Women Secure Second, Men Third at Big West Championships

Saturday, May 13

Fullerton, CA

All Day

Big West Championships

Shelby Daniele captured second in the women's 200 at the Big West Championships.

Photo by: Eyasu Betwos

Women Secure Second, Men Third at Big West Championships

5/13/2023 11:30:00 PM | Track and Field

FULLERTON, Calif. — The Cal Poly track and field program capped off a historic showing at the Big West Championships on Saturday at the Titan Track Complex, picking up one more individual conference title and 10 more All-Big West honorees.

The Mustangs finished the conference meet with five Big West champions — Mathis Bresko (men's pole vault), Anthony Guerra (men's 3,000-meter steeplechase), Amaya Lopez-Fuller (women's discus), Aidan McCarthy (men's 800) and Colton Swinth (men's 10,000). Cal Poly also saw a total of 15 individuals and two relays earn All-Big West accolades.

Under the stewardship of first-year Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Ryan Vanhoy, the Cal Poly women secured an impressive second-place finish (117.33 points) with only 26 athletes competing, while the men gave Big West favorites Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State a run for their money, placing third with 152 points. The host Titans won their third straight Big West title on the men's side, while the LBSU women finished first for the second consecutive year.

McCarthy claimed Cal Poly's lone Big West title on the final day of the meet, leaving Long Beach's Kash Powell in the dust to defend his title in the 800-meter. The redshirt sophomore became the first Cal Poly athlete to win back-to-back Big West titles in the event and the fifth repeat champion in conference history. With a time of 1:47.14, McCarthy broke his own school record in the event. The time is No. 6 in the West Region and No. 12 in Division I. Quinton Alexander also finished sixth in the 800 with a personal-best time of 1:50.58, good for No. 9 on Cal Poly's all-time list.

In the women's pole vault, freshman Lexi Evans and Annie Hatzenbeler captured second and third respectively, both clearing 12 feet, 9.5 inches. This is the second straight year Hatzenbeler has earned third at the Big West Championships.

Shelby Daniele grabbed all-conference honors in the women's 200 for the second time in her career, placing second with a time of 23.73 seconds. Daniele also ran the second leg on Cal Poly's second-place 4x100 relay, which posted a season best of 45.39 seconds — just 0.25 seconds off the school record in the event. Anisa Rind, Melody Nwagwu and Jadyn Snaer ran the other legs on the relay, which crossed the line just .06 seconds behind conference champion CSUN.

Daniele nearly secured All-Big West honors in the 100 as well, finishing .001 seconds behind LBSU's Kaitlyn Williams who took third.

The Cal Poly men also nabbed a podium finish in the 4x100 relay as Joey Souto, Chris Davis, Wesley Salzman and MacGregor TeSelle led the team to a third-place finish in the event (41.23).

On another standout day for the Mustang distance crew, Misty Diaz (800) and freshman Tatiana Cornejo (1,500) both took runner-up in their respective events. Diaz posted a season best (2:09.07) to end her Cal Poly career as a two-time All-Big West honoree in the 800. Freshman Riley Cash also grabbed fourth in the 1,500 with a lifetime best (4:32.07).

In the men's 1,500, three Mustangs scored team points led by Spencer Pickren placing third (3:51.15) to earn all-conference accolades for the first time. Anthony Benitez was fifth and freshman Lewis Westwood took sixth.

The Mustang men did the same thing in the 5,000 as Rory Smail grabbed third (14:52.34), John Bennett fifth and Swinth sixth. Smail came out of nowhere to claim a podium finish.

In the opening event Saturday, freshman Baxter Kitteringham started the run on hardware for the Mustangs, recording a collegiate best of 203 feet, 10 inches in the men's javelin to place third. Kitteringham, who joined the Mustangs from Sydney, Australia in March, stepped up for the Mustangs in his first Big West meet. Kevin Schmitt also tossed a massive PR (201-10) to earn fourth. The duo helped Cal Poly secure 11 team points in the event.

Schmitt also excelled in the high jump, matching his personal best (6-9) to claim third at the Big West Championships.

For the second straight day, sophomore Melody Nwagwu nearly earned all-conference honors, placing fourth in the women's triple jump (40-7.5). Nwagwu took fourth in the long jump Friday, recording a lifetime best (19-6) to move to No. 9 all-time in the event. Nwagwu grabbed third in the triple jump at the 2022 Big West Championships.

Davis, Souto, Chase Walter, Tibyasa Matovu helped the Cal Poly men claim fourth in the 4x400 relay with an outdoor season best time of 3:13.18.

Corban Payne grabbed fifth in the men's shot put, while Maya Holman (javelin), Aspin Oliver (400 hurdles), Jadyn Snaer (sixth, women's 100) and Rachel Victor (5,000) all captured sixth place in their respective events on the women's side.

Katelyn Carro (seventh, women's 400), Matovu (seventh, men's triple jump), Walter (seventh, men's 400), Bailey Jones (eighth, men's triple jump), Tyler Esteves (eighth, men's 100) and Souto (eighth, men's 400 hurdles) also scored team points for the Mustangs on the final day. The women also took seventh in the 4x400 relay with a season-best time of 3:47.67.

The Mustangs now wait to see who has qualified for the NCAA West Preliminaries on May 24-27 at Sacramento State's Hornet Stadium. The field, comprised of the top 48 individual marks and top 24 relay times in the West Region, will be announced at 10 a.m. PT Thursday.

Cal Poly Results

Big West Championships Full Results

WOMEN

Team Scores — 1, Long Beach State, 149. 2, Cal Poly, 117.33. 3, Hawai'I, 102. 4, UC Irvine, 98. 5, UC Santa Barbara, 85. 6, UC Riverside, 83. 7, UC Davis, 71.83. 8, Cal State Fullerton, 49.50. 9, CSUN, 32.33. 10, CSU Bakersfield, 31.
Hammer — 15, Anna Grexton, 161-7.
Long jump — 4, Melody Nwagwu, 19-6. 17, Maya Holman, 17-6.
Triple jump — 4, Melody Nwagwu, 40-7.5.
Discus — 1, Amaya Lopez-Fuller, 166-1. 10, Isabella Rigby, 140-2. 11, Natalie Rogers, 139-9.
Shot put — 21, Natalie Rogers, 41-3.25. 23, Isabella Rigby, 36-8.5.
Javelin — 6, Maya Holman, 138-0. 12, Chase Kubinski, 117-2.
High jump — 7, Lariel Henley, 5-3.25. T8, Chase Kubinski, 5-3.25. 17, Maya Holman, 4-11.5.
Pole vault — 2, Lexi Evans, 12-9.5. 3, Annie Hatzenbeler, 12-9.5.
100 — 4, Shelby Daniele, 11.61. 6, Jadyn Snaer, 11.69.
100 hurdles — 10, Aspin Oliver, 14.46.
200 — 2, Shelby Daniele, 23.73. 9, Anisa Rind, 24.56. 16, Jadyn Snaer, 25.08.
400 — 7, Katelyn Carro, 56.99. 13, Belle Aduaka, 57.80.
400 hurdles — 6, Aspin Oliver, 1:02.41.
800 — 2, Misty Diaz, 2:09.07. 5, Cassidy Hubert, 2:12.23.
1,500 — 2, Tatiana Cornejo, 4:28.05. 4, Riley Cash, 4:32.07. 10, Abigail Fletcher, 4:46.27.
3,000 Steeplechase — 2, Rachel Victor, 10:21.20. 5, Nina St. John, 10:52.43.
5,000 — 6, Rachel Victor, 16:52.44. 11, Sydnie Rivas, 17:24.58. 15, Tatiana Cornejo, 17:37.70. 20, Nina St. John, 18:11.89.
10,000 — 6, Sydnie Rivas, 34:44.78. 9, Amanda Olla, 35:23.13. 13, Ellie Baxter, 37:22.61.
4x100 — 2, Cal Poly (Anisa Rind, Shelby Daniele, Melody Nwagwu, Jadyn Snaer), 45.39.
4x400 — 7, Cal Poly (Anisa Rind, Belle Aduaka, Katelyn Carro, Cassidy Hubert), 3:47.67.

MEN

Team Scores — 1, Cal State Fullerton, 184.5. 2, Long Beach State, 182.5. 3, Cal Poly, 152. 4, UC Santa Barbara, 90. 5, CSUN, 68. 6, UC Irvine, 55. 7, UC Riverside, 49. 8, CSU Bakersfield, 19. 9, UC Davis, 18.
Hammer — 3, Rory Devaney, 197-4. 4, Corban Payne, 196-8. 7, Devon Cetti, 189-9.
Pole Vault — 1, Mathis Bresko, 18-1. 2, Christian Valles, 16-7.5. 9, Zach Volpe, 16-1.75.
Long jump — 4, Tibyasa Matovu, 24-1. 15, Bailey Jones, 22-0.25.
Triple jump — 7, Tibyasa Matovu, 47-3.5. 8, Bailey Jones, 46-9.5.
High jump — 3, Kevin Schmitt, 6-9.
Shot put — 5, Corban Payne, 54-10. 15, Devon Cettu, 48-11.
Discus — 5, Rory Devaney, 174-3. 16, Devon Cetti, 147-2.
Javelin — 3, Baxter Kitteringham, 203-10. 4, Kevin Schmitt, 201-10. 10, Nick Gammal, 182-1. 12, Chase Walter, 175-9.
3,000 Steeplechase — 1, Anthony Guerra, 8:53.81. 9, Euan Houston, 9:23.63.
100 — 8, Tyler Esteves, 31.61.
200 — 15, MacGregor TeSelle, 21.86.
400 — 7, Chase Walter, 48.70. 17, Wesley Salzman, 50.09.
400 hurdles — 8, Joey Souto, 55.32.
800 — 1, Aidan McCarthy, 1:47.14. 6, Quinton Alexander, 1:50.58. 9, Logan Moon, 1:52.70.
1,500 — 3, Spencer Pickren, 3:51.15. 5, Anthony Benitez, 3:51.77. 6, Lewis Westwood, 3:52.34. 10, Carson Smith, 3:56.25. 12, Lucas Lacambra, 3:58.20. 16, Rory Smail, 3:57.79.
5,000 — 3, Rory Smail, 14:52.34. 5, John Bennett, 14:54.68. 6, Colton Swinth, 14:58.03. 11, Anthony Guerra, 15:07.44. 14, Spencer Pickren, 15:13.76.
10,000 — 1, Colton Swinth, 30:31.78. 2, John Bennett, 30:32.49. 5, Xian Shively, 30:43.57.
4x100 — 3, Cal Poly (Joey Souto, Chris Davis, Wesley Salzman, MacGregor TeSelle), 41.23.
4x400 relay — 4, Cal Poly (Chris Davis, Joey Souto, Chase Walter, Tibyasa Matovu), 3:13.18.