Bas van Leersum took first in the 400 hurdles in his SBCC debut on Saturday as the men's Track & Field squad opened its season in the Pomona-Pitzer All Comers Meet.
Van Leersum, a freshman from the Netherlands, clocked 55.05 for the ninth-best mark in school history. He was nearly 3.5 seconds faster than the runner-up, Caleb Cunha of Claremont.
Nick Smith was third in the 200 meters in 22.67 and fifth in the long jump at 6.38 meters. He also ran the anchor leg on the Vaqueros' 4x400 relay team that placed third in 3:27.73. His teammates were James Herb, van Leersum and Blake Hardnett.
"Our goal today was to get out and there and compete and notch that first meet of the season," said coach Scott Fickerson. "Work out the nerves and some of the early season kinks.
"This was a good season opener for us. Many of our men hit personal-best marks or were very close to best marks, so this shows we are on target for a great season."
SBCC will compete in the WSC Relays on Friday at Ventura, starting at 11 a.m.
