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UC DAVIS TRACK AND FIELD MAY 2011

UC DAVIS TRACK AND FIELD NEWSLETTER

Three School Records set at Brutus Hamilton

CONTENTS Brutus Hamilton Three school records were set at the Brutus Hamilton Invite at the end of April P1 Cardinal Invite Caitlin Fitzgerald broke the steeplechase school record at the Cardinal Invite P2 Steve Scott Throwers had PR days at the Steve Scott Invite P2 Woody Wilson The Aggies won 12 events at the annual Woody Wilson Classic P3 Mt. SAC Two Aggies set 5k PR’s at the Mt. SAC relays P3 Athlete Feature Meet senior thrower Chidinma Onyewuenyi P4

Three Aggies better own school records while eight others move up All-‐Time

lists

The Aggies had a strong showing at the Brutus Hamilton Open and Invite meets held Friday and Saturday, April 22nd and 23rd in Berkeley, CA. At the Friday afternoon open meet distance runners Sam Kearney and Caitlin Fitzgerald had a 1-‐2 finish in the 1500, clocking times of 4:34.03 and 4:34.50, respectively. Meanwhile, senior Chidinma Onyewuenyi won the hammer throw in 192-‐6. Junior Kandyce Doxey kicked off the record setting streak of the weekend as she tied for #10 All-‐Time at UC Davis in the 100m (12.27) and moved to #8 All-‐Time in the 200m (25.07).

The Aggies returned to Berkeley on Saturday for the invitational section of the meet, where this streak continued. Senior Ugo Eke broke her own

school record in the 400m while winning the event in a time of 54.11. Meanwhile, Onyewuenyi returned from her Friday victory in the hammer to break her own school record in the shot put with a throw of 52-‐1.25 to finish second in the event. Sophomore Melanise Chapman claimed the school record in the 100m with a time of 11.71. She was previously tied with Nicole Theus at 11.86. In addition to these record-‐setting performances, several other Aggies moved up

Junior Brock Bennett broke 200 ft in the Javelin for the first time at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational

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the All-‐Time Lists. In the 1500m, Freshman Alycia Cridebring ran 4:27.71 to move her to #6 All-‐Time while teammate Kristina Taylor followed closely with a new PR of 4:29.02. In the men’s 800 the freshman duo of Nathan Strum both set PR’s at 1:50.42 and 1:50.92 respectively. Griffith moved into the #4 spot All-‐Time while Strum remains in the #2 position. In the men’s mile senior Jon Sees ran 4:02.66. That time converts to a 1500 PR of 4:44.69 to rank him #2 All-‐Time. Meanwhile, on the field Javelin thrower Brock Bennett finally cleared 200ft with his throw of 200-‐2, ranking him # 6 All-‐Time for the Aggies. Other notable performances included Thomas Phillips finishing 2nd in the 400m hurdles in a time of 50.94 and freshmen Kristine Lozoya and Shannon Harcus lowering their 5000m PR’s to 17:16.91 and 17:18.63, which are solid times for freshmen. Fitzgerald Breaks 3kSC Record

at Cardinal Invite Senior Caitlin Fitzgerald broke the

steeplechase school record at the Cardinal Invite running a time of 10:26.16. The record was previously held by Heather Gibson, who set the standard of 10:31.65 in 2002.

Fitzgerald highlighted a day that saw several PR’s from the distance runners and shifting on the All-‐Time lists. Sam Kearney also ran a personal best of 10:42.04 in the steeplechase, to move her to #3 All-‐Time, behind Fitzgerald and Gibson. Freshman Nathan Strum ran a 3 second PR in the 1500, clocking at time of 3:48.41 to put him at #6 All-‐Time. Teammate Kevin Griffith also ran a PR in the 800 at 1:50.44.

Throwers set personal best marks at Asics Steve Scott Invitational

Junior Brock Bennett broke 200 feet in the Javelin for the second time ever at the Asics Steve Scott Invite in Irivne, CA with his personal best throw of 204-‐00. The throw placed him 4th at the invitational and ranks him 5th All-‐Time at UC Davis. Senior Eddie Orgon followed suit by throwing almost a foot PR in the shot put the following day. He improved his previous PR of 55-‐11.75 to 56-‐11.25 and is now ranked #4 All-‐Time at UC Davis. In the hammer, senior Hannah Royall threw 166-‐05 to finish 10th in the meet and move her to the #6 position All-‐Time for UC Davis. Temmate Chidinma Onyewuenyi finished 4th in the same even with a throw of 191-‐11. Other notable performances included Robert Neely finishing 2nd place in the long jump with a wind aided jump of 24-‐03 and Ethan Ostrom tying for 2nd place in the pole vault with a jump of 16-‐11.5.

Senior Caitlin Fitzgerald broke the school record in the 3000m steeplechase, running 10:26.16 at the Cardinal Invite

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Aggies Win Twelve Events at the Woody Wilson Classic

The Aggies shined at home at the annual Woody Wilson Classic. Leading the way was senior Ugo Eke who won three events in the 400 (54.84), 200 (24.88), and the 4x400. Teammate Mina Mohammadi was a double event winner in the 100 and 4x100. Senior standout Alex Wilright also won two events in the 400 hurdles (51.67) and 4x400. Other event winners included Chidinma Onyewuenyi in the shot put, where she threw 50-‐2, Offune Okwudiafor in the triple jump with a jump of 37-‐7.75, Lauren Radke in the pole vault with a personal best vault of 12-‐6.75, Alycia Cridebring in the 5000, Ray Green in the triple jump (49-‐3.75) and Daniel Turvey in the pole vault with his vault of 15-‐11.75.

Drechsler and Sees set PR’s at Mt. SAC Relays

Two distance runners, junior Krista Drechsler and senior Jon Sees, traveled to Walnut, CA to seek out top competition in the 5000m. The trip paid off as both Aggies returned home with new personal bests of 16:48.8 and 14:26.04. It was the first time Sees had broken the 14:30 barrier and the first time Drechsler had broken the 17-‐minute barrier. Drechsler’s time ranks her 6th all-‐time at UC Davis.

Redshirt update Several pivotal members of the track & field squad are using the 2011 spring as a developmental period to set themselves up for 2012. Fourth year distance runner Jon Peterson has raced 4 times thus far, from the mile to the 10k. He has set PR’s across the board, clocking times of 4:02.00 for the full mile, 13:41.93 for 5k and 29:13.23 for the 10k. While times run this spring won’t appear on the All-‐Time lists, marks in both the long races would place Peterson at the top of those lists, heightening hopes for great things for the remainder of this outdoor season, as well as for fall 2011 and spring 2012. Fourth-‐year thrower Ashley Hearn has excelled this spring as well. At the Brutus Hamilton Invitational, her discus throw of 184’3” represented a massive breakthrough PR to win the competition and place her high on the US performance list for 2011, in good position for USA Championships in June. Third-‐year Sarah Sumpter has also raced this spring, on the track and on the roads, as she continues down her comeback trail, with sights set on a return to the Aggie


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Where are you from and at which High School did you attend? I am from San Jose, CA and went to Oak Grove High School. Which events do you compete in? I compete in the throws: Shot put, hammer, and discus. What is your major? I will be graduating with a Human Development major and a Psychology minor. What are your plans after graduation? After graduating I will be attending the University of Washington to pursue a masterʼs in Human Development and Cognition.

What has been the highlight of your career as an Aggie? There have been so many highlights in my career, but I think the two that stand out the most to me were when I broke the school record in the hammer and shot put my junior year and qualified for regionals in both events that same year. Another highlight would come from this when I finally surpassed the 190ʼ barrier in hammer and the 50ʼ barrier in shot put. What will you miss most about life at UC Davis? I will definitely miss my team, my coaches, and my friends—they are my family away from home and have had such a huge impact on making me who I am today.

Go, Ags! 4


Go, Ags! 5

Female Field Athlete of the Week

Chidinma Onyewuenyi March 16th

Male Field Athlete of the Week

Ethan Ostrom March 16th

Female Field Athlete of the Week

Chidinma Onyewuenyi April 6th

Female Track Athlete of the Week

Caitlin Fitzgerald April 13th

Happy Spring alum, friends and supporters of Aggie Track & Field! We hope the spring season finds all well with each of you. We have enjoyed an outstanding season so far, with new records set and much shifting on the All-Time lists across event groups. We are very excited to be heading down to Irvine this weekend for the Big West Conference Championships. Several of our athletes will be vying for conference titles and would very much appreciate the support of family and alum in the area that make it out to the meet to cheer them on. For those of you in the Pacific Northwest, we will have Aggies competing at both the NCAA West Regional meet May 26th-28th, and the USATF Championships June 23rd-25th. Please stop by and say hello is you are at any of these meets! Go, Ags! - Track and Field Staff

Big West Athletes of the Week

Female Track Athlete of the Week Alycia Cridebring

April 27th

Male Track Athlete of the Week Jon Sees April 27th

Female Track Athlete of the Week

Caitlin Fitzgerald May 4th

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