It’s about halfway through Cal Poly Track and Field’s outdoor season, and the Mustangs are on their way to having yet another successful year. After a strong 2026 indoor season finish, Cal Poly has maintained its momentum outdoors with a total of 36 event wins and 32 top-10 marks in program history.
The Cal Poly Women’s Track and Field team closed out the indoor season with a historic performance from seniors Lexi Evans and Tatiana Cornejo at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Both Cornejo and Evans earned Second Team All-American honors in the mile and pole vault events, respectively.
This was the first time the women’s program finished the indoor season with multiple All-Americans since 2005 and the fifth time overall. Cornejo placed 16th in the semifinals while Evans tied for 12th at the meet.
Gaucho Relays
While Cal Poly has excelled this season in a variety of running and field events, it was the field team that dominated in the outdoor opener. Highlighted by men’s and women’s sweeps in the javelin throw and shot put events, the Mustangs took home nine event wins at the meet.
Redshirt junior Conrad Bernstein recorded the fourth best mark in school history in the javelin throw, while junior Taylor Hofland’s victory in women’s shot put was good enough for the best mark by a Mustang since 2009, moving her into the No. 5 slot in school history.
Mark Conover Classic
Sparks flew at Cal Poly’s lone home meet of the season. Out of the 50 Mustangs that competed, 24 personal bests were recorded along with 17 event wins and nine top-10 marks in school history.
Although the meet was successful overall, the spotlight fell on the women’s 4×100 relay victory run by sophomores Madison Easter and Ava Simos, junior Jordan Jackson and senior Desie Armstrong. With a time of 44.89 seconds, the quartet broke a 44-year-old school record, surpassing the previous best time of 45.14 recorded in 1982.
“Anytime that we get to have a meet here at home, I feel like there’s always a great outcome,” Jackson said. “So I feel like just us being at home, having the support of our friends and family here, that really made the difference for that race.”
On the men’s side, it was redshirt senior Travis Martin who stole the show. The 2025 Second Team All-American made his season debut with a lifetime best mark of 73.10 meters in the hammer throw, improving his second-best mark in school history.
After an impressive year prior, Martin has only competed in two meets so far this season. With his eyes set on winning nationals, Martin doesn’t want fatigue to come into play at the end of the year.
“Last year, I started my season indoors, so I was competing in January, and by the time I got to nationals, I was just like, I’m ready to be done,” Martin said. “So the later start is an attempt to get me still in the right mindset come June.”
West Coast Relays
At Fresno State, Cal Poly captured first in 7 events, led by a pair of victories in the men’s and women’s 800-meter.
Graduate student Aidan McCarthy made his outdoor season debut, recording a time of 1:47.51 and making it his first open 800 run since placing fifth in the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships. The win led to his sixth time earning the Big West Men’s Track Athlete of the Week honors, showing he hasn’t slowed down since his historic 2025 season and recent injury in December.
“It’s been about two months now of solid training, so I’ve been able to get back to racing,” McCarthy said. “But I mean, at this point in the season, it’s just about getting race experience again, just because I haven’t raced in a while.”
On the women’s side, Jackson built off her momentum from the 4×100 relay to take first in the 800. Not only was Jackson’s time of 2:08.52 good enough for 11th best in school history, but it was her first time running the event in her career.
“It kind of was just, let’s see if we can do that, and also help out my 400. I feel like if I were able to run the longer races, it would kind of build that mental toughness for the 400 as well,” Jackson said. “So, going out there and doing it for the first time, it was a great experience and a good result.”
Stanford Invitational
At Cal Poly’s latest meet of the season, it was familiar faces who stood out once again at Stanford.
In the women’s 4×400 relay, sophomore Avery Adelman and juniors Elianah DeMange, Kalia Estes and Jackson took fifth at the meet. The time of 3:41.40 was the fastest run since 1985 and the third fastest overall in school history.
In the men’s hammer throw, Martin returned for his second meet of the season with another lifetime best performance. Martin proceeded to beat his personal best three separate times during the event, with his last throw being the best one. The throw of 73.82 meters currently ranks No. 34 in the world.
While Martin had a great performance, he sees it as only a glimpse of his real potential.
“I mean, I can’t complain about dumping six throws and four of them being over 73,” Martin said. “It leaves more to be had if I can actually do the thing right, as opposed to just holding on for dear life through the last turn and just throw the ball and scream at it.”
At the time, Martin’s throw was ranked No. 28 in the world. For many, this would be an accomplishment, but for Martin, it only creates more motivation.
“It’s exciting, but it’s also kind of like, well, that was underwhelming,” Martin said. “There’s a list of 28 people who throw further than me, so there’s always another step to be had.”
Looking forward
After having the past weekend off, Cal Poly is back in action this weekend at three separate meets. The team will split up to participate in the Bryan Clay Invitational, Mt. SAC Relays, and Beach Invitational.
Just four more meets are to come before the upcoming 2026 Big West Track and Field Championships in May. The men’s team is looking to capture the three-peat, while the women’s team is looking to bounce back from a close second place finish last year.