FRESNO—The Azusa Pacific women have a 14-point lead in the very early standings at the at the Pacific West Conference Track and Field Championship, while the Cougar men and host Fresno Pacific are virtually even on the men's side with the Sunbirds holding a slight 62-60 lead.

Only six of the eventual 21 events were finals for both the men and women on a full day that also featured a whole list of preliminary races. A jam packed finals day awaits on Saturday with 15 championships, beginning at 10 a.m. for field events and 12:15 p.m. on the track.

To see all the results including preliminary races and qualifiers for Saturday’s finals, click here.

WOMEN
Azusa Pacific’s Luisa Fischer won the javelin and set a PacWest meet record with a toss of 50.14 (164-6). The throw beat the previous record set by APU’s Allison Updike in 2016 (163-6). Speaking of history, Fischer also won the javelin back in 2022.

Hannah Richardson (Azusa Pacific) was also a repeat winner, taking the hammer for the second year in a row, with time with a heave of 51.57 (169-2).

Same for Peyton Yoshida of Point Loma, winning the pole vault back-to-back (3.79/12-5.25), leading a parade of two other teammates with the same clearance for a Sea Lion sweep.

Here are the other first day winners
*Concordia’s Jasmyn Crawford in the long jump 6.23 (20-5.25)
*Azusa Pacific’s Jessica Kampman in the steeplechase in 10:54.86. Kampman was also the 2024 PacWest cross country champion.
*Biola’s Lynette Ruiz won the 10,000 meters in the final event of the day with a time of 36:15. Ruiz was the 2023 10K champ and also won the 2022 PacWest cross country championship.

MEN
In the last race of the day, Biola's Melt Von Molendorff set a meet record in the 10,000 meters with a time of 30:26. The Eagle star edged Fresno Pacific's Bryan Banuelos (30:27), which also would have been a meet record. 

Host Fresno Pacific swept the javelin throw, led by three-time champion Dejan Mileusnic with a throw of 67.52 (221-6).

It was only a preliminary, but Dominican’s Adrian Aguirre entered the PacWest record books with a scorching time of 13.70 in the 110 hurdles. Aguirre broke a record that had been in place since 2013, established by Tyler Sipes of Grand Canyon (13.89).

Concordia’s Dylan Fox won his third straight long jump title, this time sharing the exact same mark as Academy of Art’s Yacouba Gnacko. Both went 7.51 (24-7.25), but Fox got the win based on his second longest leap being better than Gnacko’s.

Other Friday champions included...
*Concordia’s Trey Vegenz in the hammer 57.89 (189-11).
*Fresno Pacific’s Jackson Paramo in the pole vault 4.66 (15-3.50), same mark as Azusa’s Nicholas Aguirre.
*Concordia’s Dustin Berger in the steeplechase with a time of 9:18.81.

Action will continue on Saturday with the decathlon and heptathlon continuing at 9 a.m.. The first field event starts at 10 a.m. and action on the track starts at 12:15 p.m.