SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The George Fox men's and women's track and field teams took California by storm at the Westmont Classic, starting Spring Break strong as the women's team won with 278.5 points, and the men's team won with 205.5 points. 

Top Performances
The Bruins got their first pair of podium finishes in the women's 300 meter steeplechase, as Breanna Schmitt ran an 11:15. to finish in first place, and Allie Weber ran an 11:56.16 to finish in second place. 

Jenna Huntsman, Ayanha Bahati, Beth Parangan, and Karys Gates ran a 48.99 in the women's 4x100 meter relay, which would be good enough for second place in the event. Cole Nicholas, Ryan Maier, Owen Gurney, and Noah Holmberg ran a 42.60 on the men's side of the same event, which won them first place. 

Ellie Rising finished a whopping eight seconds in front of the second place finisher in the women's mile run, finishing in first place with a time of 5:00.75. Aidan Arthur ran a 4:12.49 in the men's mile, finishing in second place and adding to the Bruins podium totals.

Bahati found the podium again in the women's 100 meter hurdles, this time taking first place with a time of 14.93. Gates also took first in an event after her second place finish in the 4x100, taking first in the women's 400 meter with a time of 1:00.88, while fellow Bruin Isabelle Jones came in second place with a time of 1:01.82.

Annalise Gonzalez ran a 2:19.59 in the women's 800 meter, which got her third place in the race. 

Connor Hatch finished in second in the men's 400 meter hurdles with a time of 58.38. 

Bahati continued her stellar day with a second place finish in the women's 200 meter dash, coming in with a time of 25.92. 

In the women's 5k run, Sarah Pullen and Chloe Cook took first and second with times of 18:10.35 and 18.36.69, respectively. On the men's side, Caden Hildenbrand took second place in the 5k with a time of 15:51.37.

In the women's 4x400 relay, Gates, Gonzalez, Marcella Lieta, and Rising ran a 4:04.79 and took second place, while in the men's 4x400, Josiah Sohus, Ryan Scholtes, Andrew Ross, and Arthur ran a 3:28.48 to finish second as well in the final race on the track. 

In the men's shot put, Austin Imsland threw 13.70 meters which got him second place. For the women's shot, Ellena Corwin threw 11.84 meters and finished first overall in the event.

James King jumped 1.95 meters in the men's high jump to finish in first place, and Brecken VandenHoek jumped 1.55 meters to finish in first place on the women's side. 

The Bruins' women's pole vault team took first and second, and tied for third, as Grace Tully (3.80 meters), Shelby Larson (3.35 meters), Abigail Woodruff (3.20 meters) all grabbed a place on the podium. Luke Nelson cleared 4.70 meters and Keegan Gantala cleared 4.25 to take first and second place respectively in the men's pole vault. 

Nicholas won the men's javelin throw on his final throw of the day, throwing 59.53 meters to grab first place, while Darrin Campbell threw 54.29 meters to take third place. VandenHoek took first on the women's side with a throw of 40.04 meters, and Corwin threw 39.11 meters to take second place. 

Imsland took third in the men's discus throw with a throw of 40.44 meters, and on the women's side Addie Wegener and Candice Mugo-Wainaina came in second and third with throws of 35.23 and 34.58 respectively, closing out a dominant day for the Bruins' track and field team.

What Comes Next
The Bruins will send some athletes to the Pacific Open, at Forest Grove, Ore. on Saturday, March 29.