FRESNO, Calif. – Dominican track and field finished 7th on the men's side and 9th on the women's to open its season at the FPU Sunbird Invitational.
Fresno Pacific won both men's and women's events, the men's with 184 points and the women's with 230.5 points. The Penguins finished with 31 points on the men's side to edge UC Merced and Jessup among NCAA Division II opponents, while the women finished with 26 points also topping the Bobcats.
Jalydon Love opened his year with a bang in the 400m as he finished second place with a time of 48.87, a personal best and the second fastest time in Dominican's history trailing Adrian Taylors record from 2024 by half a second. Robert Dawson had an equally impressive start to his season as he subsided fourth in the 1500m with a personal best time of 3:59.76, also the second best in the Penguins history trailing only Jared Wright. Dawson added a personal best in the 3000m where he crossed the line in 8:34.50 to finish fifth and again take the No. 2 spot in the record books. Dominican's best event in the meet was easily the men's 800m with two top-10 finishers led by
Diego Montag who crossed the finish line in 1:59.25 to take sixth. Teammate Emmanuel Hurley was close behind him finishing eighth in a time of 2:00.39, the third fastest time in Dominican's record books in his first meet for the team.
The men grabbed some more points in the throwing events led by Jeroam Wood-Pina in javelin with a personal record of 42.27m to take fifth overall and secure the second-best throw in Dominican's program history. Christian Ahmed may not have placed as high on the leaderboard in discus, but he broke new ground as his throw of 39.64m shattered the Penguins program record by more than six meters to finish sixth in the event.
On the women's side,
Sienna Fassett opened her season with a second-place finish in the pole vault clearing the bar at 2.59m.
LaNicia Ellis began her senior season picking up where she left off on her way to a third-place finish in the 400m as she crossed the line in 58.93 to top Hayden Craft from Fresno State by a second. Ellis added a personal best and Dominican record in the 200m as she finished in 25.22 to edge Chizitere Okey Dike of Cal State Bakersfield for seventh place.
Gia Chase claimed the fourth fastest time in Dominican's history in the 100m crossing the line in 13.11 seconds to finish eighth overall and claim the last team point for the Penguins in the event. Like the men's side, the women's 800m was a strength for the time as
Tatyana Robles set a personal best crossing the line in 2:21.65, the third fastest time in Dominican history, to place sixth.
Sarah Chavez was right behind her with a personal best and the fourth fastest time in DU history as she finished in 2:23.17 to take ninth.
The Penguins continue their season at the Kim Duyst invitational beginning Friday, March 6 at Al Brenda Track and Warrior Stadium in Turlock.
