Puma Track & Field continued to deliver big marks and add to their list of national qualifiers  as they hosted their only home meet of the outdoor season, the Distance in the Dark/ Cody McBride Memorial Invitational. 

The highlight for the Pumas was Audrey Armstrong in the women's hammer throw.  Armstrong must not have been satisfied with her school record in the hammer throw (set the previous week) because she decided to break it again. On her second attempt, she rocketed the hammer 54.80m (179'9") giving her the #1 ranked mark in the NJCAA national rankings.

At Thursday night's Distance in the Dark, the Pumas loaded up the men's 1500m run with seven of their top men. PV's Gilbert Olivas and Nathan Pestka ended up battling it out over the last 400m of the race, and, with the naked eye, it seemed like they had crossed the line in a tie. After the dust had settled, it was confirmed that Olivas had run 3:58.367, barely out-leaning Pestka's 3:58.370.  He might have come up just shy of winning, but Pestka earned an NJCAA national qualifying mark in the process. Not far behind, Chaz Miller also hit a national qualifying mark of 3:59.97.

The Puma's distance team started off Saturday's Cody McBride Invitational with the same attitude they showed on Thursday! Olivas and Jason Lundgren, running in their first steeplechase races ever, finished 1-2 in the men's 3000m steeplechase, both snagging national qualifying marks with times of 9:41.52 and 9:50.47. Following the men's race, Jazmin Estrada added another first-place finish for the Pumas as she ran her first steeplechase race ever in a national qualifying mark time of 12:01.16.

The steeplechase wasn't the only Puma 1-2 punch. In the men's 110m hurdles, Javon Burton and Erick Reyes went 1-2 with times of 15.83 and 16.70.  Later, they reversed roles in the 400m hurdles as Reyes finished first and Burton second as they both earned national qualifying marks with times 54.74 and 54.86.  

In the women's discus, Karsten Deakin won with a throw of 42.65m (139' 11") and Audrey Armstrong finished second throwing 38.35m (125'10").  And, in the women's shot put, Deakin won in a put of 13.60m (44'7.5") and Leslie Guillen came in second with a throw of 11.54m (37'10.5").

Capping off the first-place finishes for the Pumas was Sofia Cardozo who won the women's 100m in a time of 12.66.