After missing their season opener Track and Field meet in Pima last week Saturday (1/18/25) the Gauchos bounced right into action with an impressive appearance, very big first marks as well as some NJCAA National Qualifiers. Paridise Valley Community College was the venue to host their PVCC Indoor Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 25th. A host of Gauchos competing on the Track as well as in the Field events were in attendance and ready to compete. 

 At 10am the field events started off with the men's weight throw, where (1st year) Noah Brezina brought home 1st place with a throw of 15.59m (51-01.75ft). Followed up in the shot put event by (1st year) Emmanuel Hernandez with a 1st place toss of 14.88m (48-10.00ft). While, on the women's side (2nd year) Kaelyn Giarrusso brought home a 1st place finish with a high jump clearance of 1.62m (5-03.75ft). That jump clearance places her as #5 in D1 NJCAA nationally and qualifies her for NJCAA National (indoor) competition. Then, (2nd year) Oyindamola Adetutu took 2nd place in the Triple Jump with a "step, hop and jump" of 10.56m (34.07.75ft). 

Then we began our running season at approximately 11 a.m. with the prelims of the women's 60m hurdles. Gaucho Kaelyn Giarrusso won her heat and qualified for the final where she took 2nd place overall in the time of 9.22seconds. Where in his first time ever competing the 60m race sprinter, Anthony Lindsey (2nd year) ran to a 2nd place finish in the Men's 60m final with a time of 6.98seconds with (1st year) Kevin Seales getting 3rd in a time of 7.07 seconds. Then, four 1st year individuals Kevin Seales, Michael Young, Konrad Clark and Cole Carpenter opened up their Collegiate campaigns by taking, 1st and 2nd place finishes in both the 200m and 400m race events respectively. Konrad Clark debuted with a winning time of 47.82 seconds in the 400m. He was followed closely by teammate Cole Carpenter (.02) who came in second place clocking a 47.84 second time. These times rank them #5 and #6 in the D1 NJCAA (indoor) this season so far.  Both young men have qualified for Nationals as well! Where in the 200m, Kevin Seales raced to a first place finish with a time of 22.14 seconds. While, Michael Young was a close second (.10 away) with a time of 22.24 seconds. 

To close out the day, the Gaucho men's (A&B teams) competed in the 4x4 meter relay. The A team that consisted of; (2nd year "transfer" Syncere Washington, 2nd year Kyler McQueen, 1st year Cole Carpenter and 1st year Konrad Clark) took 1st place with a winning time of 3:12.92. This time also qualified them for D1 NJCAA (indoor) competition, while ranking them as #5 Nationally in the NJCAA! Congratulations to all our Gaucho track and field team members both Women and Men. The Gauchos will be splitting up this weekend to go to both the Ron Mann Classic, hosted by Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ (1/31)and Central Arizona College Invitational, hosted by Central Arizona College in Coolidge, AZ (2/1). Certainly, looking forward to seeing the continuation of great marks/times throughout this entire track and field season!