Posted: Jul 01, 2016
Final Performance List M/W (PDF) | 2016 Season Recap (PDF)
FULLERTON, Calif. – The men's and women's outdoor track and field team saw tremendous success as nine different records were shattered, four Big West titles were earned and eight student-athletes qualified for the West Region Preliminaries in Lawrence, Kans.
Two women etched their name into Cal State Fullerton track history during the season, breaking records in the 400m hurdles and the javelin throw while five men and in addition both men's relay teams shattered records as well.
India Owens brought home the women's 400-meter hurdles Big West title for the second straight year after teammate Tyler Hardge did the same in 2015. Owens' time of 59.65 shattered the school record that had been set back in 2006 by Destany Cearley. Kelsey McKelvey ended her season with a bang with her school-best mark of 41.26m in the javelin throw at the Big West Championships.
On the men's side, the Titans saw huge success as five individuals set new school records. Sprinter Eli Penick brought home the men's 100-meter dash Big West title and demolished the school record with his time of 10.33, running the fastest time out of all Big West athletes this season and the fastest by the conference meet champion since 2003. Freshman Thaddeus Smith also made a name for himself this season as he shattered the previous school record in the 200m dash that was set by teammate Josh Gordon last season with his time of 20.92, besting Gordon's time by 0.27 seconds.
Also setting a new school record was Shelby Hernandez Jr., who improved upon his own school record that he set earlier in the season in the 800-meter run, running a time of 1:50.69 at the Big West Championships. In his first and only season as a Titan, Aneesh Joshi also set a new school record in the 100 meter hurdles in his run on Friday in the prelims of the Big West Championships, running a time of 14.23.
Rounding out the group of individual record-setters is senior Steven Parsons who broke the school record in the hammer throw in his final competition as a Titan, breaking the previous record set by teammate Trevor Gorwin earlier this season with his distance of 58.60m.
Both men's relay teams also etched their names in the record books this season as the 4x100 team, comprised of Penick, Smith, Zimmerman and Luis Matos, not only set a new school record, but set a new Big West Championships meet record and brought home the Titans' first ever title in the 4x100m relay. Almost the exact same group, with Josh Gordon in place of Penick, also set a new school record as the quartet ran a time of 3:09.67, shattering the previously set time of 3:10.46 that was set back in 2002.
Eight Titans went on to compete in the NCAA West Region Preliminaries in eight different events, yet none made it past the West Region to continue onto the NCAA Championships.
The Titans will graduate 17 student-athletes from the 2016 men and women's track and field team including: Steven Parsons, JaQuan Scott, Emmanuel Martinez, Jessica Flores, Elizabeth Claustro, Alexis Stewart, Alexandria Stewart, Nick Reynolds, Josh Gordon, Aneesh Joshi, Brionna Thompson, Lane Tran, Kim Melenchinsky, Donald Bernard, Jeff Little, TJ Moffit and Tim Reed.