Cal Poly Track and Field made its outdoor season debut this past weekend at the UC Santa Barbara Gaucho Relays. Out of the 36 athletes competing, the Mustangs captured nine event wins along with 11 top-10 marks in program history. Overall, the women placed second as a team, and the men placed third.
On Friday, Cal Poly dominated in the men’s and women’s javelin throw. Redshirt junior Conrad Bernstein placed first with a throw of 68.64 meters, moving into the fourth spot in school history. Junior Lucas Scott was right behind him, placing second and grabbing the eighth spot in school history with a throw of 64.67 meters.
On the women’s side, sophomore Leala Willman won the event, hitting a mark of 40.91 meters, and redshirt junior Camrenne Genilla took a close second with a throw of 40.12 meters.
The Mustangs continued their control in the field category on Saturday.
In the high jump, freshman Charli Kennedy had an impressive start to her collegiate career, securing the victory for the women. Junior Nathan Fifer also won the event for the men’s side.
Senior Desie Armstrong moved into ninth place in the school history books as she took home first in the women’s long jump with a jump of 5.99 meters.
Shot put was just another example of Cal Poly’s dominance in the field events, with redshirt junior Aiden Pastorian and junior Taylor Hofland winning both events for the men’s and women’s categories, respectively. Pastorian’s throw of 17.74 meters was good enough for the sixth best in school history.
Freshman Golda Demby also had an outstanding collegiate debut. Despite placing second in both women’s shot put and hammer throw, Demby was able to capture top-10 marks in school history for both events. With a throw of 55.09 meters in the hammer throw, Demby moved into the fourth slot in school history.
To round out the weekend, sophomore Noah Goodrich took first in the men’s triple jump, and sophomore Ben Feyrer got the win in men’s pole vault with an impressive height of 5.20 meters.
The Mustangs will continue their outdoor season campaign on Friday, Mar. 13, at the Aztec Distance Carnival while seniors Lexi Evans and Tatiana Cornejo attend the NCAA Indoor Championships on Mar. 13-14.