Cooper Thompson, freshman, was one of the shining stars for BC at the Bakersfield Invitational on March 14 at Memorial Stadium, throwing a massive 188 feet 3.5 inches in the men’s javelin. “Cooper had a big throw today,” said BC track and field coach Dave Frickel. “I think this puts him probably in the top three in southern California, and that’s good. He’s a rookie… He’s only been throwing a month.”
As a matter of fact, Thompson’s latest throw made him second overall in southern California, throwing only 2-0.5 shorter than current leader Justin Shinar of Golden West.
The previous week, Thompson took first in javelin against Santa Barbara and Moorpark, throwing 182-6.
Frickel definitely had good feelings about the performances of both teams. “I think we had some good performances,” said Frickel. “The kids ran well.” With BC winning the women’s meet against five competing schools and taking third in the men’s against six schools, this year’s team is holding their own with athletes in the top 10 for 11 events in the SoCal conference.
The women’s 4×400 meter relay team proved to be tough competition, taking second place behind the Canyons’ team and taking the gold March 6. The 4×100 meter relay crossed the finish line at 50.5 seconds, placing first against Canyons and Antelope Valley. According to Frickel, these two teams were BC’s biggest competition going into the Bakersfield Relays.
The women’s 200-meter dash was taken by BC with Ashley Colbert winning the gold with Ashley Webber coming in only milliseconds later to take second place.
March 6 was a good day for BC with both the men’s and women’s teams finishing second overall in a quadrangular meet against Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and Moorpark at Memorial Stadium.
BC’s Shawnece Mackey and Carey Tuuamalemalo took second and third respectively in both women’s shot put and discus. Tuuamalemalo went on to take second in women’s hammer throw with a distance of 109-9.5.
Out of 20 competitor’s, BC’s Cesar Mireles finished the men’s 1,500 meter run in 4:08.02, winning first place by five seconds.
Santa Barbara hosts March 21.