Cal Poly Track & Field Set to Make History at UW Invitational

Friday, January 27

Seattle, WA / Dempsey Indoor

All Day

UW Invitational

Amanda Olla, 2022 Big West XC Championships, 10-29-22

Photo by: Raymond Tran

Cal Poly Track & Field Set to Make History at UW Invitational

1/26/2023 11:30:00 AM | Track and Field

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — History will be made, and new records will be established when the Cal Poly track and field program travels to Seattle for the UW Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

Over 40 athletes are set to compete in the meet for Cal Poly, including 22 women and nearly 20 men. Action starts at 3 p.m. Friday and you can follow the live results here.

Although men's indoor track and field is not an official NCAA sport at Cal Poly, the Mustang men can still participate in a few indoor meets. However, they are not eligible for any postseason competition.

On the men's side, this is the most athletes Cal Poly has entered into an indoor meet in program history.

Since Cal Poly fully transitioned to Division I during the 1994-95 school year, no athletes on the men's track and field team have competed indoors prior to this week, meaning any top marks turned in by the Cal Poly men at the UW Invitational will be considered Division I school records.

Some of the notable men who will be making their indoor debuts for Cal Poly this week include Aidan McCarthy (mile), John Bennett (3,000-meter), Anthony Guerra (5,000-meter), Nick Gammal (60-meter hurdles, pole vault), Mathis Bresko (pole vault) and Corban Payne (shot put).

McCarthy claimed the Big West title in the 800-meter last spring and during the quarterfinals of the 800 at the NCAA West Preliminaries ran the second-fastest time in school history (1:48.00), finishing just 0.08 seconds shy of a berth to the NCAA Championships in Eugene.

This fall, McCarthy, who also ranks No. 6 on Cal Poly's all-time list in the 1,500-meter, followed up that historic first season on the track with a stellar showing in cross country. He secured All-Big West honors by placing third at the conference championships to help the Cal Poly men raise their 18th Big West trophy.

Guerra and Bennett also played pivotal roles on that championship-winning team, finishing sixth and 10th respectively at the meet to earn All-Big West praise. Bennett placed sixth in the 5,000 and 10,000 at last year's Big West Championships, while Guerra earned a podium finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as a sophomore, grabbing third.

Gammal is looking to build off an impressive 2022 campaign that saw him secure seventh in the decathlon at the Big West Multi-Event Championships while posting personal bests in points and seven events.

Bresko is the defending conference champion in the pole vault. He established a new personal best (17 feet, 4.25 inches) at last year's NCAA West Preliminaries to finish 13th, just one spot short of advancing to the NCAA Finals.

In his first year at Cal Poly last spring, Payne captured seventh in the shot put at the Big West Championships.

The Mustang women are hoping to continue their strong start to the indoor season, which has seen four new athletes enter Cal Poly's top marks list — Carissa Buchholz, Lexi Evans, Maya Holman and Jadyn Snaer.

Snaer is a week removed from shattering the school record in the 60-meter dash during prelims (7.51) at the Air Force Ralph Lindeman Invitational this past Friday. The following day during finals, she shaved another .01 seconds off her record time to place fifth.

Snaer will race in the 60 and 200 at the UW Invitational, along with Shelby Daniele, who moved into solo second on Cal Poly's all-time list in the 60-meter dash (7.66) with her performance last week.

Buchholz is set to compete again, this time in the mile after running the fourth-fastest 3,000-meter time (9:34.11) in program history during the Mustangs' season-opening meet on Jan. 14.

In her first collegiate meet last week, Evans posted a mark of 12 feet, 9.5 inches in the women's indoor pole vault, fifth best in school history. Annie Hatzenbeler will participate in the pole vault at Dempsey Indoor as well. She placed third at the 2022 Big West Championships.

Amanda Olla (pictured above) will also make some history of her own at 3:40 p.m. Friday when she becomes the first Mustang in program history to compete in the women's 5,000-meter.

Following the UW Invitational, the Mustangs will split the squad between a pair of meets on Feb. 10-11 — the Husky Classic in Seattle and the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in New Mexico.