Competing among the best in the state, the Beavers finished seventh in the meet held at Cerritos College in Norwalk.  Jason Engler and the 4x400m relay team captured state titles to lead an impressive showing by ARC.  Engler won the 3,000m steeplechase with a personal-best effort of 9:23.37.  Engler’s time was the second fastest time of the year, just off Cerritos’s Daniel Clifford-Sorenson, who finished second at the Championships.  Engler’s mark was the best in the NorCal this spring, more than 31 seconds faster than the closest competitor.  In the same event, ARC’s Erik Gregory also ran a personal-best, finishing ninth with a 10:06.90 time.  The 4x400m relay team won its event by shaving .02 seconds off a third-place time at last week’s NorCal Finals.  Deon Nolan, Nelson Mwangi, Shane Daniel, and Kianti Gix combined to run 3:12.25, the third-fastest time of the year.  Mwangi also competed in the 800m and was nosed out at the finish by Riverside’s Stephan May.  May crossed in 1:53.58, and Mwangi, who recorded his best time in the event, was less than a step behind at 1:53.64.  Gix ran in two sprints, taking fourth in the 400m with a 47.40 time and sixth in the 200m with a 22.40 effort.  Talor Fulfer, the NorCal Decathlon champion, finished fifth in the event at the Cerritos with 6,223 points.  Fulfer, a freshman, won the discus event, was second in the shot put, and placed third in the pole vault.  Two other freshmen had promising performances in the state’s biggest showcase.  Anthony Costales ran to a ninth place finish with a 15:54.23 time in the 5,000m run, and Taylor Herrlinger finished tenth in the javelin with a throw of 51.56m.

The Beavers captured fourth place at the meet at San Mateo, buoyed by two NorCal champions and several outstanding individual and relay performances.  Talor Fulfer, who won the NorCal title in the decathlon at last week’s trials, took fourth in the high jump, clearing 6’ 1.25” and eighth in the javelin with a toss of 159’ 2”.  ARC’s other NorCal champion is Jason Engler, who won the 3,000m steeplechase with a 9:46.9 mark, the only runner under ten minutes.  Engler also ran to a sixth-place finish in the 5K, crossing in 16:04.07.  The 4x400m relay team finished third in the finals as Deon Nolan, Nelson Mwangi, Shane Daniel, and Kianti Gix combined to run 3:12.27.  Gix also had two strong sprints, advancing in both the 200m (21.52) and the 400 (47.98), in which he finished second and fourth, respectively.  Mwangi ran a 1:54.00 in the 800m, fast enough for second place in the NorCal.  Anthony Costales also had a strong double performance, finishing third in the 5K (15:27.70) and fourth in the 10K (32:48.83).  Erik Gregory was fifth in the steeplechase with a 10:05.3 mark, and Taylor Herrlinger came in fifth in the javelin after a 170’ 6” throw.  The top four finishers in each event advance to this week’s State Championships, held at Cerritos College in Norwalk.
 

Behind the multi-talented decathlete Talor Fulfer, the Beavers finished the first day in second behind Hartnell in the team standings at the meet at San Mateo.  Fulfer, a freshman, won the decathlon by winning five of the ten events and outscoring the second-place finisher by 73 points.  Fulfer won the shot put, discus, javelin, and high jump events en route to claiming the NorCal title.  The men’s 4x400m relay team also impressed by running to a second-place finish in the preliminaries.  Deon Nolan, Nelson Mwangi, Shane Daniel, and Kianti Gix combined for a 3:14.77 mark.  Gix also picked up a second-place seeding in the 200m, clocking a 22.04 time, and a third place in the 400m, in 48.43.  Mwangi finished with the third best time in the 800m, running a personal-best 1:54.14.  Anthony Costales was fourth in the 10K, crossing in 32:48.83.

The Beavers took second in the league meet at Modesto.  ARC had some impressive individual performances, but none more notable than the 10,000 meter race.  In the 10K, ARC runners took first through third and the fifth through seventh—all runners recorded personal best times for the season.  Nelson Mwangi won the event with a 34.40.84 effort, followed closely by Bruce Buckle (34.42.06) and Anthony Costales (34:43.82).  But the Beavers were not done.  After a Modesto runner took fourth, Jason Engler crossed the line with a 35:04.61 run, Aaron Dilts followed with a 35:25.36, and Erik Gregory finished in 35:30.68.  ARC also scored a sweep of the top three spots in the 5K.  Costales won with a 16:08.54 mark, Gregory crossed in 16:17.75, and Engler finished third in 16:24.09.  In other running events, Gregory won the 3000m steeplechase with a 10:22.6 time, and Engler finished first in the 1500m run in 4:02.17.  Mwangi also enjoyed an outstanding day.  In addition to winning the 10K, he took second in the 800m (1:58.93) and third in the 1500m (4:03.85).  In the sprints, Kianti Gix picked up two second-place finishes, running the 200m in a personal-best 21.27 and the 400m in 47.59.  Chris Hamilton and Talor Fulfer each stood out in the field events.  Hamilton was second in the shot put (40’ 6”) and discus (141’ 8”), and he placed fourth in the hammer with a 120’ 11” effort.  Fulfer won the javelin with a 168’ 11” toss and took third in the shot put (38’ 3.25”).  Robert Xiong soared to second place in the pole vault, clearing 14’ 3”, and Taylor Herrlinger finished second in the javelin with a 163’ 10” throw.

The Beavers benefited from strong performances by sprinters Kianti Gix and Deon Nolan to finish third at the meet at Diablo Valley College.  Gix picked up victories in the 200m (in a time of 21.62) and the long jump (leaping to a personal-best 21’ 7.25”); he also finished third in the high jump by clearing 6’ 0”.  In addition to his individual efforts, Gix ran the anchor on the first-place 4x100m team, which turned in a 42.29 mark, and on the second-place 4x400m team that was clocked in 3:32.86.  Nolan won the 100m in 10.99, his best time of the season, and ran a leg on both of the relay teams.  Shane Daniel also looked impressive in the sprints.  Daniel was third with a season-best 22.21 in the 200m, fourth in the 100m (11.20), and ran a leg on both relay squads.  Other ARC athletes had solid performances.  Bruce Buckle took second in the 800m with a 1:58.30 run, Chris Hamilton was third in the discus with a 128’ 6” throw, and Nelson Mwangi, competing in the event for the first time, took fifth in the long jump with a 18’ 4.5” effort.

The Beavers traveled south and made their presence known with some strong individual performances.  Kianti Gix ran the 400m in 47.29 to break the old school record of 47.72.  He also anchored the first place 4x400m relay team of Deon Nolan, Nelson Mwangi, and Shane Daniels. Those three athletes ran relay legs of 48.9, 49.1 and 49.3 respectively, with Gix moving the team from second to first on the final leg with a 46.6 split.  Mwangi also took second in the 1500m (4:01) and third in the 800m (1:56). Jason Engler placed third in the 3000m steeplechase (9:57).  Nolan ran a lifetime-best 48.60 in the 400m, as did Daniel with his time of 49.05.  Anthony Costales won the 5000m in the sweltering 97-degree heat in a time of 16:01.

The Beavers took second in the 12-team event, riding strong two-event performances by Kianti Gix, Nelson Mwangi, and Talor Fulfer.  Gix won two sprints, racing to a personal best 21.49 in the 200m (the second-fastest in NorCal) and then winning the 400m with a 48.64.  Mwangi won the 800m with a 1:58.10 effort, less than a second ahead of teammate Jason Engler, who crossed at 1:58.98.  Mwangi also took second in the 5K race, clocking a personal-best 15:56.52.  Bruce Buckle finished second in the 1500m with a 4:04.18 run, his best effort of the spring.  In the field events, Fulfer stood out with a win in the high jump (5’ 10”) and a third-place throw of 34’ 9” in the shot put.  Robert Xiong placed second by clearing 13’ 6” in the pole vault.

The Beavers excelled in the sprints at the meet in San Mateo.  Kianti Gix scored an impressive double, turning in personal best times with a first-place finish in the 200m (22.14) and a second place in the 400m (48.17).  Nelson Mwangi also had a season-best run when he won the 800m with a 1:56.42 mark.  Jason Engler ran to a second-place finish in the 1500m with a 4:01.16 time.  Robert Xiong equaled his season-best mark by clearing 14’ 6” to win the pole vault event.

Several athletes and two relay teams turned in top performances at Sacramento State.  Jason Engler ran a 3:59.27 in the 1500m, the season’s fastest time in the north and third best in the state, and then clocked a 1:57.44 in the 800m, the seventh best mark in NorCal.  Running in the same events, Nelson Mwangi finished the 1500m with a 4:04.20, fourth best in the north and seventh in the state, and followed that with a strong 1:56.66 in the 800m, third best in the NorCal and fourth fastest in California.  Bruce Buckle also competed in the 1500m, finishing with a 4:04.43, putting him sixth among the NorCal runners this season.  In the 5K, Anthony Costales produced the third-fastest time in NorCal with a 15:26.47.  Kianti Gix, Deon Nolan, and Shane Daniel finished 3-4-5 in the 400m; Gix’s 48.24 is the third fastest in NorCal, and Nolan’s 49.20 ranks ninth.  In the relays, Patrick Lambert, Nolan, Daniel, and Gix combined for a 42.17 in the 4x100m, the sixth best mark in NorCal.  But the top relay performance came from the 4x400m foursome, who turned in a 3:15.34 to rank third in the Big 8, NorCal, and the state.  The splits in the relay were Nolan (49.4), Mwangi (49.0), Daniel (49.2), and Gix (47.5).

The Beavers had some strong individual efforts at the meet held in Modesto.  Jason Engler won the 3K steeplechase with a 9:47.2 effort while teammate Nelson Mwangi came in the third with a 10:05.2 time.  Mwangi also finished third in the 800m run, clocking a 1:58.01.  Robert Xiong came in second in the pole vault after clearing 14’ 6” in the event.

Leap Day Meet

The Beavers took first in the six-team event in San Mateo, and they did it with many outstanding individual performances.  In the sprints, ARC dominated the 100m and the 200m.  Kianti Gix won both events with times of 11.09 and 22.14, respectively (both personal bests).  In the 100m, Antonyo Johnson ran a close second at 11.41, and in the 200m, Deon Nolan crossed after Gix with a time of 22.74.  Nolan also took second in the 400m with a 49.65 effort.  In the 800m, ARC took four of the top eight spots, led by Nelson Mwangi’s second place finish with a mark of 1:58.08, followed quickly by Jason Engler (1:58.29) and Bruce Buckle (a season-best 1:59.02).  Anthony Costales was eighth with a 2:01.21 run, but he won the 1500m with a 4:06.45 time, leading a one-two-three sweep for ARC.  Engler was second in the 1500m with a 4:07.11, and Mwangi finished third with a 4:08.84 mark.  Erik Gregory won the 5K with a 16:30.51, and Ryan Lawrence came in second at 16:56.20.  Alex Isley picked up some points for ARC in the hurdles, finishing second in the 110m hurdles with a 17.35, and, in the 400m event, he came in fourth with a 1:00.68.  The Beavers’ 4x400m relay team won the sprint with a 3:19.43.  ARC also had some strong performances in the field events.  Robert Xiong (14’ 0”) won the pole vault, and Collin Strazzo (12’ 0”) was second.  The Beavers took the top three slots in the javelin with Talor Fulfer scoring a big win with a 163’ 5” throw.  Chris Hamilton was second with a 138’ 6” effort, and Buckle placed third at 119’ 0”.  Fulfer was also fifth in the shot put with a 31’ 11.75 toss.  Hamilton, however, enjoyed the most productive afternoon.  In addition to second in the javelin, he was second in the discus with a 133’ 5” throw, and he then threw a personal-best 110’ 2” to take third in the hammer.

The Beavers won four events in the conference preview at Santa Rosa.  Bruce Buckle won the 1,500m run with a time of 4:08.71, and teammate Nelson Mwangi was second with a time of 4:10.72.  In the 3,000m, four ARC runners crossed ahead of the field.  Anthony Costales won the event with an 8:59.44, the only runner to break the nine-minute barrier.  Jason Engler was second in 9:13.73, Buckle took third with a 9:16.31 mark, and Ryan Lawrence finished fourth with a 9:36.63 effort.  In the 300m hurdles, Alex Isley took first with a 41.45 time, and Chris Hamilton won the discus with a toss of 134’ 6”.

february 15-16, 2008

ARC 5 Way Meet

The host Beavers turned in a solid performance in the season’s first weekend, winning five events against some strong competition from the North.  Deon Nolan had an outstanding meet, winning the 200m (22.32) and the 400m (49.67).  ARC’s Kianti Gix was second in both events.  The Beavers went 1-2 in the 3,000m steeplechase, with Jason Engler just edging Nelson Mwangi by less than two seconds at the finish line.  ARC’s 4 x 400m relay team also squeaked out a narrow win, nipping Fresno City in the finals by two-hundredths of a second with a time of 3:25.27.  Robert Xiong cleared 13’ 6” to win the pole vault competition.