UC Riverside
MPSF Indoor Championships
Highlander Track & Field Earn Top Marks at MPSF Championship
2/29/2020 9:18:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
Seattle, WA – The Highlanders wrapped up the 2-day Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships with several banner performances. Â
Another meet, another school record for Sophomore Tanner Anderson.  This time, Anderson lowered his own all-time mark at 800m by stopping the clock at 1:50.05 seconds (video here). His time earned him a very close 3rd place finish in one of the hottest races of the championships.  Further, 3rd place ties with UCR alumn Craig Mauldin (2017 triple jump) for the highest individual finish at the MPSF Championships for a Highlander. Â
Anderson also anchored the men's 4x400m relay which ran 3:15.66, the 2nd fastest time in program history (video here). He was joined by compatriots Ethan Van Setten, Jose Cruz & Ryan Ayale, whom all had individual indoor season's bests (Van Setten, 800m – 1:53.17 tied for #3 all-time, Cruz, 800m –  1:54.12 6th all-time and Ayale, 400m – 50.88).  "Tanner continues to impress us all.  We continue to remind ourselves how special he is.  Tanner has a nose for the finish line and the will to compete at every opportunity," commented Director of Track & Field Nate Browne. Â
In the distance events, Arman Irani had an exceptional weekend.  On Friday night he finished 11th in the men's 5000m run (ranked 20th coming into the championship) with a lifetime best of 14:19.16 eclipsing the 3rd best mark in UCR indoor history (video here). Less than 24 hours later, he lowered his 3000m best with a finishing time of 8:25.29 (7th all-time at UCR, video here).  In the 3000m, he was trailed closely by teammate Jack Frimodig who earned a massive lifetime best mark of 8:35.95.  "Arman's weekend here at MPSF is one for the ages.  He competes with great patience over the 1st half of a race and such tenacity in the 2nd half.  He absolutely will not be denied, and I couldn't be more proud of him," mentioned distance coach Rob Hansen.  "Jack and Jose had breakthrough performances as well.  Those guys have had a lot of great sessions over the past 2 months or so, so for them to connect the dots on a big stage was very meaningful.  They should both be ripe with confidence heading into outdoors," noted Hansen. Â
On the ladies side, Kiley Atwood notched a substantial new lifetime best.  She worked her way through a field of 40 women in the first section, to cross the tape at 10:11.78, less than 24 after missing her lifetime best at 5000m in 17:41. Day 2 saw two strong 1-mile performances from teammates Haley Cabrera and Emily Sanchez. Haley crossed the line in 5:02.33 (9th all-time at UCR) (video here) and Sanchez was 5:04.84. "Our women's distance group struggled on day 1 at MPSF, but I couldn't be more proud of the response for each of these ladies in their second event.  It's easy to think about how beat up you are from day 1, especially when you didn't have your best day, but these ladies came in with energy and optimism, they banded together, and they proved that they're ready for the next step!"
For the Highlander throwers, a lot of valuable experience was gained. Â Coach Candace Fuller noted that many technical gains were had and that the throwers are headed in the right direction.
Another stand out performance on the oval came from Alonna Johnson.  Johnson won section 6 of the women's 400m dash in a program record 56.14 seconds (video here). Johnson eclipsed the former record by just .03 seconds.  "Alonna came out of the blocks really strong on this run.  Mid race she was able to settle in and coming off of the final curve with 80m to go, the inside lane opened up for her and she punched it into the finish line.  She's getting a little better tactically, with each race opportunity," commented Browne.  Also cracking the UCR top-10 all-time list were Maya Cook in the 60m dash, at a lifetime best 7.82 (8th all-time, video here) and Callie Lawson-Freeman in the 60m hurdles, notching a best of 9.38 (9th all-time, video here). Â
UCR Highlander jumps had some key performances at MPSF as well.  Brian Nnoli qualified for the final of the men's triple jump from flight one.  His best mark on the day was 46'06 inches, narrowly missing his lifetime best for indoors.  His 7th place finish earned the program 2 valuable team points.  Purnima Gunarathna had a huge season's best in the ladies' high jump.  She cleared 1.66m and 1.71m on her first attempt, which paved the way to her 4th place finish.  1.71m (5'7.25") is only .01m off of her lifetime indoor best and school record from indoors last year.  In men's long jump, Ondrej Rapp brought unparalleled intensity to the long jump competition.  Rapp leaped his way to a new indoor lifetime best of 23'10.25 inches, which has him 2nd all-time at UCR.  His mark earned a 7th place finish in the overall competition.  Rapp spent some time on the track as well.  He chipped his way to #7 all-time at UCR in the men's 60m dash with a time of 7.04 (video here) and 22.22 in the 200m dash.  "Ondrej was a huge team player this weekend.  He showed up at every opportunity this weekend; his sprints were great, and he inched out his lifetime personal best in long jump as well.  He is quite the competitor," commented Browne. Â
"We did exactly what we said we were going to do this weekend; we took down school records and we rewrote many all-time top-10 lists.  I saw great effort from all of our event groups and we saw our program come together as a single unit to support each other as well.  This was a nice step in the right direction; a springboard into outdoors for our program," mentioned Browne.  "This championship gives elevated meaning to our program during the indoor season.  The competitive fire we get at MPSF, those experiences, pay dividends for us by the time we get to Big West in May," commented Browne. Â
2020 MPFS Indoor Invitational YouTube Playlist
The Highlanders will be in action on Friday March 6th at Riverside Community College.  Action starts at 12 noon with field events and 3:30 on the track. Â
