The men's and women's outdoor track and field teams placed high at two meets in California over the weekend — the 48th annual Mt. SAC Relays and the Sprinco Long Beach Invite.

Despite rainy weather, the Golden Eagles started off on a positive note Thursday in Walnut, Calif., at Mt. San Antonio College.

Junior Cassie Peller had an outstanding performance in particular. Peller earned a NCAA regional qualifier for her fourth place finish in the Olympic Development 1,500m run. Peller finished with a time of 4:27.46.

"I was excited because I qualified for regionals," Peller said. "There was great competition there, though. A lot of good teams came."

Marquette followed up with several season-best performances Friday as the rain disappeared. At the Sprinco Long Beach Invite, hosted by Long Beach State, sophomore Jessica Ehlen snagged third place in the shot put with a season-best throw of 13.05m and freshman Carrie Schmid took first with a height of 3.51m in the pole vault..

In the hammer throw, junior Jenna Mahaffey tossed 47m, a season best, and earned sixth place.

Meanwhile, sophomore Raymond Bratchett achieved a season-best height of 2.05m in the men's high jump at the Mt. SAC Relays. Bratchett tied for second place with UC Irvine's Julian Eison.

Along with acquiring season best records, Marquette delivered sound performances across the board.

"The people that competed at Long Beach did pretty well because it was the second day," said junior Michaela Courtney. "On the first day, people were tired because we had traveled about 10 hours and the weather was bad.

"Overall, I think that people at Long Beach were happier with their times."

Freshman Lana Rabas earned first place in the high jump with a height of 1.63m, a personal best, at the Sprinco Long Beach Invite. Junior Kristin Stoniecki followed close behind Schmid, taking third place in the pole vault with a height of 3.36m.

On the men's side, senior Andy Ballard scored fourth place in the discus throw with a toss of 44.97m.

At the Mt. SAC Relays, Courtney came through in ninth place in the University/Open division of the women's 1,500 meter run. Courtney earned a NCAA regional qualifier with her time of 4:25.55.

"I'm happy with my time," Courtney said. "The race was pretty competitive. I saw a lot of the same girls that I raced about a month ago in nationals in the indoor season. I'm happy that I qualified for regionals because that's what I went there to do."

Marquette will compete at the Iowa Invitational in Iowa City on April 22.