Cal Poly Track and Field dominated the annual Mustang Invitational on Friday, April 22 at the Miller & Capriotti Athletics Complex on Cal Poly’s campus, taking home 19 event victories.
The tune-up meet, which included a range of schools from CSU Bakersfield and UC Santa Cruz to Monterey Peninsula Community College, is held two weeks before the Big West Championships and is the last home meet of the season.
For the women, senior discus thrower Amaya Lopez-Fuller was the first Mustang to win with a throw of 165 feet, 10 inches. The mark was only two feet off her best this season, leading the Big West.
Sophomore Maya Holman’s javelin throw of 139 feet, 10 inches won the event, while her throwing partner in the shot put, Natalie Rogers, won her event by over a foot (41-11.5).
In the triple jump, sophomore Melody Nwagwu broke into the aether of Cal Poly jumps with a 40-foot, 6.5-inch mark, putting her number eight all-time.
The trio of junior Mustang sprinters has been a focal point to the team all year, as Jadyn Snaer, Anisa Rind and Shelby Daniele are looking to take home some jewelry come Big West Championship time. They kept the impressive times going on Friday.
Snear won the 100-meters in 11.83 seconds, and Rind won the 200-meters with a time of 24.27.
All three athletes and Nwagwu ran away with the 4×100 meters, clocking in at 45.40 seconds.
The male athletes had similar dominance to the women.
On a day arranged for seniors, a true freshman Rory Devaney stole the show once again, winning both the hammer (202-2) and the discus throws (176-8.)
Devaney burst onto the scene a couple of weeks ago when he beat a 60-year-old hammer throw record by over 10 feet.
Junior Kevin Schmitt took home the javelin win with a 182-1 inches throw.
The jumps were dominated by the Mustangs, as they won all three. Junior Hunter Matys won the long jump (22-11w), senior Bailey Jones won the triple jump (46-11.75) and Schmitt took home the high jump (6-7.5.)
The Mustangs won the 100 and 200-meter sprints, with one being a senior and the other a freshman. Senior Tyler Esteves won the 100-meter with a 10.54 second time, while freshman MacGregor TeSelle took home the 200-meter crossing with a time of 22.01 seconds.
The men’s distance team has been riding their remarkable cross-country season throughout the outdoor track season.
In the 1,500-meter race Friday, junior Rory Smail won with a personable best time of three minutes and 51.41 seconds. Another junior, Quinton Alexander, finished first in the 800-meter (1:52.88), and freshman Oscar Gomez won the steeplechase (9:32.26).
The Mustangs will be in action before the Big West Championships next weekend at the Fresno State Invitational on Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29 on the campus of Fresno State. Big West Championship prelim events will take place the following week.