Track and Field Weekly Release No. 9

The heptathlon and decathlon competitions kick off the 2013 Big West Track and Field Championships at Cal State Northridge Friday and Saturday, with the remainder of the meet taking place May 10-11.

BIG WEST AT A GLANCE

Big West Championship Begins At Northridge With Multi Events: The 2013 Big West Track and Field Championships return to the campus of Cal State Northridge for the first time in three years.  The multi-events portion runs May 3 and 4 (decathlon and heptathlon) with the bulk of the meet taking place the following week on May 10 and 11.

The heptathlon features 16 competitors, led by Hawai’i senior Samantha Balentine.  She posted a league-high 5,125 points at the Sacramento State Mondo Mid-Major Challenge on Apr. 11.  Balentine is the Big West leader in the high jump (6-0.5).  Her closest competitiors appear to be UC Riverside senior Jazmine Lewis, UC Santa Barbara freshman Tori Usgaard and Rainbow Wahine teammates senior Amanda Alvarez and junior Kaleigh Morrison.  Lewis registered the Big West No. 2 mark on Mar. 14 with 4,856 points at the 35th SDSU Aztec Invitational.

Eleven athletes suit up for the decathlon with four entries from UC Santa Barbara.  The top Gaucho and the Big West leader in the event, senior Mikael Powers, tallied 6,806 points at the Sam Adams Combined Multi-Events meet on Apr. 5.  His chief rival is Cal Poly sophomore Devin Bennett, who collected 6,596 points at the same meet.  UCSB junior Billy Britt and senior Derek Masterson, as well as Cal State Northridge senior Derrick Harris, have all amassed more than 6,000 points in meets this season and could contend for the decathlon crown.

Big West Athletes Post National Marks:  A total of 11 Big West athletes have posted national top 25 marks in various events as the conference championship has arrived.  Cal Poly senior John Prader is not only the favorite to win the Big West meet in the pole vault, but perhaps the national championship.  He posted the nation’s third-best mark last week at the Cal Poly/UCSB Dual when he cleared a school record 18-7.25.  In the event Prader can duplicate that performance in two weeks at the Big West Championship, it would break the meet record of 18-6.5 set by Fresno State’s Doug Fraley in 1986.

Two additional national marks were established last weekend on the women’s side by a pair of top distance runners from UC Davis.  In the process, two Big West records were broken.  Junior Alycia Cridebring blazed to a 15:49.05 in the 5,000 meters for the nation’s 12th-best time last Saturday at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford.  Cridebring took ownership of the record that Cal Poly freshman Laura Hollander had assumed on Apr. 19 at the Mt. SAC Relays when she crossed the finish line in 15:53.73, more than four seconds better than what UC Santa Barbara’s Amanda Moreno accomplished in 2011.  Another Aggie, senior Sarah Sumpter, posted the ninth-best mark in the nation in the 10,000 meters, running the race in 33:18.51 at the Payton Jordan Invitational.    She surpassed her own school and conference record of 33:19.77 established at the Stanford Invitational last season.

Samantha Balentine of Hawai’i boasts a No. 8 national ranking in the high jump with a mark of 6-0.5 on April 11 at the Sacramento State Mondo Mid-Major Challenge.

NATIONAL TOP 25 RANKINGS MEN (Big West only)

Event	Name	School	Time/Mark	Rank	Meet	Date
400H	Michael Koger	UCR	51.32	No. 18	Cal-Nevada Championships	3/29
High Jump	Mitchell Haag	UCSB	7-2.5	No. 12	Cal-Nevada Championships	3/29
Pole Vault	John Prader	CP	18-7.25	No. 3	Cal Poly/UCSB Dual	4/27
Triple Jump	Michael Vaughan	LBSU	51-7.25	No. 14	Beach Classic	3/1
Shot Put	Travis Smith	UCR	61-8.25	No. 12	Sun Angel Classic	4/5

NATIONAL TOP 25 RANKINGS WOMEN (Big West only)

Event	Name	School	Time/Mark	Rank	Meet	Date
800M	Lauren Wallace	UCD	2:04.89	No. 13	Sun Angel Classic	4/5
5000M	Alycia Cridebring	UCD	15:49.05	No. 12	Payton Jordan Invitational	4/28
	Laura Hollander	CP	15:53.73	No. 20	Mt. SAC Relays	4/18
10000M	Sarah Sumpter	UCD	33:18.51	No. 9	Payton Jordan Invitational	4/28
High Jump	Samantha Balentine	UH	6-0.5	No. 8	Mondo Mid-Major Challenge	4/11
Triple Jump	Amanda Alvarez	UH	42-9.5	No. 12	Stanford Invitational	3/29

Recapping The 2012 Big West Championships:  The UC Davis women and UC Santa Barbara men captured the first team titles in their program histories to highlight action at the 2012 Big West Track and Field Championships.  The Aggies won by just one-half point over runner-up UC Santa Barbara – 170-169.50 – helped by first place finishes in the 100m and 200m by Melanise Chapman.  Sarah Sumpter also helped UCD with her second meet record at the championships, running a 16:35.07 in the 5,000 meters and erasing the old mark of 16:38.19 held by Beth McGrann in 1989.

UC Santa Barbara outdistanced runner-up Long Beach State by 29 points to capture the men’s title.  The marquee event involved the Gauchos as Ryan Martin lined up against rival Charles Jock of UC Irvine in the 800 meters.  Jock won by a narrow two one-hundredths of a second at the finish line in a memorable race by two of the top runners in the country.

Big West Track & Field Championship Heads To Northridge: After a two-year stint at UC Irvine, the 2013 Big West Track and Field Championships head to Cal State Northridge.  The 2013 championship begins with the multi-events on May 3-4 and continues with the bulk of the events on May 10-11.  Fox Sports Prime Ticket will televise the finals on Saturday, May 11.