Nine Mustangs were selected to compete in College Station, Texas for the preliminary round of the NCAA Track and Field Championships. The four-day meet, hosted by Texas A&M University, saw a few Mustangs set personal records in their attempts to make it out of the Western Regional Round.
Day One
On Thursday, May 27, the meet began at E.B. Cushing Stadium with Mustangs Dane Clemensen and Jake Ritter competing in the 10,000-meter and javelin throw, respectively.
Ritter finished 38th in his event with a time of 30:43.35, but the back-to-back Big West all-conference honoree will finish the season No. 5 in school history for the 10,000-meter.
Clemensen, who will be graduating holding the record of the fifth best javelin throw by a Mustang, finished 39th in the preliminary round with a throw of 185 feet.
Day Two
Brooke Tjerrild, who was notorious this past season for repeatedly setting and beating her own school and conference records, had the best finish of the day and the entire week for the green and gold with a 15th place finish in the pole vault.
Tjerrild’s best performance in College Station was on her third attempt, clearing a height of 13 feet and 8.25 inches.
Another Mustang pole vaulter, Kayla Myers, placed 40th in the same event with a 12′ 10.25″ vault. Myers will be graduating with the third best vault of all time at Cal Poly, when she vaulted 13′ 7″.
Molly Ross also competed Thursday, running the women’s 100m hurdles, the event she won the Big West Championship in. Ross ran the event in 13.64 seconds, placing her 43rd overall in the event, and only .09 seconds short of her personal best 13.55, the third best run in school history.
Day Three
Day three was highlighted by Will Smith’s performance in the men’s discus, finishing in the top-25 and setting his personal best in the event.
Smith’s throw of 179 feet, 10 inches was good enough to finish 21st in the event and improve his best throw by six inches.
Much like many of the other Cal Poly seniors competing at Texas A&M, Smith will leave Cal Poly being number three all-time in his respective event.
Emily Hallett, who couldn’t compete the day before due to weather, finished in the top-30 in the women’s hammer throw, with a throw of 190′ 5″ on her second attempt. That throw would place her 26th in the event.
While Hallett’s season might be over, it will still be a historic one for the athlete who broke her own school record when she won the Big West Championship on May 13 with a throw of exactly 193 feet.
Further weather issues pushed Justin Robison’s attempt in the men’s 5000-meter to the final day of competition.
Day Four
Saturday, May 29 was the final day of competition in College Station, with the final two Mustangs, Julianna Ruotolo and Robison finishing in the top-32 of their respective events.
Ruotolo was the first to compete for the green and gold on Saturday, tying for 30th place in the women’s high-jump with a performance of 5 feet, 7.75 inches.
In the evening, Robison placed 31st in the men’s 5000-meter, finishing the event in 14:27.66.
Robinson and Ruotolo finished their Cal Poly careers at Texas A&M with this meet, ending their time as Mustangs on a high note by both winning conference titles this past spring.
The western preliminary round saw one Mustang set a new PR, one finish in the top-15 in their event, and six different athletes compete for the final time for Cal Poly as they are set to graduate in the spring.