While the rest of us were recovering from finals, the UC Davis track and field team was keeping busy with four meets over spring break, competing at Sacramento State, Stanford and UCLA while also hosting a home meet.
Mar. 21 – Hornet Invite (Sacramento State)
Junior Chid Onyewuenyi stole the show with her dominating win in the hammer throw. Her 55.92m toss easily surpassed the regional qualifying mark and shattered the old school record.
Her second-best throw surpassed the regional qualifying mark and the old school record as well, and any of her six throws would have easily won the competition.
Besides Onyewuenyi, who also took third in the shot put, there were additional top marks recorded by Aggie field event athletes: Kayla Green took third in the triple jump, Ashley Hearn finished third in the discus throw and fourth in the shot put and Anikia Jackson took fourth in the javelin throw.
Wednesday and Thursday – UC Multi Meet (Toomey Field)
Jackson returned home just a few days later for what would be an impressive win in the heptathlon.
Her consistency across the board coupled with two 800-plus score events (100 and 200m hurdles) led to her post 4,903 points, the second-highest total in school history.
“My goal going in was to do every event as best as I possibly could,” Jackson said. “Run as fast as I can, throw as far as I can and jump as far and high as I can. The heptathlon is a gut race. Who ever wants it more will be the victor.“
Friday – Stanford Invite
Senior Lorin Scott started the national-class meet off in style, winning her heat of the 5,000m in style. Her time of 16:44.77 not only netted the win by an impressive 9.9 seconds, but also got her the regional qualifying mark and moved her to No. 5 on the all-time list.
Hours later, senior Kim Conley followed suit by also qualifying for regionals in the 5,000m. Though she went out faster than planned – 5:05 for the first mile – she held on to run a new school record of 16:17.51.
“Kim Conley is an awesome runner,” Scott said. “I can’t wait to see what she’ll do the rest of the season.“
Saturday and Sunday – Cal-Nevada Championships (UCLA)
Senior Sirena Williams highlighted this two-day meet by clocking 13.90 in the 100m hurdles. The time broke her own school record and also qualified her for the regional championships.
“The goal this weekend for me was to get a regional qualifying mark, which is what I did,” Williams said, whose Aggies finished 14th in the 24-team field. “Breaking the record was a bonus.“
Other top marks came from Stephanie Eckels in the triple jump (11.80m), Brit Bickel in the javelin throw (39.95m) and Onyewuenyi in the hammer throw (55.16m) and shot put (14.02).
“The team as a whole did real well,” Williams said. “Our team is tough and we are a squad to watch out for.“
ALEX WOLF-ROOT can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
