A Season for the Record Books

Broncos Track & Field has spent this season chasing down history

John Brussa

Sports Editor

May 9, 2019

(Santa Clara Athletics) Junior Jack Davidson (left) has set four of the seven program records broken so far this 2018-19 seasonfor Track and Field. Davidson is one teammate potentially quaifying for regions in the 1500-meter race.

For the fifth week in a row, the Broncos ran record-setting times at one of the premier racing events in the nation. Last Thursday, junior Jack Davidson and sophomore Zach Litoff competed in the Payton Jordan Invitational held at Stanford.

Davidson managed to complete the 5000-meter in 14:00.91—more than three seconds faster than the previous school record that he set back in late March. Of the seven program records broken this season thus far, the junior from the Mile High City is responsible for shattering four. Litoff— who ran the fastest 3,000-meter steeplechase in Santa Clara’s history earlier this season—will represent Santa Clara at the NCAA Regionals on May 24.

Junior Brennan Lagerstrom has been another key component to this year's historical performance.

Lagerstrom clocked the 800-meter in 1:52.55, the fastest event time in school history, at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational held last month at Cal Berkeley. The previous record stood for only a week—having been set by Lagerstrom himself just days before.

The Broncos will conclude the regular season this Saturday at the Oxy Invite held in Los Angeles. Depending on his performance this weekend, Davidson stands a chance to qualify for regionals in the 1500-meter alongside Litoff.

Softball

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Following seven straight games at home, Women’s Softball traveled south for their final road series of the season last weekend to take on the San Diego Toreros.

In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Broncos brought three runners home in the first inning to take a quick 3-0 lead.

Senior Kelsie Barnard—hitting .321 on the season—led Santa Clara offensively, going 3-3 with two RBIs. The Broncos then tacked on some insurance with solo runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings. First-year pitcher Regan Dias allowed just two runs over six innings of work to earn the win as the Broncos claimed game one of the series, 6-2.

In their second game of the afternoon, Santa Clara’s bats stayed hot and once again were ahead 3-0 by the end of the third inning. In the fourth, however, San Diego managed to score three times to even things up once again before the Broncos sent 11 hitters to the plate the very next inning, bringing home six more runs. In the seventh, Santa Clara scored twice to seal their 11-3 win.

Sunday was déjà vu for the Broncos as they once again forged a 3-0 lead early on. Dias, on the mound once again, held the Toreros to no hits going into the fifth inning before San Diego tallied both its first hit and run in the same play to end the shutout. When the Toreros scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh, Dias’ day concluded after 6 ⅓ solid innings. The Broncos’ defense recorded the final two outs to earn a 7-3 victory and complete the sweep.

Santa Clara will return home to conclude its season against BYU. The action begins tomorrow at 4 p.m. with the second game of the day following immediately after.

Contact John Brussa at jbrussa@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.