Cal Poly Track and Field had a busy weekend, competing in the Bryan Clay Invitational, the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate and the Beach Invitational from Thursday, April 13 through Saturday, April 15.
Bryan Clay Invitational
Day 1
Sophomore Maya Holman sat on top of the Group D heptathlon leaderboard with 2,929 points after day one of the Bryan Clay Invitational on the Campus of Azusa Pacific University.
Holman recorded a personal best of 5’ 4.5” in the high jump to capture first and start the day. She then finished second in the 100-meter hurdles (14.75 seconds) and ran a personal best in the 200-meter (26.56).
She still needed to compete in the 800-meter, the long jump and the javelin on the second day of the event.
In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Anthony Guerra (9:04.32) and Oscar Gomez (9:49.69) ran personal bests, finishing 60th and 131st, respectively.
On the women’s side, Nina St. John (11:01.58) also ran a personal best 3,000-meter steeplechase to finish in 75th place.
Day 2
Day two of the Bryan Clay Invitational was highlighted by redshirt sophomore Aidan McCarthy breaking a 53-year-old school record in the men’s 800-meter.
McCarthy ran a time of 1:47.24, breaking Mathyas Michael’s program record of 1:47.44 set in 1970. McCarthy won the fourth heat and finished fifth overall in a field of 135 runners.
Holman had another impressive showing on day two of the heptathlon. She added to her lead on the final day, winning the long jump and javelin (posting a personal best of 135 feet, 7 inches).
The lifetime-best point total of 4,847 seized the Group D win and was good for No. 10 on Cal Poly’s all-time list.
In the women’s 800-meter, redshirt junior Misty Diaz (2:09.58) and junior Cassidy Hubert (2:12.33) both ran season-bests, finishing in 66th and 108th place.
The 5,000-meter women’s race saw redshirt sophomore Schuyler Gooley run a lifetime best time of 16:29.47, only 0.69 seconds away from No. 10 in school history.
Day 3
On the final day of the Bryan Clay Invitational, McCarthy lit up the track again, running a 3:41.21 in the 1,500-meter, moving from No. 3 to No. 2 in Cal Poly’s record books.
McCarthy jumped ahead of Jim Schankel (1979) on the all-time list. The performance won him the heat, as he remained atop the Big West in the event.
Redshirt junior Xian Shively also impressed in the 1,500 meters, running a time of 3:44.97 to move to No. 10 on the Mustangs’ all-time list.
The other 1,500 meter times from sophomore Spencer Pickren (3:46.01), freshman Carson Smith (3:46.33), junior Rory Smail (3:52.07) and freshman Lewis Westwood (3:52.53) rounded out an outstanding showing from the distance program.
Pacific Coast Intercollegiate
At the single-day meet hosted by Long Beach State University at Jack Rose Track, junior sprinter Shelby Daniele continued to build her impressive resume by breaking the meet record in the 200-meter.
Daniele’s lifetime best time of 23.60 seconds to win the women’s 200-meter and break the meet record in the event was 0.13 seconds better than her already-No. 3 Cal Poly time.
Her sprinting teammate, junior Jadyn Snaer, placed sixth in the 100-meter dash after running 11.695 seconds.
Freshman newcomer Rory Devaney continued his throwing momentum with a strong performance in the discus. Two weeks after he broke the men’s hammer throw record, Devaney moved up to No. 6 all-time in the men’s discus with a toss of 175 feet, 1 inch.
Junior Kevin Schmitt matched his best height in the men’s high jump (6-9) to secure fourth place while also competing in javelin, placing ninth alongside freshman Baxter Kitteringham, who finished seventh.
In the women’s 400 meters, junior Anisa Rind ran a season-best (56.89) to finish eighth.
Beach Invitational
Day 1
Day one of the Beach Invitational on Friday was accentuated by sophomore Ellie Baxter, who won the women’s 5,000-meter at 17:26.94.
Redshirt freshman Isabel Sanchez (17:45.61) placed sixth behind Baxter in the 5,000-meters.
In the hammer throw, sophomore Anna Grexton (161-6) and senior Devon Cetti (188-7) tossed season bests marks. Meanwhile, junior Noah Bultman (181-0) and sophomore Corban Payne (179-9) also placed in the top 50.
Day 2
With the best mark in the Big West, junior pole vaulter, Mathis Bresko, cleared a personal best of 17 feet, 7 inches to place fifth. Junior Annie Hatzenbeler placed eighth in the women’s pole vault.
Sophomore Melody Nwagwu’s season-best triple-jump mark of 39-10 earned fourth as freshman Tibyasa Matovu captured eighth.
Daniele followed up her 200-meter performance at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate meet with a 100-meter time of 11.63 to finish seventh, just as Rind followed her 400-meter performance with a collegiate-best (24.66) to earn 10th in the women’s 200.
Senior Anthony Benitez and redshirt freshman Euan Houston captured second and fourth in the men’s 1,500, respectively.
The Big West leader in the women’s discus, junior Amaya Lopez-Fuller, threw a mark of 166-7 to secure 11th in the event.
Daniele, Rind, Nwagwu and Snaer led the Mustangs to a fourth-place finish in the women’s 4×100 relay (45.85.)
All of the Mustangs will be in action on Friday, April 21, at the Miller & Capriotti Athletics Complex as Cal Poly hosts the annual Mustang Invitational.