TORRANCE, Calif. â€" The Lions Track and Field teams took to the track at the prestigious Mt SAC Relays last Thursday and Friday nights. Ten Lions toed the line in the 10,000 meters on Thursday and the 5,000 meters on Friday. Of the ten runners who touched the track over the weekend, an amazing nine of them set career bests. In addition, a former Lion great also set a personal best.

On Thursday evening close to midnight, senior Maddi Vorgitch ran the second 10,000 meter race of her career and smashed her personal best by over 42 seconds crossing the line in 34:41.52 and placing 3rd in her race. More importantly, her time ranks 38th on the NCAA West Region Preliminary descending order list. The top-48 declared runners in each event in the West Region qualify for the Preliminary round, which makes it likely that she will qualify. Additionally, Vorgitch now ranks 5th on the LMU All-time list behind Tara Erdmann, Sheree Shea, Danielle Shanahan and Grace Graham-Zamudio.

Four other Lions, junior Giselle Masedo, freshman Rosie Cruz, freshman Joseph Garcia and junior Ben Davis, took their first crack at a 10,000 meter race and by default ran career bests. Masedo finished with a time of 37:20.54 and is 12th on the LMU All-time list. Cruz, who is the first freshman female in LMU history to race 10,000 meters, ran 37:32.01 ranking her 13th on the LMU All-time list. Joseph Garcia ran 31:32.64 to become the fastest freshman male to compete in the event. Junior Ben Davis also made his 10k debut completing the 25-lapper in 32:14.85. Garcia and Davis are now 11th and 12th respectively on the LMU All-time list.

LMU Lion alumna Grace Graham-Zamudio raced her way to a career best of 33:46.98 and finishing 9th in the Elite section. Graham-Zamudio ran nearly 22 seconds faster than her previous career best.

Friday night five more Lions took the track in the 5,000 meters led by senior Jack Polerecky who ran 14:03.12 finishing 6th in his section. Polerecky shaved nearly 12 seconds off of his previous best mark and his time now ranks him 53rd on the NCAA West Region Preliminary descending order list. Polerecky also has the 2nd fastest 5,000 meter mark in LMU history behind Weston Strum. Three weeks earlier at the Stanford Invitational, Polerecky improved on his own school record in the 10,000 meters and currently is 29th on the NCAA West Region Preliminary descending order list in that event.

Equally impressive was junior Koby Pederson who improved his previous best mark by almost 24 seconds running 14:14.00. Pederson was 7th in his section and is 76th on the NCAA West Region Preliminary descending order list. Pederson climbed to 5th on the LMU All-time list.

On the women's side, junior Kyla Danforth ran her way to an over 8 second career best running 17:11.67 inching her way closer to breaking the 17-minute barrier. Danforth was 16th in her section and ranks 15th on the LMU All-time list.

Three-time NCAA qualifier and All-American Danielle Shanahan (now a grad student in her 5th year), ran a career best of 15:48.73 placing 7th in a loaded Elite section. For Shanahan, this was an improvement of 2 seconds off her all-time best.

The Lions will next take the track with a limited squad at the Steve Scott Invitational at UC Irvine on April 27th and 28th. For some, this will be the last opportunity of the season to race while others will continue their season into May.