Track and Field Weekly Release No. 10 |
Decathlon/Heptathlon Results |
Live Results |
Heat Sheets
The Big West Track and Field Championships take center stage this weekend at Cal State Northridge, culminating with Fox Sports Prime Ticket televising over three hours of live action from Saturday's finals at the Matador Track and Field Complex.
BIG WEST AT A GLANCE
Masterson, Balentine Win Decathlon, Heptathlon At Big West Multi’s: Derek Masterson of UC Santa Barbara won the decathlon and Samantha Balentine of Hawai’i took home the heptathlon title to conclude the Multi-Event competition and the first leg of the 2013 Big West Track and Field Championships at Cal State Northridge last weekend. Both Masterson and Balentine won by less than 100 points in two tight battles that went down to the final event.
Masterson scored 7,376 points to capture his second straight decathlon title, becoming the first athlete to win two straight Big West titles in the competition since Idaho’s Jereme Richardson in 2004 and 2005. He edged Long Beach State senior Garrett Demirjian, who finished second with 7,296 points. Mikael Powers of UCSB collected 7,100 points for third while Cal Poly teammates Devin Bennett and Dominic Byrne finished fourth (6,989) and fifth (6,833) in the final standings, respectively.
In the heptathlon, Balentine held off UC Riverside senior Jazmine Lewis and Long Beach State junior Taylor Jackson as she scored 5,060 points, securing the title with a fifth place finish in the final event – the 800 meters. The UCSB men accumulated 19 team points from the decathlon while the UH women collected 15.
Big West Championships Continue This Week At Cal State Northridge: For the fifth time in the last eight years – and first since 2010 – the Big West Track and Field Championships will be held at the Matador Track and Field Complex on the Cal State Northridge campus this weekend. Friday’s competition will begin with the women’s hammer at 9:00 a.m. The first track event will be the men’s steeplechase final at 2:30 p.m. Fox Sports Prime Ticket (DirecTV - 693, Dish Network - 411, Time Warner Cable - 31) will televise Saturday’s events live from 2:00-5:30 p.m. The men’s 4x100 meter relay will kick off the track competition with the women’s 4x400 relay concluding it. The host Matadors have boasted the most successful women’s program in Big West history with eight team championships, including six straight from 2006-11. On the men’s side, CSUN, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara have been the last three champions – the Gauchos winning the first in school history last year. The 49ers have one title and two runner-up finishes over that three-year period.
Big West Athletes Post National Marks: A total of 12 Big West athletes have posted national top 25 marks in various events with the conference championship meet upon us. 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 on Apr. 27 at the Cal Poly/UCSB Dual when he cleared a school record 18-7.25. In the event Prader can duplicate that performance 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 national marks and Big West records were established on the women’s side recently by a pair of top distance runners from UC Davis. Junior Alycia Cridebring blazed to a 15:49.05 in the 5,000 meters, registering the nation’s 12th-best time at the Payton Jordan Invitational on Apr. 28. Cridebring took ownership of the record that Cal Poly freshman Laura Hollander had just set on Apr. 19 at the Mt. SAC Relays, at time of 15:53.73. Another Aggie, senior Sarah Sumpter, posted what now ranks No. 10 nationally in the 10,000 meters, a mark of 33:18.51 at the Payton Jordan Invitational. She bettered her own school and conference record of 33:19.77 established at the Stanford Invitational last season.
| NATIONAL TOP 25 RANKINGS MEN (Big West only) |
| Event |
Name |
School |
Time/Mark |
Rank |
Meet |
Date |
| 400H |
Michael Koger |
UCR |
51.32 |
No. 19 |
Cal-Nevada Championships |
3/29 |
| High Jump |
Mitchell Haag |
UCSB |
7-2.5 |
No. 13 |
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. 16 |
Beach Classic |
3/1 |
| Shot Put |
Travis Smith |
UCR |
61-8.25 |
No. 13 |
Sun Angel Classic |
4/5 |
| Decathlon |
Derek Masterson |
UCSB |
7,376 pts. |
No. 21 |
Big West Combined Events |
5/3 |
| NATIONAL TOP 25 RANKINGS WOMEN (Big West only) |
| Event |
Name |
School |
Time/Mark |
Rank |
Meet |
Date |
| 800M |
Lauren Wallace |
UCD |
2:04.89 |
No. 12 |
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. 10 |
Payton Jordan Invitational |
4/28 |
| High Jump |
Samantha Balentine |
UH |
6-0.5 |
No. 9 |
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.