Every practice and every meet, the College of Marin Track & Field Team gets better. Such was again the case on Thursday at the Bay Valley Conference Championships in Oakland. The Merritt College Track was a favorable one for Marin as they set several individual and team records at the meet.
One of the many impressive feats was the Men's 4x400 meter relay victory. The team led from the first handoff and held off second place finisher Merced College by more than two seconds. Emile Del Barrio ran the anchor leg to secure the team's 3:39.03 winning time.
Freshman Zachary Ahlin made the podium three times as he took third in the pole vault with a height of 13'0" feet. He also ran in the 4x400 meter relay and was third in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:02.42.
Head Coach Liz Gill was effusive in her praise of Ahlin "I was particularly impressed with Zach's performances because he competed and placed higher than the rankings he came into the meet with, which shows competitive strength in a variety of tactical races and field events."
Kim Maxwell represented Marin in the field events and nearly set a personal best in the long jump with a distance of 4.10 meters. She also made her season debut in the Javelin throw where she took sixth place with a distance of 23.36 meters.
Grace Davis set a pair of personal bests in the 200 and 400 meter dashes. She placed fourth in the 200 meter in 28.32 seconds and fifth in the 400 meter in 1:05.85.
Overall the men's team placed fifth with 31 points while the women's team took sixth with 12 points.
Next up for the Mariners are the NorCal Trials on Friday, May 5th at DeAnza College where Zach Ahlin, Emile Del Barrio and the 4x400 meter relay team will attempt to qualify for the state finals.