Highlighted by hurdlers on the last day of break, the men’s track and field team put forth some solid marks in both Sacramento and down in Los Angeles.
Mar. 21 – Hornet Invite (Sacramento State)
Junior Ray Green highlighted the meet for the Aggies, winning the triple jump with a mark of 15.03m to qualify for the regional championships.
The mark, which now leads the Big West Conference, earned Green Big West Field Athlete of the Week honors.
Green was followed by sophomore Igor Seriba, who finished second with a jump of 14.72m.
In the high jump, both Ben Nelson and Ross Tate cleared 2.00m, with Nelson earning the win with less misses.
The Aggies‘ third and final event win came in the 400m hurdles. Junior Alex Wilright clocked a 51.38, qualifying for regionals in the process. Sophomore Thomas Phillips, who had already qualified, was second in 52.67. Junior Nolan Frazier completed the sweep with a 54.00 to take third.
Saturday and Sunday – Cal-Nevada Championships (UCLA)
The main event of the break came down at UCLA, where UC Davis made the most of its Southern California trip by finishing in fifth place in a field of 22.
The event was highlighted by the Aggie hurdlers. Wilright proved to be a national contender with his time of 50.60 in the 400m hurdles. The time shattered his old school record, and is currently one of the best marks in the country.
“After how I felt in the trials, I did think that I would go sub 51,” Wilright said. “I was not sure how far under 51 I would go, though. I just ran with the competition around me.“
Phillips, who won the event last year, was close behind with a time of 51.25 to finish third.
Junior Jazz Trice had a similarly dominating performance in the 110m hurdles, clocking 13.88 to win easily and qualify for the regional championships. Trice’s mark broke the old school record of 14.01 by senior Polly Gnepa, who clocked 14.11 to finish second for the second year in a row.
In the high jump, Nelson improved on his mark from a week prior to place third. His jump of 2.10m qualifies for the regional championships. Other top marks came from Tolu Wusu in the triple jump (14.70) and Ed Orgon in the shot put (15.91m).
The final event of the day led to the final school record of the day being broken, with the quartet of Wilright, Matt Council, Frazier and Phillips clocking 3:11.87 in the 4x400m relay. They finished second, just 0.15 seconds behind host UCLA.
“All four of our legs ran strong,” Wilright said. “I’m satisfied with the time since we’ve been talking about running this for about two weeks. However, don’t be surprised if we end up running under the 3:10 regional qualifier in the next couple of weeks.“
ALEX WOLF-ROOT can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
