The San Diego Mesa College men's and women's track and field program had a strong start to the 2023 season on Friday at the Riverside City College Early Bird Invitational. Held at Wheelock Stadium in Riverside, the Tigers edged the Olympians by six points (236 overall points) to take the podium. 

Despite the second place finish, both programs came away with a slew of season bests and high finishes. The men's 4x100 meter relay team of Moray Steward, Lamar Smith, Adrian Chavez, and Kyle Wood opened with a 40.61, which is the number-three all time best Mesa performance, .4 seconds off of the school record that's been in tact since 1998. Freshman Sidney Garcia was also impressive in distance medley relays with a 400 meter split of 59.1. She also moved the women to first place in the 4x800 meter relay on the final lap with an 800 meter split of 2:23. 

"This was a great indicator for not only our sprint and relay squads, but our entire track and field program," states head coach Sean Ricketts. "This showing at the RCC Invite shows the quality of training that we had during the offseason." 

Other notable performances included:

Madison Rauch capturing the pole vault 3.27m (10'8.75).
Moray Steward 6.78 and Lamar Smith 6.88 finishing 1-2 in the 60m.
Jasper Kadlec 53.06m (174'1), Jeramiah Havens 48.27m (158'4). 
Harrison Hanson 45.90m (150'7) sweeping 1-3 in the javelin.
Men's distance medley 10:19 and 4x800m relay 7:53 winning (Devin Provence, Jake Beckwith, Alan Jimenez, David Millan). 

The team will go into a three-week training block before competing at the Saddleback Invitational on March 4. Decathletes will compete on February 23-24 at the Ron Kamala Multis Invite at Mt. San Antonio College.