Personal Bests Highlight CSUN Showing at Mt. SAC

The Cal State Northridge women’s track team failed to win an event on the third day of the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut on Saturday, but Coach Don Strametz and assistant Tony Veney weren’t complaining.

Not after watching one Lady Matador after another turn in personal-best efforts in events ranging from the 400-meter dash to the 3,000-meter run.

Sophomore Darcy Arreola, runner-up in the 800 and 1,500 meters at last year’s NCAA Division II championships, placed ninth in the invitational 3,000 meters with a personal best of 9 minutes, 13.13 seconds.

“That was a phenomenal race,” Strametz said after watching Arreola lower her previous best by nearly 14 seconds. “She made a couple of tactical mistakes because she’s not that experienced at that distance, but overall it was super.”

Despite Arreola’s performance, which fell just short of the Olympic Trials qualifying standard of 9:10.72, Strametz believes Arreola will concentrate on the 1,500 meters this season, an event in which she already has qualified for the Olympic Trials.

“She ran well tonight,” he said. “But her training is geared to the 1,500.”

Robin Stinson led the Northridge sprinters and hurdlers with a Division II qualifying time in the 400-meter low hurdles.

Stinson, a senior, placed fourth in the second heat of the women’s university-open division with a personal best of 61.21, which moved her to fifth on the all-time Northridge list.