Tag: Jalen Bell

Two male track and field athletes earn All-Academic honors

Two members of the OLLU men’s Track and Field team received 2024 U.S. Track and Field and Cross-Country Coaches’ Association Academic Awards for their performance in the classroom. Jalen Bell and Jesus Riefkohl Delgado are OLLU’s representatives. The team was also recognized.

Bell qualified for the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay in the NAIA Outdoor Championships. He was named NAIA All-American in the Indoor Championships in the 4x400m relay. He earned a 3.67 GPA. Delgado participated in the 4x100m relay in the Outdoor Championships. He earned a 3.74 GPA.

In addition, the team as a whole received Team Academic honors after finishing the season with a 3.04 GPA.

Bell, Valdez named OLLU’s 2023-2024 Athletes of the Year

OLLU sprinter Jalen Bell and softball star Cassandra Valdez have captured the 2023-2024 Big Blue Top Saints awards as Male and Female Athletes of the Year.

Bell qualified for the Outdoor NAIA National Track and Field Championships in the 4x100m relay, 100m, and the 200m. He received NAIA All-American Honors in the 4x400m relay indoors. He is nationally ranked in both the 200m and in the relay. Bell also broke several records, including the 200m indoor, the 4x400m relay indoor, and the 200m outdoor. Bell has received many Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Track Athlete of the Week awards and is a three-time RRAC Scholar-Athlete. In addition to his accomplishments on the track, Bell earned a 3.56 GPA. Bell is a junior majoring in Mass Communication.

Valdez led the OLLU softball team to the 2024 RRAC Regular-Season title and a Runners Up finish in the postseason tournament. Valdez won her third RRAC Pitcher of the Year Award and was named to the All-Conference First Team three years in a row. She also received All-Tournament honors. Valdez holds many records, including the all-time record in triples, home runs, strikeouts (as a pitcher), wins and shutouts. This year, she received eight RRAC Pitcher of the Week awards. Valdez is a three-time RRAC Scholar-Athlete and earned a 3.57 as an undergrad and 3.5 as a graduate student. She is majoring in Visual and New Media Arts.

Indoor Track and Field teams make history at NAIA championships

Four members of the OLLU men’s Indoor Track and Field Team earned All-American recognition at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex this past weekend in South Dakota. 

In the three-day event at Dakota State University, Hendrick Ramirez qualified for the finals after finishing sixth in the One Mile preliminaries. Ramirez placed fifth overall and received NAIA All-American recognition.  His time of 4:09.97 is an OLLU Indoor Track and Field record. 

The Saints’ 4x400m Relay Team qualified for the finals after finishing fourth in the preliminaries. In the finals, the team placed seventh. Members include Julian Verastegui, Jalen Bell, Richard Davis and Cerrone Thompson, and all four received NAIA All-American recognition. Their time of 3:16.05 is an OLLU Indoor Track and Field record. 

Head Coach Patrick Torres commented, “Every year, we take a small step forward. Hendrick Ramirez with an individual All-American finish and our 4x400m relay team being All-American is by far the best we’ve ever done indoors. Hopefully a big step comes next. 

The women’s team also made it mark. The  women’s 4x400m Relay Team set an OLLU Indoor Track and Field Record of 4.02.11 in the preliminaries. The team consisted of Morghan Neely, Autumn Roberts, Aziza Clark and Alexandria Segura. 

Torres commented about the women, “Our team had some hard lessons to learn at this championship but this is the experience that will get them prepared for an amazing outdoor and next year’s indoor.” 

Men’s indoor track sets three school records at New Mexico meet

The OLLU men’s indoor track and field team set three school records at the University of New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Feb. 2-3.

Jalen Bell hit an NAIA “A” Standard in the 200m with a school record time of 21.58, and Cerrone Thompson had an NAIA “B” Standard in the 400m with an OLLU record time of 48.64. In addition, the 4x400m relay team has qualified for nationals with a school  record time of 3:14.73.

Head Coach Patrick Torres commented, “This year feels like a breakout for us. Jalen Bell and Cerrone Thompson punching individual tickets to nationals felt like a long time coming. Our relay getting the A standard was the proof in the pudding that we as a team are arriving on the national scene.”

Men’s relay set two OLLU records at Aurora Grand Prix

The OLLU men’s 4x400m relay team broke a school record on Jan. 19 at the Aurora Grand Prix in Illinois and came in second place with a time of 3:19.43. The team consists of Richard Davis, Jalen Bell, Julian Verastegui and Cerrone Thompson. In addition, Thompson broke the 400m record with a time of 49.20 for first place.

The indoor event was sponsored by the Aurora University Spartans and featured teams from NCAA D1, D2 and NAIA universities.

Head Coach Patrick Torres commented, “It was good to get the rust off from the break. We’re definitely ahead of where we were this time last year.”

Men’s indoor track opens season with records, NCAA qualifying marks

The OLLU men’s indoor track and field team opened its 2023-2024 season at the Crimson and Gold Invitational in Kansas, sponsored by Pittsburg State University. The event was held Dec. 9 at the Robert W. Plaster Center – Harvey Dean Track.

Head Coach Patrick Torres commented, “We are so far ahead of where we were last year. Comparing our season opener this year is like night and day. We set several records, and DJ (De’Jon Lewis) hitting the triple standard was a huge accomplishment. Hendrick (Ramirez) hitting both standards by how much he did was another highlight of a pretty good day.

Two members of the team logged NAIA qualifying marks. De’Jon Lewis recorded an “A” standard of 14.45m for fourth place in the triple jump. Hendrick Ramirez turned in the ninth best time in the 3000m with an “A” standard time of 8:28.58. His time is an OLLU record.

New OLLU records were set. Aside from Ramirez, Cerrone Thompson broke the 800m record with a time of 1:57.21; Ramirez also broke the one-mile record with a sixth-best time of 4:12.73; Jalen Bell‘s time in the 200m is an OLLU best with a time of 21.84.

Saints men win RRAC Track and Field Championship

The men’s track and field team won the 2023 Red River Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships after recording 252 points. Xavier University of Louisiana came in second with 204 points.

OLLU had several RRAC individual champions, including the 4x100m relay team with Tr’Darius Taylor, Jesus Riefkohl Delgado, Rodney Webber and Jalen Bell; Cerrone Thompson in the 400m; Hector Puente in the 10000m; Jose Zarate in the 5000m and 1500m; Taylor in the 100m; and Bell in the 200m.

Zarate, and three others tied for the High Point Track Athlete of the championships.

OLLU placed fifth in its inaugural season in 2015, and the following year, the Saints came in third. In 2017, the Saints were runners-up, and in 2018, the team came in third. In 2019, OLLU finished second, while the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19. In 2021, the Saints came in second, and last year, the Saints finished in third place.

Two Saints men set records at Indoor Track and Field’s Hilton Memorial Invitational

The men’s indoor track and field team participated in the University of Houston’s Leonard Hilton Memorial Invitational at the Yeoman Fieldhouse on Jan. 13.

Head Coach Patrick Torres commented, “This meet was an awesome evaluation of what our winter break training looked like away from campus. I’m proud of the school records and overall accomplishments and we’ll take what we learned here and modify our training accordingly.”

Victor Delos-Santos broke the OLLU school record in the shot put with a 11.55 mark. In addition, Jalen Bell set the school’s record in the 60m with a time of 7.04.

See full results on the Saints Athletics website.