Cal Poly Track & Field Travels to Fresno, Irvine for Meets

Friday, April 28

Irvine, CA

All Day

Steve Scott Invitational

Tyler Esteves, 100, Mustang Invitational, 4-21-23

Tyler Esteves competes in the 100-meter dash during the Mustang Invitational this past Friday.

Photo by: Eyasu Betwos

Cal Poly Track & Field Travels to Fresno, Irvine for Meets

4/27/2023 10:00:00 AM | Track and Field

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — In its final action before beginning the Big West Championships, Cal Poly track and field will split the team between a pair of meets this Friday and Saturday.

Most of the over 40 Mustangs that are set to compete this weekend will take part in the Fresno State Invitational. Competition begins at 2 p.m. Friday with the men's and women's hammer throw at Fresno State's Warmerdam Field. The rest of the events will be contested Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium, with action starting at 10 a.m. The temperature in Fresno could approach 100 degrees on Saturday.

Five of the Mustangs' top distance runners on the women's side will participate in the Steve Scott Invitational hosted by UC Irvine on Friday. Carissa Buchholz and Sydnie Rivas are both entered in the 5,000-meter, Tatiana Cornejo and Misty Diaz will both run the mile, and Rachel Victor will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

You can find links to live results for both meets on the track and field schedule page on GoPoly.com.

This past week, Cal Poly hosted its third and final home meet of the season, securing 19 event victories in the Mustang Invitational. Freshman Rory Devaney and sophomore Melody Nwagwu both recorded top-10 marks as Devaney climbed to No. 5 in program history in the men's discus and Nwagwu soared to No. 8 in the women's triple jump.

Devaney won the men's hammer and discus at the meet, allowing him to earn Big West Men's Field Athlete of the Week honors for the second time this season. Devaney is Cal Poly's first repeat Big West weekly award winner this spring, and he is the first Mustang since Aris Borjas in 2007 to receive multiple Big West Men's Field Athlete of the Week awards in a season. On April 4, the San Luis Obispo native garnered the distinction for the first time in his career after breaking a 62-year-old school record in the hammer throw.

Devaney owns two of the 18 top-10 marks that have been recorded by Mustangs so far this outdoor season. The women are responsible for 10 of those, led by Shelby Daniele (No. 3 200, No. 4 100), Jadyn Snaer (tied No. 2 100) and Victor (No. 3 3,000 steeplechase).

Daniele owns the third-fastest times in the 100 and 200 in the Big West this spring, while Snaer is second in the conference in the 100.

Currently, Cal Poly owns the top mark in the Big West in five events — Aidan McCarthy (men's 800, 1,500), Mathis Bresko (men's pole vault), John Bennett (men's 5,000) and Amaya Lopez-Fuller (women's discus). Cornejo (women's 1,500), Lexi Evans (women's pole vault), Tibyasa Matovu (men's long jump) and Xian Shively (men's 1,500) are all second in the conference in their respective events. The women's 4x100 relay is also second in the Big West, running a season-best of 45.40 seconds at the Mustang Invitational last Friday.

#EVENTSQUAD: Three Cal Poly event groups were ranked top-25 in the nation in the Week 5 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association #EventSquad Rankings — the men's hammer throw (No. 18), men's javelin (No. 20) and men's 1,500 (No. 22). The Mustangs are currently ranked No. 26 in both the men's and women's pole vault.

IN THE HUNT: In the latest USTFCCCA Conference Track & Field Rating Index, the Mustang men's and women's teams both checked in at No. 3 for the second straight week. Last year, the Cal Poly men captured fourth and the women secured fifth at the Big West Championships.

Maya Holman and Nick Gammal will head to Fullerton on May 5-6 to compete in the Big West Multi-Event Championships for the Mustangs, while the rest of the conference meet will be contested May 12-13. Cal Poly also recently added another regular season meet to its schedule as the program will send a handful of distance runners on the men's side to the Oxy Invitational on Saturday, May 6.