McCarthy Named Big West Men's Co-Track Athlete of the Year
5/19/2023 12:00:00 PM | Track and Field
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Redshirt sophomore Aidan McCarthy has added another achievement to his already impressive resume.
McCarthy was named Big West Men's Co-Track Athlete of the Year, the conference announced Friday.
McCarthy is the seventh Mustang in program history to receive Big West Men's Track Athlete of the Year praise and the first since Swarnjit Boyal in 2018. McCarthy shares this year's honor with Cal State Fullerton sprinter John Clifford.
The recognition comes as no surprise as McCarthy has rewritten the Cal Poly record books throughout this season.
This past Saturday at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Track Complex, the Pleasanton, Calif. native became Cal Poly's first back-to-back Big West champion in the men's 800-meter, running a time of 1:47.14 to emerge victorious — breaking his own school record in the process. McCarthy's time was the fastest at the Big West meet since 2012 and his performance allowed him to become the fifth repeat 800 champion in Big West history.
McCarthy broke the school record in the 800 for the first time on April 14 at the Bryan Clay Invitational, running a time of 1:47.24 to surpass Mathyas Michael's 1970 program record.
Two weeks ago at the Oxy Invitational, McCarthy obliterated a 45-year-old school record in the men's 1,500-meter, posting a time of 3:39.56 — the best in the Big West this season, No. 17 in the West Region and No. 32 in Division I.
During this indoor season at the Boston University Last Chance Invite, McCarthy and teammate Xian Shively became the first two Mustangs in program history to run sub four-minute miles.
McCarthy, a two-time Big West Men's Track Athlete of the Week winner this season, will compete in the First Round of the men's 800 at the NCAA West Preliminaries at 7:50 p.m. on Wednesday, May 24. Entering the meet, McCarthy is seeded No. 8 in the 800 — the top 12 finishers in each individual event at the West Regional advance to the NCAA Championships at the University of Texas on June 7-10.
Last year in the 800, McCarthy was just 0.08 seconds away from earning an automatic qualifier berth to the NCAA Championships, placing 15th overall at the NCAA West Preliminaries (1:48.00). He will be looking for redemption when he hits the track at Sacramento State's Hornet Stadium next week.
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