The Long Beach State track and field opened up their season with the Beach Opener held at the Jack Rose track on Friday and Saturday.
Long Beach began the season taking the number one podium spot as senior thrower Rori Denness-Lamont won the women’s javelin event to begin Friday afternoon.
Sophomore thrower Giszelle Hrehor also took home first place in the women’s hammer throw.
The highlight of the weekend was Denness-Lamont breaking the school javelin toss record with a 172-7 in her win. The previous owner of the record is Randi Hicks back in 2010 when she thew a 170-10.
Hrehor made some history of her own by winning the hammer throw by the sixth largest margin in school history with a 189-9.
On the men’s side, the highest-placing Beach participant was Nikolaj Freschlin, who placed second in men’s javelin with a 219-9 and was good for the sixth-longest in school history.
Sophomore thrower Conrad Bernstein and senior thrower Pablo Gamez both finished fifth in their respective events as Bernstein put up a 200-4 in the javelin and Gomez 182-1 in the hammer throw.
Saturday was another successful day for The Beach at their home event taking home wins in four events to cap off the weekend.
Three of the Beach’s wins came from the men, headlined by the 500m event that saw The Beach place first and second.
Senior distance runners Antonio Carbajal (14:35.57) and Quinn Garity (14:36.23) finished one after the other in the top two spots and made the Beach fans proud at their home track.
Junior distance runner Alex Kalmar crossed the finish line first in the 800m with a time of 1:52.61 and added another win for The Beach.
The 4x100m team made up of senior Naythn Scruggs, sophomore Tristyn Flores, junior Malik Harness and junior Caleb Roberson took home the title for their respective event as well.
The only Saturday winner on the women’s side was sophomore pole vaulter Charlotte O’Connor whose 12-7 1/2 performance was good enough to put her in the top spot of the women’s pole vault.
O’Connor only competed in two meets in her freshman year for The Beach and this outcome puts her on a very high trajectory for the 2024 season.
The Beach competes next on March 15 in the Challenge Cup at Cal State Fullerton.