American River College runner Jaclyn Leduc competes in the women’s 5000 meter run during the 31st annual Beaver Relays on March 4, 2016 at ARC. Leduc finished 2nd in the event. (Photo by Robert Hansen)

American River College held the 31st annual Beaver Relays on Friday March 4 after the threat of inclement weather pushed the meet up from it’s original date of Saturday March 5.

The last minute change of date meant that several schools who had planned to attend were not able to re-arrange their transportation and were forced to miss the event.

This left only eight schools able to attend: American River College, Sacramento City College, Diablo Valley College, Merritt College, Yuba College, College of the Siskiyous, Chabot College, and Redwoods College.

“We lost about three quarters of the schools,” said men’s head coach Rick Anderson. “Typically there are about 16 or 17 schools and we had only seven.”

Anderson also pointed out how track is unique compared to other sports because there are so many people involved in just getting the meet to happen.

“It’s not like a baseball game or a football game where you only have to call one team,” Anderson said. “We have to call seven or eight teams, and 40 volunteers and officials to get it rescheduled.”

Some competitions like the women’s pole vault were contested by only one participant (Alexis Babbes of ARC), and the men’s 4×200 relay, and the women’s 5000m race were contested by just one school.

Women’s head coach Jeanette Allred-Powless lamented the loss of the other schools, but was confident that the event would go ahead.

“We didn’t have as many teams as we wanted to have so that was unfortunate,” Allred-Powless said. “But we still go ahead because we’ve never cancelled this event in the school’s history. We got most of our events contested so that was good.”

Despite the reduced amount of competitors, the event went ahead as planned and most of the events were completed before the heavy rain came in.

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Javelin throwers from College of the Siskiyous, Diablo Valley, and Sacramento City College warm up before the javelin event at the 31st annual Beaver Relays on March 4th, 2016 at American River College. Michael Martin of Siskiyous won the event with a throw of 193 feet and 6 inches. (Photo by Matthew Nobert)

American River College runners Tatiana Bell, Kyleah Johnson, and Stevie Jones take off from the blocks during the women’s 100 meter dash at the 31st annual Beaver Relays on March 4, 2016 at ARC. Tatiana Bell won the event with a time of 12.52. (Photo by Matthew Nobert)

College of the Siskiyous runner Seth Arena runnning down the track during the men’s 100 meter dash at the 31st Beaver Relays on March 4, 2016. Arena finished his heat in first place and finished 11th overall. (Photo by Matthew Nobert)

American River College runners completing their leg of the men’s distance medley during the 31st annual Beaver Relays on March 4, 2016 at ARC. ARC teams finsished 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th in the event. (Photo by Matthew Nobert)

American River College runner Ross Walker runs the anchor leg of the men’s 4000 meter distance medley during the 31st annual Beaver Relays on March 4, 2016. at ARC. Walker and the ARC “B” team finished 2nd with a time of 10:30.67. (Photo by Matthew Nobert)

College of the Siskiyous runner Jazzmin Bryan runs towards the finsih line as American River College runner Andrea Stark falls in the women’s 400 meter hurdles during the 31st annual Beaver Relays on March 4, 2016 at ARC. Bryan won the event while Stark finished 3rd. (Photo by Matthew Nobert)

American River College runners Eleanor Velez, Hannah Montague, and Jessica Swingle compete in the women’s 3000 meter steeplechase during the 31st annual beaver relays on March 4, 2016 at ARC. Vasquez finished 2nd, Montague finished 3rd, and Swingle finished 4th in the event. (Photo by Matthew Nobert)

American River College runner Jaclyn Leduc competes in the women’s 5000 meter run during the 31st annual Beaver Relays on March 4, 2016 at ARC. Leduc finished 2nd in the event. (Photo by Robert Hansen)

American River College runner Jenica Dodge passes teammate Carissa Salazar in the 5000 meter run during the 31st annual Beaver Relays on March 4, 2016. Dodge won the event while Salazar finished 3rd. (Photo by Robert Hansen)

American River College runner Tatiana Bell competes in the women’s 200 meter dash during the 31st annual Beaver Relays on March 4, 2016 at ARC. Bell won the event with a time of 25:97. (Photo by Robert Hansen)

American River college runner Jenica Dodge competes in the women’s 5000 meter race during the 31st annual Beaver Relays on March 4, 2016 at ARC. Dodge won the event with a time of 17:57.01. (Photo by Robert Hansen)

ARC teams took 1st place in the men’s and women’s 4×100 relays, and also took 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th in the men’s 4000m distance medley.

Other wins in men’s individual events for ARC included Isaiah Griffin winning the 200m dash, Treshon Woods winning the 400m hurdles, Abdul Hamid winning the 1500m race, Matt Morris winning the 3000m steeplechase, Cambron Lyles in the pole vault, and Lenny Nelson taking the long and triple jump.

Griffin said afterwards that both the rain made things a little more difficult for the race.
“I did decent but the rain made it a little more difficult because the track is slick and there’s rain in your face,” Griffin said.

Anderson also said that the rain had an effect because “it still gets your spirits down.”

For the women’s individual events, Tatiana Bell took home the 100m and 200m dashes, Morgan Simpson won the 400m dash, Micayla Rennick won the 800m dash, Jenica Dodge brought home the 5000m race, Ashley Albor won the women’s 3000 m steeplechase, and Lauren Cariaso capturing the long jump.

Allred-Powless said that both the men’s and the women’s team can be serious competitors this season.

“Both our men’s and women’s teams are pretty strong this season and we’re looking to take NorCal and hopefully some more on top of that,” Allred-Powless said. “The key is to keep everybody eligible and healthy and we should be able to do some damage this year.

The next track meet for both teams is the Occidental Distance Carnival on March 11th in Los Angeles.