FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton track and field heads to Santa Barbara this weekend for the 2019 Big West Track and Field Championships. The competition at Pauley Track Facility begins with field events on Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m. PT. Track events begin at 2 p.m. on both days well.
On the men's side, the Titans will be looking for their third-straight title while the women's team finished in fourth place last year, their best team finish since 2010 and tied for the best finish in program history. Both teams are more than capable of winning their respective titles this season.
The Titans garnered seven Big West Athlete of the Week honors during the 2019 outdoor season. The most recent honoree was Marcel Espinoza, for the second time this season, as his time of 46.13 in the 400 meters at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational set a school record, breaking Darion Zimmerman's mark of 46.86 from 2017.
Heading into the meet, in the men's sprints, the Titans own three of the top five spots in the Big West in the 100 meters and and four of the top five in the 200 meters, led by Mason Rollins in both at 10.45 and 21.20, respectively. Charles Kelly's 110mH time of 14.29 is fifth in the league on the year and his 400mH time of 52.65 is fifth. Diego Courbis' 400mH time of 52.30 is second. Espinoza (46.13), Parris Samaniego (47.01) and Rollins (47.76) hold the the No. 1, 2 and 5 times in the 400-meter race.
Jake Smith owns the No. 2 time in the conference in the 1,500 meters at 3:50.22 and Samantha Huerta is first in that distance at 4:18.39. Huerta is tops in the 800 meters as well with a mark of 2:04.33. Trinity Ruelas holds the No. 3 mark in women's 5K at 16:32.56 with Alyssa Block at fifth at 16:43.95. Jorge Sanchez leads the league in the 3K steeplechase on the men's side at 8:56.23 while Anthony Alfaro's 9:01.90 is second. On the women's side, Gabrielle De La Rosa is first at 10:39.20 while Kelsey Carroll is second at 10:53.55.
Kyle Beck (16-0.75, 4.90m) is third in the league in the men's pole vault. Naiah Boardingham's women's long jump mark of 19-11 (6.07m) is second in the league. Iesha Hamm is third in the Big West in the women's high jump with a mark of 5-9.25 (1.76m). For the men's high jump, Marcel Sylvester is third as well with a mark of 6-9 (2.06m).
Sierra Valdivieso is second in the Big West in the women's discus with a mark of 168-0 (51.20m) while Bertha Sola is third at 161-11 (49.36m). Nicole Clark is second in the women's javelin with a toss of 159-7 (48.65m) and Sinai Fatafehi's toss of 180-7 (55.05m) in the hammer is good for fifth in the league. Trevor Gorwin is fourth in the conference in the men's hammer (198-3/60.47m) and fourth in the shot put (56-3/17.14m).
With the 2019 season under way, cross country and track and field head coach John Elders is in his 31st 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, then repeated that feat in 2018 to become back-to-back champions.
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