TORRANCE, Calif. — The motto of the Mount SAC Relays in Torrance, Calif., is: ‘Where the world’s best athletes complete.’
Two Allen Community College runners were among those world-class athletes competing in the prestigious event this weekend.
Sophomores Kaitlyn Shoemaker and Ricardo Banuelos each made the journey to the West Coast to test their skills against the nation’s best 10,000 meter runners.
“It is the who’s who of Division-I,” Red Devil coach Vince DeGrado said. “Some of the my Division-I buddies saw me, and looked like ‘What are you guys doing here.’”
Shoemaker and Banuelos were the only two junior college athletes in the field. DeGrado credits that to the tremendous support his team has received from the administration at Allen.
“I want to give a shout-out to Allen Community College for allowing us to go to that environment,” DeGrado said. “I told the kids that if Allen didn’t support us and this program, they would not be running this fast.
“I’m so grateful that I work at Allen and they let me take these kids, who have earned the right to go, to these type of events. That is how they get recruited. We are very fortunate.”
Neither runner disappointed.
Shoemaker ran in the A-Division and took ninth place out of 36 finishers.
“She ran her first 5,000 meters in 17:33, so the whole time I’m thinking, ‘Holy cow, this is going to either go really, really good or she is going to blow up,” DeGrado said. “But she hung on and competed.”
She finished with a 35:25.43, over four minutes quicker than the next fastest NJCAA 10,000 meter time in the nation this season.
Shoemaker will be the heavy favorite to win the national championship in both the 10,000 and 5,000 meters at the NJCAA National Championships in May.
“She is going to win, there is no way anyone is going to beat her,” DeGrado said of her 10,000 meters chances. “No way. She would have to get sick, but even getting sick, she still would win.”
DeGrado has higher expectations for her than just a national title though, he wants the meet record.
“She is 19 seconds off the national meet record in the 10,000 meters,” DeGrado said. “When she runs it at the national meet, she’ll probably get it… I’m going to put a count-down clock on her and we are going after that national meet record, that is the only thing I can think of to go after.”
Banuelos didn’t quite provide the fireworks that Shoemaker did, but the sophomore was still able to post a 30:41.81 and finish 25th in the A-Division out of 35 runners and beat out runners from schools like UCLA and Purdue.
“Ricardo was a little sick, but still broke the school record,” DeGrado said. “He had a bad race, but he was still on pace to break 30 minutes which was our goal, but the last 4,000 meters he fell apart.”
LONG BEACH STATE
Shoemaker isn’t the only elite women’s 10,000-meters runner in DeGrado’s program, sophomore Vicky Ibarra ran the 10,000 meters for the first time ever on the California trip at the Beach Invitational at Long Beach State University.
She ran a 39:46.3, which is the third-best time in the NJCAA this season, and finished 13th at the meet.
Other results follow:
Men’s 5,000 — 14. Paul Becker 15:32.7; 18. Ludreche Bougana 15:48.35. Women’s 5,000 — 18. Abby Steinhauser 19:14.49; 20. Kristina Silvers 19:50.61. 3,000 Steeplechase — 11. Chris Dunn, 9:57.64.
AZUSA PACIFIC
Allen freshman Anthony Glasgow stole the show at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University.
Glasgow broke the school record with a 1:52.96 in the 800 meters and finished in 39th place.
Other results follow:
Men’s 800 — 55. Kaven Berry 1:54.27; 69. Vinny Butera 1:55.35; 85. Ryan Yarde, 1:56.38; 96. Chris Martin 1:57.53. Women’s 800 — 127. Maria Puente 2:24.28; 134. Gemma Gonzalez 2:29.45; 139. Hannah Johnson 2:35.54.
