SMC Blows Away the Competition at the Tornado Classic
SMC opened up the day with a pair of wins in the Men’s and Women’s 4 x 800 meter relay, seeing the ladies improve their seasons best by nearly 50 seconds and improving to 3rd in school history. The men finished with the 8th fastest time in school history.
In the Women’s 1500m Run Mariela Velazquez took the win, by almost 10 seconds! A crucial move on lap 2 took her to the lead and she widened her gap with each stride that followed. This is Velazquez’s first career collegiate victory.
Junior Marc Mixtega made his return to the 1500m run, competing in the event for the first time since 2022. He finished in a very respectable 7th place in the meet. Mixtega will be rejoining the men’s cross country team this Fall as the school transitions to 4 year athletics.
In the women’s 100 meter dash, Diamond Croft placed 3rd overall with a -4.9 headwind! Although the wind was crazy, she fought hard for her highest individual finish of the season. Following right after her Parker Balog took 3rd in the men’s division under similar wind conditions.
Alondra Velazquez competed well in the women’s 800 meters, finishing the meet in 4th place, and running within 3 seconds of her season’s best in a torrential headwind. She moved at the end of lap 1 and fought hard for the 7th top 5 SMC finish of the day.
The last event that SMC competed in before weather finished the day was the women’s 400 meter hurdles. The Pioneers put 2 on the podium with Sophia Outhous collecting the individual win and Polly Addington placing 3rd at the meet.
Pioneers return for their final meet of the season on April 27th at App State, in Boone, NC
