STOCKTON, Calif. – Pacific track & field begins the 2024 season at the Liberty Open at 5 a.m. PT/8 a.m. ET on Saturday at Liberty Indoor Track Complex.
 
Head coach Josh Jones enters his 12th season as head coach of the program. He returns 10 athletes from a season ago and welcomes seven newcomers.
 
One of them is senior Sophie Pazzo who is the Tigers' best runner in long distance. Last season, the Claremore, Okla. native earned first place (11:11.30) in the 3000m and second (18:39.44) in the 5000m at On Your Marks Open. Pazzo registered a personal best time of 4:55.76 in the 1500m at the Triton Invite.
 
Junior Ella Leroy is set to have another amazing year in the field events. The Chicago native won the shot put and placed in the top five twice in the long jump three times. Leroy set personal bests in both the shot put (11.07m) and long jump (4.94) at the Westmont Classic. She also competed in the pentathlon twice and set a program record of 2,762 points at the Sunshine Indoor Open. Leroy won the high jump (1.49m PR), long jump (4.85m) and shot put (10.69m) during the event. She also competes in the short distance events on the track. Leroy recorded personal best times while placing fourth in the 200m (28.66) and fifth in the 400m (1:02.44) at the West Coast Twilight.
 
In addition to Leroy, Pacific has another short distance runner in sophomore Anaya Shelton. The Merced, Calif. earned top three finishes in the 100m (3rd, 13.47) and 200m (2nd, 27.70) at the West Coast Twilight. Shelton set personal records times in both events with 13.20 in the 100m and 27.54 in the 200m.
 
The Tigers have newcomers in freshmen Beatriz Diaz, Valeria Espinoza, Nadia Garcia Martinez, Cathrine Groenbech, Emma Kaufman, Alexa Myers and Gianna Solano. Pacific also has a transfer in junior Natasha Dykman.
 
Pacific competes at Liberty for the first time since 2019. The Tigers participated in the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational that year.
 
Up next, Pacific heads to Westmont College for the Sunshine Indoor Open at 11 a.m. on Feb. 9-10.
 
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