The Middlebury track and field teams concluded their annual spring trip to the west coast by taking part in the California Collegiate Open hosted by UC San Diego. The Panther women finished fifth out of 17 teams with 46 points in a meet that featured teams from all three NCAA divisions, while the men were seventh of 14 and accumulated 67 points. The Panthers return to action Saturday when they compete in the Amherst Spring Fling.

On the women's side, the Panthers earned two event victories and a school-record effort. Kate McCluskey won the 400-meter run with a time of 56.18, while Anna Willig claimed the 800-meter run for the Panthers in 2:12.73.

Later in the meet, McCluskey broke the school record in the 200-meter dash (25.61) to finish seventh, lowering the mark of 25.77 set by Natalie Cheung last spring.

Other top-five efforts came from Abigail Nadler who was third in the 1,500-meter run (4:39.16), while Devon Player finished fourth in the javelin toss with a mark of 125'7".

In the men's competition, the 4x400-meter relay quartet of William Robertson, James Mulliken, Joshua Howard and Jimmy Martinez won with a time of 3:18.51.

Earlier in the day, Jonathan Perlman was the runner up in the 1,500-meter run (4:00.09), while teammate Will Meyer was right behind in third (4:00.36). Another runner-up finish came from Kevin Serrao in the 800-meter run (1:51.96), while James Mulliken was fourth in the same event (1:53.74).

Other fifth-place finishes came from Theodore Henderson in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:41.59), while Nicholas Hendrix crossed the line fifth in the 200-meter dash (22.09). The 4x100-meter relay of Jackson Bock, Jackson Barnett, Howard and Hendrix was fifth in 43.13, while Taylor Moore tossed the javelin to a fifth-place throw of 174'5".