Cal Poly Men's Track & Field Set to Open 2021 Season

Saturday, March 13

Fresno, CA / FPU Track

TBA

Fresno Pacific Spring Break Invitational

Photo by: Owen Main

Cal Poly Men's Track & Field Set to Open 2021 Season

3/10/2021 5:43:00 PM | Track and Field

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Anchored by the return of nine Mustangs who scored points at either the 2018 or 2019 Big West Championships, including a duo of student-athletes scoring in more than one event at the most-recent Conference Finals, the Cal Poly men's track & field squad is ready to open the 2021 season this weekend. Competition starts at the Spring Break Invite held at Fresno Pacific on Saturday, running from 12 noon to 6:45 p.m. on March 13.

Helming the list of returning Mustangs is sophomore Bobby Poynter, who won the 2019 conference title for the 800 meters as a true freshman. Poynter, whose best time of 1:50.81 was just .04 seconds back of entering the Top 10 in school history his first year on campus, also went on to finish in fifth place for the 800m at that year's USATF Junior Games in Florida.

Also back for Cal Poly are both of the 2019 season's two leading overall scorers at the BWC Meet: senior Adam Gockel and junior Jake Ritter, each of whom combined to tally 13 points apiece thanks to a second-place finish along with a fourth-place effort as well. Gockel exceeded 200 feet in the javelin (200 feet & 1 inch) and was only one spot back of another all-conference honor in the pole vault (via 16-foot-3). Ritter, meanwhile, was just 65-hundredths of a second away from the conference 10,000-meter title (clocking 30:49.8) before adding a top-four 5,000m effort of 14:12.98 the next day.

Nick Betchart (reaching 55 feet in the shot put) also came in fourth at the 2019 Championship, while Justin Robison (14:14.57 in the 5,000m) and John Bennett (30:55.09 in the 10,000m) also notched top-five conference finishes. Betchart joined Poynter in Miramar for the USATF U-20 meet, taking fourth place in the shot, only two spots back of advancing to the Pan Am Games in Costa Rica.

Anthony Benitez (at 3:50.76 in the 1,500m) tallied seventh-place points in 2019, and Will Fallini-Haas added an eighth-place 10,000m (31:17.49) effort at his BWC Finals debut.

The 2021 Mustangs also include two more competitors ranked among the Top 10 in program history for their respective events, as Bikram Thiara holds a 400m hurdles PR of 52.14 seconds, and Will Smith seeks to extend his top discus mark of 170' 11".

As a sophomore, Thiara was just 10 spots away from a first-round NCAA berth, at 52.39 seconds, after making the all-conference team as a freshman, when he was second in the 400m Hurdles Final.

Eleven more teammates who also advanced to the 2019 Conference Championships are also back to lead Cal Poly:

Bailey Jones (78th on the NCAA Regional Triple Jump Leaderboard as a freshman: 48' 4.75")
Xian Shively (10,000m: 31:23.7 / 5,000m: 14:58.4)
Chineme Allison (at 10.73 seconds in the 100-meter dash)
Devon Cetti (49' 10" shot put)
Tyler Esteves (4x100m relay: 42.2 / 4x4 relay: 3:18.6)
Kevin Fernandez (long jump: 22' 11")
Benjamin Holland (10,000m: 31:54.1 / 5,000m: 14:53.2)
John Walther (high jump: 6' 6")
Enzo Sison (pole vault: 16' 0.75")
Christian Valles (pole vault: 15' 9")
Elias Opsahl (1,500m: 3:52.7)

Meanwhile, 33 total freshmen also join the squad this year aiming to contribute early. Check back at the GoPoly.com schedule page as this season progresses for future meets to come.

@calpolyxctf