The Long Beach State men and Cal State Northridge women are in prime position for track & field titles as they hold the lead after the first day of the 2011 Big West Track & Field Championships. The conference meet is being held at Anteater Stadium on the campus of UC Irvine.
The 49ers have amassed 76 points for the lead, 20.5 points ahead of second place UC Santa Barbara. UC Davis is third with 55 points, while Cal Poly stands in fourth with 37 points. Fifth belongs to host UC Irvine with 19 points, with UC Riverside (12), Cal State Northridge (10.5) and Cal State Fullerton (8) complete the men's standings.
The Matadors championship defense has them at 64 points, with Long Beach State not too far behind with 49 tallies. UC Santa Barbara is third with 34 points, while UC Davis (33), UC Riverside (32) and Cal Poly (32) are bunched in fourth through sixth. UC Irvine's 18 points and Cal State Fullerton's 11 points wrap up the women's standings.
The field events were the majority of the point-scoring competitions as the men competed in the hammer, high jump, shot put and long jump, while the women took part in the javelin, long jump, pole vault and discus.
For the men, Long Beach State's Colin Dunbar won the hammer with a mark of 223-06 (68.12m), UC Santa Barbara's Mitchell Haag claimed the high jump at 6-09 (2.06m), LBSU's Cesar Puga finished tops in the shot with an effort of 57-04.25 (17.48m) and UC Davis' Ray Green came up with an jump of 24-02.25 (7.37m) to win the long jump.
The women's field event winners were UC Riverside's Ashley Gatewood in the javelin at 160-07 (48.96m), Phylicia Johnson of Long Beach State in the long jump with an effort of 19-08 (5.99m), Cal State Northridge's Tiana Webberley in the pole vault with a school-record showing of 13-01.75 (4.01m) and Nikki James from UC Riverside in the discus with a toss of 162-07 (49.55).
The lone scoring events on the track were the steeplechase and 10,000-meter run.
In the steeplechase, Anthony Masci claimed the title for UC Santa Barbara with a time of 9:05.10, while Cal Poly's Leanne Fogg just missed the meet record with her winning time of 10:23.85.
With the grueling 10,000-meter run wrapping up the day, UC Davis' Calvin Thigpen took the men's race in 30:14.59, while UC Santa Barbara's Breanne Strenkowski topped the women with a time of 34:57.59.
The meet also had a moment of silence prior to the running events for Long Beach State jumper Cameron Gillett, who was killed last week in a car accident.