The warm spring afternoon gave way to a cool breezy evening as teams from the Western State Conference converged on Memorial Stadium to compete in the track and field preliminaries Saturday.

Bakersfield College will be well represented when the top qualifiers from each event will return to Memorial Stadium Saturday to compete in the conference finals.

One of the top athletes in the field events was Chris Figures.

The sophomore won the shot put 53 feet, 1 1/2 inches, the discus 167-1 and finished second in the hammer throw 193-2.

With the distance in the hammer throw, he tied the school record, also held by Arnaldo Cueto.

Head coach Bob Covey said Figures has been very stable all season.

“He just comes in and does the same old thing every week,” Covey said.

Joining Figures in the hammer throw finals are Charles Faubus, 170-11, Michael Poncetta, 153-08, Brody Beecher, 150-09, Andres Garcia, 145-11, and J.P. Fruguglietti, 141-03.

Megan Clutters will be competing in three field events for the finals.

She placed second in the javelin, 102-00, third in the hammer throw, 123-11, and third in the discus, 117-051/2.

Misty Coston qualified for the finals in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.96 and also in the 200-meter at 26.59.

Jillynn Long qualified in the 400-meter with a time of 1:00.87, while Mieshia Thomason recorded the second fastest time in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles at 1:08.03.

Long, 1:09.11, also qualified in the 400 hurdles along with teammate Miranda Lewis, 1:12.97.

Coston, Lewis and Long all qualified in the high jump clearing 4-6. Lewis did so in the long jump with a distance of 15-11 1/2.

Adela Flores will represent BC in the women’s 800-meter final with a time of 2:29.17 and she also qualified for the state meet in the 10,000-meters, which consists of 25 laps around the track.

“We basically had a pretty good meet,” said BC women’s head coach Pam Kelley. “We were able to accomplish what we wanted to, push people through to next week.”

In the finals for the men’s team in the 100-meter dash will be Jason Lopes who finished his preliminary run with a time of 10.89.

He also qualified in the 200-meter with a time of 22.09 and will be joined by Filip Walotka who recorded a time of 22.17.

Walotka recorded the second fastest time in the 400-meter at 48.66 and Jess Cranfill also qualified with a time of 50.27.

Both Del Boyer, 56.51, and Brian Andrews, 56.09, won their heats in the 400-meter hurdles.

While Jess Washington, 15.26, did so as well in the 110-meter hurdles. Jose Amaral, 4:28.40, was the final qualifier in the 1,500-meter.

Johnny Wiley, James Espitia and Arthur Hinojos all cleared the 6-2 mark in the high jump, two inches above the qualifying mark of 6-0.

Washington, 22-091/4, and Sammy Moore, 22-081/4, each qualified in the long jump.

Moore’s status for the long jump may be uncertain after he suffered a leg injury while competing in the 100-meter dash.

The track teams will be competing in the Southern California Preliminary Regionals in San Diego on May 4.

They will also attend the Southern California finals on May 11.