SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - UC Santa Barbara Track and Field will open up the 2020 outdoor season this weekend at the annual Gaucho Round-Up hosted at the Pauley Track and Field Facility on campus. The event will commence at 10:00 am with the men's hammer throw as the first field event with running events beginning at 12:00 pm starting with the women's 4x100m relay. The meet will be scored 7-5-4-3-2-1 with two per team scoring in individual events. Relays will be scored 7-5-3.
Round-Up Information
Round-Up Dinner Ticket Link
Alumni Mile RSVP
Round-Up Flyer
Full Meet Schedule
When: Saturday, February 22nd
Where: UCSB Pauley Track (Meet) and Phil Womble Hall of Champions (Dinner and Raffle)
Round-Up Schedule
10:00am - Field Events
12:00pm - Running Events
1:55pm - Alumni Mile
5:30pm - Dinner and Prize Drawing in Phil Womble Hall of Champions
Meet Day Parking
On campus parking is available by the track in Lot 25 across from the Student Health Center as well as Lot 30 off of Stadium Road by Caesar Uyesaka and Harder Stadium. A campus map is available at this link for more information along with other lots that will be available on the weekend.
Returning Conference Scorers
For the 2020 season the Gauchos have 17 conference scorers returning from 2019 (nine men, eight women) including three podium finishers. After hosting the Big West Conference Championship last year on their home track, the women in particular will be looking to fill some gaps in points after getting second at conference as a team for the last two years by less than ten points on each occasion.
Men
Redshirt junior Juan Ambriz comes back after scoring for the first time in the steeplechase last year, dropping ten seconds off his personal best in the conference final in 9:27.52 for seventh.
Junior Alex Barr returns as one of the best 1500m runners in the conference, finishing fifth as a freshman in 2018 and third in 2019. With the graduation of Cal Poly's 2019 champion Alex Merder, the title is up for grabs with Barr looking to be one of the main title contenders.
Sophomore Jagdeep Singh Chahal also returns with Barr in the 1500m after placing sixth last year as a freshman.
Junior Stephen Garcia has been a key part to both relays with sixth and fifth place finishes in the 4x100m and the 4x400m respectively.
Junior George Harris came through in the discus with a fifth place finish after chasing the 50m mark all last season after throwing 50.69m (166' 4") in 2018. He would finally surpass that mark in the conference final with a throw of 50.72m (166' 6") in the fifth round, putting him at ninth on the UCSB All-Time List.
Sophomore Glenn Mbamo makes his way into 2020 after a solid seventh place finish in the triple jump at last year's conference meet. He was also 11th overall at the USATF U20 Championships in the same event just a month later.
Sophomore Graham Michiels made his presence well known with his third place podium finish in the high jump as a freshman, consistently jumping over 2 meters all year and hitting a 2.05m (6' 8.85") personal best when it counted most at the conference meet.
Junior Sam Pica has been a Gaucho mainstay for the decathlon in the past two years with respective finishes of seventh and fifth in 2018 and 2019. He also currently sits at fourth all-time at UCSB with his score of 7093 points. With the top four finishers all graduated from last year's conference meet, including two time decathlon champion Tyler Nelson, Pica may look to further cement the Gaucho's long multi event history as he comes in this year as the conference's heavy favorite.
Lastly, redshirt sophomore Brian Schulz is already coming off a big season in cross country in the fall where he finished 42nd at the NCAA West Regional Championships for 10000m. For 2019, he also made seventh on the UCSB All-Time List in the 3000m (8:21.23) and finished fourth in the 10000m and second in the 5000m at the conference meet for track. With the graduation of UC Davis' Jordy Ceja, who won the 5000m last year passing Schulz in the final 100m, Schulz comes in as the top returner in the 10000m and a likely title contender in the 5000m.
Women
Redshirt junior Chloe Cox comes in as the highest finishing returner in the steeplechase after going 1-2 with teammate Katie Camarena in front of the home crowd in 2019. In a breakout season where she dropped over 50 seconds off her steeplechase best (11:27.34 to 10:36.09) to make sixth on the All-Time List, along with Camarena redshirting this season, she'll be looking to ride that momentum to a conference title and perhaps even further beyond.
Sophomore Leah Domantay returns after her contributions in the 4x100m relay, helping the Gauchos to finish sixth overall last year.
Fellow sophomore Chloe Kimes was also part of that 4x100m relay team that year, but her future aspirations will likely be in the 400m hurdles where she was just one qualifying spot away from making the conference final with a personal best clocking of 1:02.26.
Junior Maddie Meade continued to improve in the 800m after scoring for the first time in 2019 with an eighth place finish at conference, along with a fifth place finish in the 4x400m relay. She also had a strong showing in the fall after acquiring some newfound strength in cross country.
Senior Tori Palma broke through in 2019 adding over a meter to her personal best in the shot put from 12.92m (42' 4.75") to 14.12m (46' 4"), moving up to seventh on the All-Time List and taking fifth at the conference championships in the same event. She also took seventh in the discus so she'll be a double threat as she looks to complete her final year at UCSB.
Junior Paige Richard has been a solid contributor to the 4x400m relay the past two years with third and fifth place finishes respectively in 2018 and 2019. She'll be looking to transition to the 800m this year so new territory may be broken through as the junior moves up in distance.
Redshirt junior Astrid Rosvall has made a case for being one of the most versatile distance runners in the conference, finishing in the top ten in both 2018 and 2019 in cross country as well as third in the 800m, second in the 1500m, and fifth in the 4x400m relay at last year's conference meet. Sitting at seventh (2:07.89) and ninth all time (4:25.55) at UCSB for the 800m and 1500m, it hasn't been easy with the presence of Fullerton's NCAA Outdoor 800m Championship Qualifier and three time conference champion Samantha Huerta in the mix, but that won't stop her from aiming for a bid at a conference title in either event.
Finally, sophomore Gabriela Sanchez returns in 2020 after a big contribution in the throws, taking fifth in the discus and ninth in the shot put in 2019. She would make her way onto the All-Time List in the former with a mark of 48.30m (158' 5"), putting her at seventh all time, and would also finish 12th at the USATF U20 Championships in the same event back in June.
Check back at UCSBGauchos.com for future coverage and follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for additional photos and news.
