FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton track and field heads to Cal State Northridge this weekend for the Big West Track and Field Championships. On Friday, the field events begin at 9 a.m. PT while the track events start at 2 p.m. For Saturday, the field events commence at 9 a.m. and the track events start at 2:08 p.m. Saturday's action will also be televised by Fox Sports Prime Ticket beginning at 2 p.m. PT.
On the men's side, the Titans will look to repeat as team champions after the claiming the first team title in program history at the 2017 Big West Championships. For the women, the squad earned a sixth-place at last year's championships and will look to improve on that this year.
"This meet could go any number of ways," head coach John Elders said. "We're really excited for both of our teams and confident that they will perform well this weekend. I wouldn't call it pressure but since the men's team won it last year, they expect to win it again this year. Anything can happen, that's why we have the meet. It should be fun."
After the multis last weekend, UC Davis scored 22 points on the men's side while Long Beach State has nine and Cal Poly has five. For the women, UC Davis leads with 11 points, UC Santa Barbara is second with 10 and Cal Poly has six in third place. The top eight individual and relay finishers in each event are scored in a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 format.
The Titans have already set seven school records this outdoor season. Nicole Clark threw 144-11 (44.17m) at the Ben Brown Invitational then broke her own record at the Steve Scott Invitational with a mark of 156-9 (47.77m) in the women's javelin. Corey Gilbert threw the discus 184-0 (56.09m). Samantha Huerta now owns three school records as she ran the mile in 4:48.02, the 1,500-meter race in 4:25.16 and the 800-meter race in 2:07.36. Iesha Hamm set a school record in the women's high jump with a clearance of 5-10 (1.78m) as well. Mason Guzman-Sanchez set the CSF record in the men's 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.20 (+1.9 wind) at the Penn Relays.
CSF has claimed nine Big West Conference Athlete of the Week honors this season after sweeping all four honors on May 8. Sam Schubert earned a victory in the 110-meter hurdles for Big West Men's Track Athlete of the Week. He notched a personal-best time of 14.41, which was the No. 7 time in the Big West this season. Tyler Hardge secured Big West Women's Track Athlete of the Week accolades as she clocked a season-best time of 61.89 in the 400-meter hurdles. Her time was the ninth-fastest in the Big West this year. Gilbert improved upon his previous school-record mark with a heave of 184 feet even (56.09m) to finish second at the Titan Twilight and earn Big West Men's Field Athlete of the Week honors. That distance is good enough for No. 2 on the Big West top marks list and ranks No. 17 in the NCAA West Region. Alysse McMillen won the pole vault and earned the nod as Big West Women's Field Athlete of the Week. McMillen posted a personal-best clearance of 12-09.50 (3.90m), the No. 3 mark in the Big West this year and one that will put her in medal contention at this week's conference championships.
On May 1, Clark was named Co-Women's Field Athlete of the Week for her school-record toss and Anthony Applequist was Men's Field Athlete of the Week after he won the triple jump at the Penn Relays with a mark of 51-3.5 (15.63m). Thaddeus Smith was named Big West Men's Track Athlete of the Week on April 10 after he won the 100m (10.57) and 200m (21.00) at the Big West Challenge last weekend. Naiah Boardingham was honored as the Women's Field Athlete of the Week on April 3 after she won the long jump at the Titan Team Challenge and clocked team-leading times in the 100m, 200m and ran a leg on the 4x100-meter relay team. She holds the No. 2 ranked long jump mark in the conference at 19-8.75 (6.10m). Rasaun House was the Men's Track Athlete of the Week on March 6 for his 100-meter time of 10.44 (wind-aided) that is still tied for the top time in the league.
Heading into the final qualifying weekend, the Titans have three individual marks that rank in the top-48 in the NCAA West Region on the women's side. In order to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Round at the end of the season, you must have a top-48 mark in the region. Huerta has the No. 31 ranked time in the 800-meter race at 2:07.36. Hamm's high jump mark of 5-10 (1.78m) is 20th in the region and Clark's javelin toss of 156-9 (47.77m) is 25th.
For the men's side, eight individual marks rank in the top-48 of the West region. House's wind-aided time of 10.44 in the 100 meters is tied for 43rd along with Smith's time of 10.44 (+1.8 wind). Smith also has the No. 42 time in the 200 meters at 21.00. Guzman-Sanchez is ranked 32nd in 110-meter hurdles at 14.20. Danny Ramirez (8:57.10) is 42nd in the region in the steeplechase.
Applequist triple jumped 51-3.5 (15.63m) to be ranked 20th. Gilbert's discus toss of 184-0 (56.09m) is good for 17th in the region and Alvin Sung threw the javelin 203-2 (61.94m) which is 46th.
As we are in the 2018 season, cross country and track and field head coach John Elders is in his 30th season at the helm of each program making him the longest tenured head coach in the history of Cal State Fullerton. Cal State Fullerton won the 2017 Big West Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the first conference title in program history.
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