The UCSB track and field teams find themselves in excellent positions following day one of the Big West Multis Championships after taking two of the top-three spots in both the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon at the Woody Wilson Track in Davis.
Men’s team
Brad Thomas (3,717 points) and Joshua Godfrey (3,656) are currently No. 1 and No. 2 on the men’s side, while in the heptathlon, Jessica Swalve (3,016) leads the conference with Sofia Bailey (2,840) not far behind in third-place.
Freshman Brad Thomas finished top-three in four out of five events on Friday, highlighted by his 13.25m shot put which went almost a meter farther than anyone elses. Redshirt sophomore teammate Matthew Molina (12.35m) came in second in the event.
UCSB dominated the high jump, with all four Gauchos in action taking a top-five spot. Redshirt junior Peter Michiels won the event with a 2.08m, followed by Thomas (1.93m). Redshirt senior Joshua Godfrey (1.87m) took fourth while Molina (1.84m) finished in a three-way tie for fifth.
The Gauchos flooded the top spots in the long jump, with Godfrey (7.06m), Molina (6.87m) and Thomas (6.74m) going 1-2-3.
Godfrey’s 11.01s mark in the 100m dash earned him another first-place finish. Molina (11.28s) took third and Thomas (11.45) claimed sixth.
The 400m dash was the only decathlon event which didn’t end with a Gaucho in first place, but Thomas (50.77s) was just a second back of Fullerton’s Andrew Aguilar for the top spot. Godfrey (51.78) finished fourth and Molina (52.70) went sixth.
Women’s team
Redshirt freshman Jessica Swalve has put herself in position to top her second-place finish from 2021, ending day one in first place with a score of 3,016. The Los Gatos, Calif. native finished in a three-way tie for first in the high jump (1.58m) and took second in the shot put (12.76m). It was consistent performances all-around for her, with her 15.03s mark in the 100m hurdles ranking fifth and 26.49s 200m dash good for sixth.
Swalve still has both the javelin and the 800m dash to look forward to tomorrow, two events which helped her leap ahead into a podium spot in last year’s championships.
Consistency was also the story for sophomore Sofia Bailey, who ended day one sitting in third overall with a score of 2,840 despite finishing no better than fourth in any of her four events. The former El Cerrito High School standout took fourth in both the 200m dash (26.34s) and the shot put (10.96m). She also finished sixth in the 100m hurdles (15.04s) and tied for eighth in the high jump (1.52m).
Michael Jorgenson writes about sports for UCSB.
email: sports@newspress.com
