Rossi Relay offers glimpse of promising season
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps track season opened up with the Rossi Relays at Zinda Field on Saturday afternoon. All but one of the SCIAC schools and ten other colleges in Southern California participated in this event. The meet was held in honor of alumnus and former CMS athlete Carl Rossi (CMC '84), currently a Medical Director of the Scripps Proton Therapy Center in La Jolla, Calif.
The Rossi Relays was not an official NCAA event as the qualifying window for outdoor track and field events begin on March 1.
Senior Vaiva Palunas (SC), the 2016 SCIAC and NCAA regional Athlete of the Year, looked like she had not missed a beat from last season, placing second in the shot put, discus, and hammer event. The senior scored 12.82/42-00.75 in the shot, 44.41/145-08 in the discus, and 52.92/173-07 in the hammer. Her classmate Nicole Laliberte (CMC) finished third in the hammer with a life-time best of 51.23/168-01, moving up to fifth in the CMS all-time performance list.
Last year's NCAA 100 meter champion junior Tyra Abraham (SC) participated in the distance medley relay alongside senior Carmen Mejia (SC), junior Bryn McKillop (SC), and junior Kyleigh Mann (CMC), finishing third with a time of 12:13.84. Afterwards, Abraham ran the 100m and had the second best time of the afternoon at 12.27.
Freshman Amelia Otto Cutting (HMC) was impressive in her CMS debut at the high jump, taking third place with a score 1.57/5-01.75.
The reigning SCIAC champion in the high jump, senior Cam Van (CMC) opened up his season with a victory, scoring 1.93/6-04. He also made his debut in the 4x400 relay, running a 50.2 leg. Junior Jackson Cooney (CMC) took third place in the pole vault with a jump of 4.26/13-11.75.
The Stags and Athenas will compete in their first SCIAC event next Saturday, Mar. 4 at Pomona-Pitzer. Time to be determined.
By Young Kim
Sports Information Assistant
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