SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The title defense is officially underway, with day one of the GSAC Track and Field Championship taking place Thursday in Santa Barbara. With one day of competition remaining, women's track sits in first place as they look to make it back-to-back conference titles.
 
"This was a critical day for us with all of the field event finals and the three distance event finals," said head coach Jeff Magley. "Just as important are the prelims and making sure we're working hard to get into as many finals as we can. That's our goal on the track, to put in the work in the prelims."
 
The first highlight of the day comes in the women's pole vault as Jessup's Rachel Travis adds GSAC Champion to her stacked resume. After a second-place finish a season ago, Travis' vault of 3.65m earns her the conference crown and ten points for her team.
 
Travis is in the midst of a historic season, as she finished as an All-American at the 2022 NAIA Indoor National Championship. She has already punched her ticket to the Outdoor Nationals with the A-Standard.
 
Another GSAC Championship came in the throwing events, as Michelle Flint captured her second consecutive title in the discus. Her mark of 40.63m edges past teammate Jessica Pedretti who earns All-Conference honors with a second-place finish (34.49m).
 
The Warriors totaled 24 points in the women's discus as Alexandra Banducci finished fourth in the event with a mark of 29.08m.
 
Jessup was not done adding members to the All-GSAC team in the throwing events. Flint grabbed her second All-GSAC spot with a second-place finish in the javelin (37.19m). Pedretti also earns a second All-GSAC honor by finishing third (34.96m).
 
Flint moves to second all-time in school history with her javelin PR.
 
In the women's long jump, Alexis Jones improved from her fourth-place finish a season ago by taking second this season, earning a spot on the All-GSAC team with a mark of 5.02m. Second place secured eight points for her team.
 
Over to the men's competition, the highlight of the day came via Alexander Travis, who leads the men's decathlon by 100 points. Travis took first place in the 100m, long jump, and 400m.
 
Kamil Jones also highlighted the day in the prelims of the men's 400m hurdles, as he shattered the Jessup record with a time of 53.71, hitting the qualifying standard for nationals in the process.
 
The Jessup men are currently in fifth. The Jessup women lead Westmont by ten points (72-62).
 
"Going into day two, we are in a good position," added Magley. "We didn't have a perfect day, but we're excited to make a push in day two to climb into the top three in both genders."
 
One more day of competition remains from Thorrington Field on the campus of Westmont College. Westmont will be providing a live stream of the action, available online HERE.
   
William Jessup University is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC). For additional information regarding Jessup Athletics, visit www.jessupathletics.com; visit www.jessup.edu for more information on William Jessup University. Follow Jessup Athletics on social media: William Jessup University Athletics (Facebook) and @JessupAthletics (Twitter & Instagram).