For the second time this season, Cal Poly Track and Field has swept the Men’s and Women’s Big West Track Athlete of the Week awards.
Junior Tatiana Cornejo and redshirt junior Aidan McCarthy captured the awards for their outstanding performances in the 1,500 at the Bryan Clay Invitational last week.
Cornejo took first in her heat of the event with a Big West leading time of 4:15.14 to place eighth overall. The time is the fastest run by a Mustang since 1989 and the third fastest in school history. It’s also the 25th fastest time in the West region, and No. 50 in Division I.
This is the second time this season Cornejo has earned Big West Women’s Track Athlete of the Week honors. Two weeks ago, the 2024 Big West Women’s Track Athlete of the Year earned the award for breaking a 42-year-old record in the women’s 5,000 at the Stanford Invitational with a personal best time of 15:44.59.
In his first meet of the outdoor season and just over a month after earning First Team All-American honors in the indoor 800-meter by placing third at the NCAA Championships, McCarthy ran a lifetime best time of 3:36.49 in the 1,500-meter to place fourth in the elite invitational section at the Bryan Clay meet.
The time is currently the best in the Big West by five seconds, and ranks No. 3 in the West Region and No. 7 in Division I this season.
The Pleasanton native hadn’t run outdoors since advancing to the 800 semifinals at the 2023 USATF Outdoor Championships, but he picked up right where he left off by improving on his second-best time in school history in the 1,500.
Both Cornejo and McCarthy will be in action again this weekend as Cal Poly heads to Goleta to compete at the UC Santa Barbara Invite.