AZUSA, Calif. – Led by the heptathlete tandem of senior Kayla Johnson and freshman Amanda Giles, Colorado School of Mines track and field kicked off four days of competition in California Wednesday at the Mt. SAC Relays and California Invitational combined events at Azusa Pacific's Cougar Stadium.  

Through four of seven events in the "A" flight of the California Invite, Johnson ranks 23rd and Giles 46th out of 49 competitors with scores of 2799 and 2197, respectively.

Johnson placed in the top-25 in her first three events, earning 852 points in a personal-record 14.92 in the 100-meter hurdles (14th), before scoring 701 in the high jump (21st; 1.57m) and 548 in the shot put (16th; 10.28m). She timed a second collegiate-best in the 200, running 27.17 to place 36th and net 698 points.

Giles earned a high of 654 points in the 200 in a time of 27.71. She added 566 points in the high jump (39th; 1.45m), 510 in the 100-meter hurdles (49th; 17.79) and 467 in the shot put (30th; 9.04m).

Johnson sits 1474 points shy of tying the school record of 4273, set by Erin Beach at the 2013 Air Force Relays, and 1601 points away from the NCAA provisional standard.

The duo wraps up the final three events tomorrow morning.

The Mines distance runners make their debut late Thursday evening at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, Calif., while the throwers take part in the Bryan Clay Invitational, hosted by APU at Cerritos College.