by Sammi Sheppard on 2016-06-16

RIVERSIDE >> Three California Baptist University runners headed back to the NCAA Division II Championship Meet, hoping to improve on last year's performances. For two Lancers, it was a new experience, but they were eager to compete. Both Veronica Hall and Berenice Cleyet-Merle qualified on the women's side, with Hall making her second trip to the big stage. Last year, Hall put herself on the podium in the 1500-meter race with a seventh-place finish in four minutes, 26.36 seconds. This year, Hall made the cut with a time of 4:26.15, which ranks sixth across Division II. Cleyet-Merle joined Hall in the 1500m. It was a good battle between the two Lancers as both have held the school record at some point this season. Cleyet-Merle currently holds the better time with a 4:23.24, which she grabbed at the Oxy Invitational. It put her third in all of the division as she headed into her first NCAA Division II Championship Meet. On the men's side, Valentin Robert and Abdel El-Hajjami returned for their second 3,000-meter steeplechase. Robert took 10th overall last year with a time of 9:05.24 to earn himself All-American recognition. Headed into this year's championship, Robert boasted the third-fastest time in all of Division II (8:50.89), which also happens to be the CBU record. El-Hajjami also got another shot at the steeplechase event, coming in ranking 15th in the division. He has a season-best time of 9:01.04—which he grabbed at the Mt. SAC Relays despite battling injuries this season—but was ready to break nine minutes once again. Making his NCAA Division II Championship debut, Anthony Lozano entered the 1500-meter race as the 15th best time in the division. The junior shaved off invaluable time at the Oxy Invitational to grab a provisional mark and followed with a subtler time improvement the next week. It may have been under one second of an improvement, but it moved him up eight spots in the rankings to better his chance at going to the championship meet. Lozano entered as the 15th-ranked runner in the 1500m. The NCAA Division II Championship Meet, held in Bradenton, Fla., began the three-day meet hosted by the University of Tampa and IMG Academy with the preliminary rounds of both the 1500m and 3K steeplechase events. Finals took place Friday evening, and Saturday closed out the meet with the 1500m finals for the Lancers.