Small steps of progress turned into satisfying results Friday for Santa Barbara City College at the Community College portion of the 70th annual Easter Relays.

“Most people think progress is in small increments,” SBCC track coach Robin Paulsen said. “In my experience, athletes make small improvements and then, in the middle of the season somewhere, have huge improvements.”

The Vaqueros’ 4 x 400 men’s relay shaved more than a second off its best time and won in 3:26.03, thanks to a 49.1 anchor leg by Matt Crego. The 4 x 100 squad of Andrew Westfall, Crego, Magnus Moa and Ernest Walker overcame some handoff troubles to place second in 42.83.

Jesse Trace broke the 16-second barrier (15.98) to place fourth in the 110 high hurdles, followed closely by Chris Hernandez (16.20), Ernest Walker (16.30) and Jarad George (16.45). In the 400 IH, three Vaqueros went sub-60 seconds — George (57.75), Trace (59.65) and Hernandez (59.78). Ryan Boutcher just missed at 1:00.96.

Dave Williford tied Tyler Woodard of Canyons for first in the pole vault at 13-6, then won a jump-off by clearing 14 feet. After the competition, Williford sailed over 14-6 on a borrowed pole.

Julian Young won the triple jump at 43-8½ while Zach Kaplan heaved the shot put 40 feet for a PR and third place. Andrew Westfall, a solid sprinter coming off of a hamstring pull, ran an incredible anchor leg in the 4 x 200, and had two strong runs in both relays. Fabian Arellano placed third in his first 10,000 at 36:35.27 while David Meyer took third in the 3,000 Steeplechase, with a 10:40.45 effort.

In the women’s meet, SBCC’s Angelica Smith posted a pair of PRs while taking first in the 400 hurdles (1:09.66) and second in the 100 hurdles (16.48). She shaved 1.34 seconds off her personal record in the 400 and and 0.17 off her best in the 100 hurdles.

Kelli Johnson took second in the high jump at 5-2.

Click here for complete results from the 70th annual Easter Relays.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Tommy Sherriff, a 6-6 transfer from Wyoming, will compete for SBCC in the SoCal Decathlon at Moorpark College. A javelin/hammer thrower in high school, he will be competing in some events for the first time.

SBCC has already won two Western State Conference mini-meets and will go for a third title April 4 at Glendale Community College.

Dave Loveton is Santa Barbara City College‘s sports information specialist.