The San Diego Mesa College men’s and women’s track and field team kicked off the 2024 season with a successful opener at the Riverside Community College Early Bird Invitational. Despite cooler conditions from a storm that hasn’t left the area, the men’s team finished second overall (190 points) behind Riverside Community College (274 points) and the women’s finished in fourth place with a total of 83 points. 

Three State A marks were achieved:
* Kais Kimuli shot put of 13.01m
* Kaylee Tan pole vault 2.85m
* Men's 4x100m relay team which consists of Jake Hoffman, Lamar Smith, Kyle Wood, Akai Mills turned in a time of 41.77. 

Cross country state champion Alexis Noble ran a strong anchor leg in the distance medley relay (1600m) and demonstrated a relentless finish to hold onto the lead by charging Chapman University over the last lap until the finish line. 

Sophomore Armando Castillo also had a strong performance in the men’s pole vault, coming close to clearing the State A mark with jumps of 4.30m and 4.40m. 

Sophomore Luke Yruretagoyena ran a superb opening season anchor leg in the 4x400m. Yruretagoyena had 47.9 split and closed quickly, coming within a second of first place Riverside Community College. 

The team will head into a three-week training block and will be back in action on Friday, March 1 at the Beach Opener in Long Beach, CA and return to Riverside Community College for the RCC Invitational.