The UCSB track and field team closed out the Big West Championships Saturday at Woody Wilson Track, claiming two more first-place finishes to bring its total medal count to 14.
Redshirt senior Brian Schulz followed up Friday’s 10K gold by winning the 5K on Saturday with a time of 14:26.97. On the women’s side, the 4×100 relay team of Alexa Cuevas, Emma Barthel, Jessica Boyd and Sophia Pardo crossed the finish line first with a beautiful time of 46.80, beating out second-place Hawaii by less than two-tenths of a second.
In the end, the UCSB men (140.5) finished third overall at the conference championships, doing their best to keep pace with favorites Cal State Fullerton (200) and Long Beach State (173.5). It was the highest team finish for the Gaucho men since 2017. The Gaucho women (71.5) meanwhile finished in sixth, with the Beach (134) taking the crown.
DAY 2 WOMEN’S HIGHLIGHTS
The 4×100 relay team of Cuevas, Barthel, Boyd and Pardo were huge early in the day for the Gauchos, coming up with the upset win with a time of 46.80.
UCSB got another big showing in the women’s discus, as redshirt sophomore Gabriela Sanchez (47.06m) took bronze and sophomore Saloni Khandhadia (44.61m) also brought in points finishing in sixth.
Redshirt junior Kendall Martin took fourth in the javelin with a mark of 44.07m.
On the track, redshirt junior Lauren Gerhart finished fourth in the 800m at 2:10.31 and freshman Ruby Sirota-Foster (2:13.48) went sixth.
Sophomore Abigail Monti represented UCSB in the 400m hurdles and claimed sixth with a time of 1:03.00.
Following up her 4×100 relay gold medal, Boyd also took seventh in the 100m dash with a time of 12.20.
DAY 2 MEN’S HIGHLIGHTS
Redshirt senior Brian Schulz capped off a tremendous weekend becoming the only Gaucho at the championships to win two golds, finishing nearly three seconds ahead of second-place to take first in the men’s 5k (14:26.97). The Gauchos also got top-8 finishes in the event from redshirt junior Brandon Cobian (14:49.08) and sophomore Gus Marshall (14:56.06), who went seventh and eighth, respectively.
In the 800m, redshirt senior Jarrett Chinn came up big with a time of 1:49.66 to win UCSB’s only silver medal on the day.
The Gauchos got more great efforts in the triple jump, as redshirt junior Glenn Mbamo (15.00m) took third and redshirt sophomore Anthony Victa (14.72m) finished fifth.
Redshirt sophomore Jared Freeman claimed fourth in the hammer with a 60.13m.
Also finishing fourth was freshman Eitan Goore in the pole vault (4.86m).
The Gaucho men were solid in the relays, taking fourth in the 4×100 (41.36) and 5th in the 4×400 (3:15.38).
Finally, in the 110m hurdles, freshman Tyler Holl rounded out UCSB’s top-5 finishers with the conference’s fifth-best mark of 14.77.
Michael Jorgenson writes about sports for UCSB.
email: sports@newspress.com
