The La Verne track and field teams have struggled to finish strong so far this season.

The men placed sixth and the women took eighth at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference multi-duals in Redlands last weekend.

Senior Jonathan Virgin set a new school record and personal best in the hammer with a throw of 163-8 feet to also give him the first place finish.

The men’s team finished with two wins and five losses on the weekend placing ahead of Caltech and Whittier with trial scores of 81-71 and 74-61.

The other top finisher on the men’s side was sophomore sprinter Adam Kazub who finished second in the 100-meter with a time of 11.24 seconds and went on to take third in the 200-meters with 22.63 seconds.

But the women runners came up winless at Ted Runner Stadium.

On the throwing side, senior Constance Mayaki won the shot put with a throw of 39-9 1/4 feet. Junior Antoinette Borders finished in third place with 38-9 1/2 feet.

Junior Jennifer Esparza finished second in the javelin with a throw of 120-2 feet.

Additionally, Borders took another third place finish in the discus with 116-4 feet, while Mayaki took third in the hammer throw with 146-6 feet.

Rounding out the third place finish for La Verne was Katrina McCoy who cleared 10 feet 8 inches in the pole vault.

Both teams will compete today at the Cougar Invitational hosted by Azusa Pacific.

Jennifer Gilderman can be reached at jgilderman@ulv.edu.