CLAREMONT, Calif.  – In a way, Robert Joshua's college track career is still near the starting line.
 
But the Seattle Pacific freshman keeps getting faster and faster when racing to the finish line.
 
 

Joshua went from the blocks to the wire in 10.85 seconds in the 100-meter dash on Saturday at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational track and field meet – the fastest time ever recorded by a Falcon using the Fully Automatic Timing system.
 
The previous FAT best at 10.89 was by Jeffrey Gordon on May 14, 2021 at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships. Gordon also had a pair of 10.90s during his career.
 
For the overall school record, the time to beat is 10.74. In 1956, Roy Duncan clocked a hand-held 9.6 when the event was still the 100-yard dash. Since then, universal formulas have been devised to deal with both the timing and distance factors.
 
In the 100, nine-tenths of a second (0.9) is added to cover the conversion from yards to meters.(100 meters is about 8½ meters longer than 100 yards). Then 0.24 is added to cover the conversion from hand-held to FAT. (Hand-held is considered faster because of human reaction time starting and stopping the watch).
 
Taken together, that means 1.14 seconds is added to Duncan's 9.6, thus making the converted school record 10.74.
 
That record is well within the reach of Joshua, who already has become Seattle Pacific's fastest-ever indoor sprinter with his time of 6.94 seconds in the 60-meter dash at the GNAC Championships in February.
 
His mark on Saturday gave him 11th place overall. He later finished eighth overall in the 200 with a time of 22.01, just off his best of 21.96. That was still fast enough to win his heat of the race, his first heat win in the 200 and his third overall this spring (the other two were in the 100).
 
Joshua teamed up with Tarelle Hunter, Andrew Bell, and Justin Brooks to win the second heat and place eighth overall in the 4-by-100 relay.
 
ADD CHANG TO THE NCAA LIST
Hannah Chang had by far her best day of the spring, topped by an NCAA provisional-qualifying performance in the 100-meter hurdles.
 
 

The SPU junior clocked a season-best 14.17 seconds, just under the minimum of 14.18. That gave her third place in the race.
 
Chang has run the 100s four times and has steadily gotten quicker. She started off with a 15.39 at the PLU Open on March 8, dropped to 14.51 at the Oregon Preview on March 22, then went 14.40 at the Whitworth Peace Meet last Friday in Spokane.
 
Saturday's time was the second-fastest of her career, topped only by the 13.88 that the posted last May to win the GNAC title and earn a trip to the NCAA meet. Saturday's race helped her close the gap on Alaska Anchorage's Liv Heite, who ran 14.06 at last week's Mike Fanelli Track Classic in San Francisco. On Saturday, Heite ran 14.13 at Western Oregon's John Knight Twilight in Monmouth.
 
Chang finished her day with a personal-best 1:06.65 in the 400 hurdles. Her previous best was 1:07.18 last week in Spokane.
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
-- Jada Sarrys came through with a pair of personal-best races. She started with a 57.54 in the 400 meters after previously posting a par of 58s. The freshman she went 25.14 in the 200, dropping more than half a second from her previous best of 25.66.
 

-- Senior Johanna Brown finally broke 58 for the first time this spring in the 400, clocking 57.97. Her PB is 57.31. Later in the day, she went a best-ever 25.63 in the 200.
-- Freshman Sophie Hanay had her first sub-minute time in the 400, coming across in 59.54.
-- Andrew Bell set a PB of 58.07 in the 400 hurdles. This was his fourth try in that race, and his time continued its downward trend: 59.32, 58.97, and 58.69 prior to Saturday. In the 110s, he was fourth in 14.72.
-- Sophomore pole vaulter Mason Hrcek cleared a season-best 14-1¼. He went 14-0 last week at Whitworth.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons head to Ellensburg next Saturday, April 19, for the Wildcat Invitational. Action will take place at the Central Washington Recreation Sports Complex, the site of last season's GNAC Championships. Field events start at noon, and the first track race is at 8:30 a.m. The final event is set for 5:45 p.m.
 
On Wednesday, Annika Esvelt and Maya Ewing will compete at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California. Esvelt will race the 10,000 meters and Ewing will be in the 3000 steeplechase. The first of 10 steeplechase heats begins at 6:40 p.m. The Invitational heats of the 10K are at 9:10 and 10:17 p.m. It is not yet known in which heat either Ewing or Esvelt will compete.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Pomona-Pitzer Invitational
Saturday, April 12, 2025
Strehle Track / Claremont, Calif.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
200 – 1, Emma Cannan (Simon Fraser) 23.56.  SPU – 8, Jada Sarrys 25.14; 19, Johanna Brown 25.63; 30, Evey Rowland 26.25; 43, Sophie Hanay 26.82.
400 – 1, Brooke Dalgity (Vanguard) 54.71.  SPU – 9, Jada Sarrys 57.54; 13, Johanna Brown 57.91; 18, Evey Rowland 59.29; 20, Sophie Hanay 59.54.
100 hurdles – 1, Robyn Brown (Philippines) 13.59.  SPU – 3, Hannah Chang 14.17#.
400 hurdles – 1, Mayran Cruz Hernandez (Tigres Atletismo) 1:01.99.  SPU – 4, Hannah Chang 1:06.65.
4x100 relay – 1, Biola 47.41.  SPU – 4, Seattle Pacific (Jada Sarrys, Johanna Brown, Sophie Hanay, Evey Rowland) 48.49..
 
# NCAA provisional qualifying.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Pomona-Pitzer Invitational
Saturday, April 12, 2025
Strehle Track / Claremont, Calif.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
100 – 1, Jacob Hall (Simon Fraser) 10.60.  SPU – 11, Robert Joshua 10.85; 28, Tarelle Hunter 11.22.
200 – 1, Willy Mabena (Multnomah) 21.55.  SPU – 8, Robert Joshua 22.01; 44, Tarelle Hunter 23.47.
400 – 1, Makarios Page (Unattached) 47.63.  SPU – 3, Justin Brooks 47.86 (school record, breaks old record of 48.24 set by Isaiah Archer in 2023).
110 hurdles – 1, Nnamdi Onwaeze (CP Pomona) 14.03.  SPU – 4, Andrew Bell 14.72..
400 hurdles – 1, Colin Scanlon (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) 52.02.  SPU – 14, Andrew Bell 58.07.
4x100 relay – 1, Pomona-Pitzer 41.11.  SPU – 8, Seattle Pacific (Tarelle Hunter, Robert Joshua, Andrew Bell, Justin Brooks) 42.81.
Pole vault – 1, Andrew Barlow (Ultimate AC) 17-0 3/4 / 5.20m.  SPU -- 12, Mason Hrcek 14-1 1/4 / 4.30m; Mikel Saxon no height.


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