Joey Souto

Photo by: Eyasu Betwos

Men's 4x400-meter relay team, UW Invitational, 1-28-23

Height:
5-9
Weight:
145
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Rocklin, CA
High School:
Whitney HS

TFRRS Profile

2023 -- Indoor: Competed indoors for the first time, recording personal bests in the 200-meter (22.40) and 60 hurdles (8.81) ... ran leadoff on Cal Poly's first-place 4x400 relay team at UW Invitational, which posted a season best time indoor or outdoor of 3:12.92. Outdoor: Earned All-Big West honors for the first time, running leadoff on Cal Poly's third place 4x100 relay team at the Big West Championships ... also took fourth in 4x400 and eighth in 400 hurdles at conference meet ... recorded a personal best (52.99) in the 400 hurdles at Fresno State Invite ... ran a PR in the 800 (1:56.88) at Mustang Invitational ... at Bulldog Classic, took first in the 400 hurdles, 4x100 and 4x400 ... recorded a PR in the 110 hurdles (15.77) at Cal Poly Open ... earned Big West All-Academic honors.

2022 -- Finished fifth in the 400-meter hurdles prelims at Big West Conference Championships, but did not compete in the finals … ran a personal best of 49.36 seconds in the 400 to place first at the Mustang Invitational … also established a personal best in the 400 hurdles (53.61) at the Mustang Invitational … helped the men’s 4x400 relay team place first at three meets and the 4x100 relay team capture first at two meets … secured first in the 400 hurdles at the Cal Poly Invitational … received Big West Conference All-Academic honors.

2021 -- As a true freshman, ran on both relay teams which earned points for Cal Poly in Big West Conference Championships ... 4-by-100 foursome placed fourth in 41.39 while 4-by-400 quartet placed sixth in 3:18.16 ... also competed in 400 hurdles, placing 12th in prelims at 58.01 ... set new personal bests in three events -- second in 400 hurdles at Wildflower Invitational (56.05), third in 400 at Cal Poly Spring Break Challenge (49.73) and third in 200 at Spring Break Invitational (22.59) ... second in 400 hurdles at Cal Poly Blue-Green Rivalry Meet (56.67) and fifth in 200 at Cal Poly Four-Way Meet (22.67).

Prep -- A 2020 graduate of Whitney High School in Rocklin ... won the 400-meter title at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 1 Championships as a junior, posting a PR of 49.4 seconds … had a 200m dash PR of 22.26 for the Wildcats at the Sierra Foothill League Finals in 2019, taking third place en route to the CIF State prelims, as well as USATF Juniors meet ... altogether, graduated as a three-time All-SFL first-team honoree while serving as a team captain ... top 100-meter dash performance was 11.07 ... as an anchor, helped his 4x400m relay squad set a new school record, at 3:24.4 in 2019 ... in addition, was also a standout weight-lifter, taking the bronze medal at the 2015-17 USA Junior Olympic Nationals ... also played football (at wide receiver and defensive back) as well as baseball (manning center field) for WHS ... academically, was a four-time Scholar-Athlete recipient, while participating in Weekly Youth Group and Leadership.

Personal -- Parents are each Fresno State alumni; also visited Navy, in addition to being recruited by San Jose State and UC Irvine ... chose Cal Poly explaining: “Due to the degree you receive after graduation, the amazing location felt most like home compared to everywhere else and it has always been my dream destination” ... has career aspirations of becoming a lobbyist with a political science degree, or to go into politics such as a congressman ... his brother Dom is also a Division I student-athlete, playing baseball at Cal (as a catcher for the Golden Bears).