Riverside, Calif. - ACU Men's Track and Field got the ball rolling in their first outdoor meet of 2024 at the Riverside City College Invitational. The Firestorm spread their 28.5 team points across seven events and finished seventh out of 13 teams, a field featuring NCAA Division I and II and junior colleges such as UC Riverside, Cal State Fullerton and San Diego Mesa College.

Mt. Sac won the team competition by 10.5 points over Riverside (158-147.50) and ACU edged out NCAA Division I Cal Baptist (27.0 points) by 1.5.

Four events (4x100 relay, javelin throw, shot put, discus) earned the Firestorm 5.0 points and eight personal records or season bests were established on Friday.

Drew Gertenrich led the pack with 9.0 points, scoring five in javelin throw (45.81 meters) and placing fourth out of 21 and adding another four in discus (43.73 meters) in which he finished fifth out of 15 athletes. TaHaj Acoff also contributed to the point tally in discus, with a personal-best throw of 41.77 meters.

Junior Brandon Ericson headlined the distance athletes with a personal-best 800-meter run of 1:59.43 (14th/29) and seventh place in the 1500-meter (4:01.04).

Other notable individual performances included Alonzo Paul putting forth season-bests in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, Thaddious Thurman running the fifth-fastest 110-meter hurdles time (15.58 seconds) in program history and Jase Carrasquillo clearing 1.90 meters in high jump that earned him a share for fourth place and the third-best in program history.

EVENT DETAILS

Riverside City College Invitational (March 1st)

Team Finish- 7th of 13 (28.50 points)
Location- Riverside, CA
Start Time- 10:30 AM MST

Full Team Results: https://finishedresults.trackscoreboard.com/meets/11691/events 

RESULTS

100 Meters

• Alonzo Paul - 11.21 sec (SB and 21st/40)
• Brady Ferris- 11.65 sec (29th)
• Tyrus Allen- 11.68 sec (31st)
• Zephaniah Powell- 12.06 sec (35th)

200 Meters

• Alonzo Paul- 23.01 sec (SB and 21st/48)
• Tyrus Allen- 23.82 sec (T-PR and 30th)
• Brady Ferris- 24.10 sec (PR and 32nd)
• Zachary Holland- 24.23 sec (35th)
• Zephaniah Powell- 24.25 sec (36th)
• Lionel McPhaull- 24.77 sec (38th)
• Randall Evans III- 25.74 sec (42nd)
• Xuru Ren- 26.40 sec (45th)

400 Meters

• Lionel McPhaull- 53.54 sec (19th/25)
• Zachary Holland- 54.58 sec (21st)
• Manny Valenzuela- 56.86 sec (23rd)
• Randall Evans III- 57.90 sec (PR and 24th)
• Xuru Ren- 59.74 sec (25th)

800 Meters

• Brandon Ericson- 1:59.43 (PR, 14th/29, and 4th all-time for ACU men)
• Trent Janssen- 2:10.62 (26th)
• Trevin Janssen- 2:12.71 (27th)
• Brady Lambrecht- 2:17.73 (29th)

1500 Meters

• Brandon Ericson- 4:01.04 (7th/26; 2.0 points)
• Trent Janssen- 4:22.52 (22nd)
• Trevin Janssen- 4:32.18 (23rd)
• Brady Lambrecht- 4:42.36 (25th)

3000 Meters

• Gabriel Gastelum- 9:15.91 (19th/33)
• Julian Salyer- 9:26.68 (25th)

110-Meter Hurdles

• Thaddious Thurman- 15.58 sec (5th all-time for ACU, 7th/24; 2.0 points)

400-Meter Hurdles

• Thaddious Thurman- 1:01.77 (12th/18)

4x100 Relay

• ACU- 43.78 sec (5th/6; 5.0 points; Tyrus Allen, Brady Ferris, Alonzo Paul, Jase Carrasquillo)

Javelin Throw

• Drew Gertenrich- 45.81 m (4th/21; 5.0 points)
• Trent Janssen- 40.51 m (PR and 9th)
• Trevin Janssen- 37.31 m (12th)

Shot Put

• TaHaj Acoff- 13.99 m (4th/32; 5.0 points)
• Tully Farmer- 12.31 m (12th)
• Harrison Still- 10.26 m (23rd)

Hammer Throw

• Tully Farmer- 32.85 m (17th/25)
• Harrison Still- 25.95 m (23rd)

Long Jump

• Jase Carrasquillo- 6.24 m (11th/28)
• Brady Ferris- 5.70 m (19th)
• Manny Valenzuela- 5.60 m (T-21)

Discus Throw

• Drew Gertenrich- 43.73 m (5th/15, 4th all-time for ACU men; 4.0 points)
• TaHaj Acoff- 41.77 m (PR, 8th, and 5th all-time for ACU men; 1.0 point)

High Jump

• Jase Carrasquillo- 1.90 m (T-4th/14, and 3rd all-time for ACU men; 4.5 points)

THOUGHTS FROM COACH BRIAN BELL

"We were very pleased with how the team performed at our first outdoor meet of the season," Coach Bell said. "Our athletes really competed well and had fun doing it. We will continue to build on these results as we prepare for the GSAC Track and Field Championships at the end of April."

NEXT UP FOR THE FIRESTORM

The Firestorm return to the track on March 14th, when they make the short trip to Mesa Community College for the Cody McBride Invite. The multi-day event begins on Thursday, has a built-in day off and finishes on Saturday the 16th. Keep up with ACU Men's Track and Field this 2024 season by following @acufirestorm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and check out @firestorm_xctf on Instagram for additional content.


Roll Storm!