Sports

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.

The Aggies went 5-1 over spring break, knocking off three teams ranked in the top 20 nationally in the process.

The team was led by senior Lindsay Kiyama, who tallied 13 goals in the six-game stint. Sophomore Dakotah Mohr added 10 goals and 30 exclusions.

The UC Davis baseball team knew the length of time it took its staff of inexperienced pitchers to develop would determine how long it'd take for the club to contend this season.

It also knew it'd be returning the heart of a lineup that led it to a NCAA Tournament berth last season, which, in theory, could provide enough offense to compete early on as the team bided time for its young arms to come along.

The Aggies entered the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships as the favorites, looking to defend their title from a season ago.

Unfortunately for UC Davis, that wasn't the case. The Aggies finished third with a score of 191.425, losing to Alaska Anchorage (192.825) and rival Seattle Pacific (191.700). Host Air Force was fourth (191.050).

The UC Davis men's golf team traveled to Eugene, Ore. for the Duck Invitational coming off a strong showing at the Fresno State Lexus Classic, where it finished third out of the 20-team field.

The Aggies stayed hot in Oregon, putting together an impressive final-round showing to post a fifth-place finish.

The NCAA Swimming Championships is the fastest collegiate swim meet in the country.

Athletes from all over the world train day in and day out in hopes of being fast enough to even qualify for the meet in College Station, Tex.

Heading into the final day of competition at the Duck Invitational on Tuesday, the Aggies sat firmly in fifth place - six strokes out of fourth, 12 out of sixth.

The Aggies would keep it that way.

The UC Davis women's lacrosse team spent its spring break on the eastern seaboard, battling three teams in four days.

On Monday, the Aggies squared off in upstate New York against the Siena Saints, losing a 12-10 seesaw game. UC Davis then headed south to face Manhattan, dropping another close contest, 14-10.

The Aggies finished up their season Mar. 19 and 20 at the NCAA Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Before the Championships, coach Lennie Zalesky said it's hard to know what to expect heading into the national tournament.

"It's hard to have expectations," Zalesky said. "Anything can happen."

Thursday

Women's swimming and diving: NCAA Division I Championships; College Station, Tex.; Thursday through Saturday; all day

Wrestling: NCAA Division I Championships; St. Louis, Mo.; Thursday through Saturday; all day

UC Davis' much-maligned defense came up big when it needed it most.

After a pair of Mark Payne free throws gave the Aggies a 69-68 lead against UC Irvine in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament on Wednesday, the men's basketball program found itself 8.2 seconds away from its first playoff win of the Division I era.

UC Davis men's basketball coach Gary Stewart called it a season of growth.

It was only fitting, then, how it ended last week in Anaheim.

Making its first appearance in the Big West Conference Tournament, UC Davis upset UC Irvine in the first round before falling to Pacific in what was the team's best effort against the Tigers all season.

On a day when the wind was threatening to wreak havoc on the track, the triple jumpers had it good, with Aggies taking the top three spots.

"The field was dynamite," said coach Jon Vochatzer. "In the triple jump Ray Green went [15.08m], which is a nice jump for him. Behind him was Igor Seriba with a [14.80m] and Tolu Wusu at [14.68m]."

In a season riddled with injuries and close losses, the Aggies have had trouble closing out games when they really needed to.

With UC Davis up 49-47 and 3:50 remaining in the game, senior Ashley Blake sunk a three-pointer for Cal State Northridge to start an 11-0 run that would put the game away for the Matadors on Wednesday.

The Aggies have been having trouble on beam all season, and Friday's quad meet at Sacramento State was no exception.

"Beam was not a good day," said coach John Lavallee. "Three weeks in a row we kind of struggled on beam. Outside of beam, we had a good day."