Soriano (LJ) and Jones (SP) Win, Thomas (400m IH) and Simpson (3000m SC) get PRs at Ben Brown Invite Last Week

FULLERTON -- Posting first-place finishes in two overall individual events, two second-place finishes which were personal records, plus a relay victory, plus two individual wins in "B" categories, the Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers men's track and field team had a solid outing at the Ben Brown Invitational last Friday-Saturday (Mar. 11-12), hosted by Cal State Fullerton.

Among the RCC highlights, sophomore Anthony John Soriano (Santa Ana / Eastvale - Eleanor Roosevelt HS '13) won the long jump (7.32m) and freshman James Jones (Bremerton, WA / Olympic [WA] HS '11) won shot put (16.15m). Soriano is the state leader in that event, while Jones is second in the state in that event.

In the 4x100-meter relay (heat #2), the quartet of Christopher Kessee, Deondrae Brooks, Maurice Metoyer and Kristopher Handy won with a time of :42.51.

Other RCC highlights included first-place finishes by DeAndre Thornton (Riverside / Arlington HS) in the 400-meter run (heat B) with a time of :50.02 and Cristian Malloy (Murrieta / Vista Murrieta HS '15) in the 800-meter run (heat B) with a time of 1:59.02.

Posting personal records (PRs) were freshman Keeon Thomas (Landstown, VA / Landstown HS '14) in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles (heat #3, second place, :56.06) and Michael Simpson (Moreno Valley / Canyon Springs HS '15) in the 3000-meter Steeplechase (only heat; second place, 9:45.0, hand time).

Pictured is Jonathan Smith who had the second-fastest time (:22.05) overall in the 200-meter dash.

"The men are really starting to move and come together as a team," said fourth-year RCC throws coach Nick Robinson. "It was great to see so many Tigers do well in their sections and their heats and to be able to win them is a pretty cool thing," concluded Robinson.

Complete results may be found at https://www.directathletics.com/results/track/42779.html and/or http://finishedresults.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/BenBrown2016Results.htm

Riverside will next compete in the UC Irvine Invitational on Friday-Saturday, Mar. 18-19, at 8 a.m.

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