.64. Also Rychlik excelled in 4×100 relay, The team of Kaitlin Lee, Abigail Olivares, Claire Chen and Rychlik took third place at 54.96.

Justin Campbell took sixth place in the long jump at 20-07.00 showing this result in his first attempt. Miles Johnson perfectly cleared the bar with the first attempt until they reached 6 feet 4.75 inches. His best in this meet was 6-02.75. Josh Tan took fifth place in the men shot put at 41 feet 4.25 inches. Ashers Smith showed his personal best in the 200 meter at 22.55. He took 6th place in the 100 meters at 10.99.

Giovanni Guajardo was ninth in the 5000 meter run at 16:47.69 and his team fellow Jose Campos took tenth place at 16:55.40. Amanda Noriega and Raylin Galvan closed the final in the 800 meters taking the 10th and 11th places.

Egbunike is very glad with his team performance and plans for better results in the oncoming competition. It is almost the end of the season. Only one competition left from the most important South Coast Conference Prelims.

“It was a good competition for us. Everybody did well,” Egbunike said. “It is good to see everybody’s time coming down. That is why we are training. By God Christ we will be ready for the Conference and then we are moving forward.”

The head coach also paid a tribute to Patricia Bellali, the athletic trainer from Kinesiology Health and Athletic Department. She kept the athletes healthy and helped them to recover from injuries.

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