Lions Open With Third-Place Finishes

The De Anza College Track & Field teams both placed third at the opening Wildcat Cup in Salinas.

The Mountain Lions finished behind Modesto and Hartnell in both the men's and women's standings.

"I thought everyone did well for the season-opener," said interim head coach Sean Gwi.

"The team is already working on a few minor adjustments at practice. We should see some improvements as soon as this weekend."

Sophomore Marissa Windham swept the individual 100 meter (12.90, PR) and 200 meter (26.19, PR) events, while sophomore Felicity Alvarado placed third in the 100 (13.06, PR) and fourth in the 200 (26.93, PR). 

"The first meet was a success," said Alvarado, who also plans on returning to the triple jump event soon.

"Coach has us focused more on technique and it's making a big difference."

Alvarado and Windham were both part of the runner-up 4x100 relay team (50.71, with Sarah Morales and Bethany Chan) and 4x400 relay (4:18.11, fourth, with Kaylin Mootz and Morales).

Freshman Genesis Mailangi led the De Anza throwers in her college debut. 

Mailangi won the shot put (11.44m), finished runner-up in hammer (42.64m, PR) and javelin (31.25m, PR), and placed third in discus (37.91m, PR) - for a total of 32 points.

"I felt prepared going into my first collegiate meet," Mailangi said.

"But we won't settle for anything other than first place."

Sophomore Mackenzie MacDonald won the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 12:45.26 - and Chan was second in the 100m hurdles (16.31).

Three Mountain Lions placed in the top five in the long jump: Mootz (5.10m, second), Chan (4.90m, third), and Windham (4.57m, fifth).

On the men's side, freshman Lleyton Houston finished third in 200m (22.37) and 400m dash (52.56).

"My 200 time was unexpected," Houston said.

"I haven't ran the 200 in a long time. I surprised myself by runnning two seconds faster than I thought."

Freshman Vincent Nguyen was third in the 100m dash (11.06), as Kevin Klemm took sixth (11.17).

A trio of DA sophomores scored in the 3000m run: Diego Ochoa-Mendez (9:15.22, third), James Estrella (9:23.05, fourth), and Luis Folkers (9:33.83, fifth).

De Anza dominated the 3000m steeplechase - taking one through six: Ochoa-Mendez, Estrella, Koyo Kai, Jack Park, Giovanni Lancellotti and Jerry Dang.

In the 4x100 relay, the Lions finished third (43.07) as Nguyen, Fabian Oduk, Klemm and Houston only trailed Merritt and Modesto.

The 4x400 relay team of Houston, Oduk, Nguyen and Klemm also placed third with a time of 3:34.22.

Nguyen finished fourth in the long jump (6.25m).

"It was great to see our progress after three to four months of practice," Nguyen said.

"We are learning from our mistakes and we're ready to make adjustments for the rest of the season."

Two freshmen placed in the discus: Benjamin Feldstein (42.18m, second) and Alex Gurley (37.13m, fifth). Feldstein finished third in the hammer throw (45.69m).

For complete results, please visit: https://www.directathletics.com/results/track/88377.html