SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - UC Santa Barbara Track and Field will continue their early start to the outdoor season and travel to San Diego this Saturday to compete at the San Diego Collegiate Collegiate Challenge. Taking place on the UC San Diego campus at Triton Stadium, teams in attendance will include conference adversaries Cal State Northridge, future Big West Conference competitors and host school UC San Diego (who will be fully joining the conference and starting their transition to Division 1 July 1st, 2020), US Naval Academy, Cal State San Marcos, San Diego State, and Point Loma Nazarene University.
Meet Information
Meet Schedule
Parking Information
Directions
Scoring for the meet will follow a 10-8-6-4-2-1 format for both individual and relay events, with the top two finishers from each team in each individual event eligible for point scoring. Only one relay per school will score. The Gauchos will also have the opportunity to start the hunt for individual event qualifying marks for the Big West Conference Championships and the NCAA West Regional Championships with the outdoor season qualifying window beginning March 1st.
Tickets and Parking
Ticket pricing for general admission will be starting at $10 while students under 18 will be charged $5.00. Parking on the UC San Diego campus is free on weekends, but be sure to check the meet and parking information tabs above for more clarification.
Gauchos to Watch
Women
Sophomore Kendall Martin is already surpassing her freshman campaign from 2019 with a win in the javelin at the Gaucho Round-Up with a mark of 42.41m (139' 1"), moving her from fifth to fourth on the UCSB All-Time List for that event. With four of her attempts from that session going past 40m on the day, her consistency could be a sign of what's to come as the season progresses.
Redshirt senior Samantha Ruggles made her final season debut in a big way with a 14.24m (46' 8.75") winning throw in the shot put, adding well over half a meter to her personal best to move from ninth to seventh all time. Switching back to the glide technique, a change in perspective could be key to the fifth year's last outdoor season.
Senior Tori Palma was just behind Ruggles in the shot put in second, but she would take first in both the discus and the hammer throw to make up for it, missing the all-time list in the latter event by 0.08m with a personal best throw of 51.91m (170' 3"). Having scored in both the discus and the shot put in previous championships, Palma could become a legitimate triple threat going into her final year.
Redshirt junior Astrid Rosvall opened up with a commanding victory two weeks ago with a wire to wire 800m performance in an even split 2:10.62. Focusing on just the 800m again this weekend, she will likely net another victory with a conference qualifier put away nice and early in March.
Junior Kyra Sales took the pole vault at the Round-Up in a height of 3.65m (11' 11.75"), equaling her personal best mark that currently stands at sixth on the all-time list in just her first outdoor meet of the season. Another 3.65m jump this weekend would mean locking down a conference qualifier (which is 3.65m exactly) very early, with a possible opportunity to get over 12 feet for the first time.
Men
Sophomore Jagdeep Singh Chahal started off the season at the Round-Up with a solid win in the full mile with a time of 4:13.30. As he enters the 1500m/800m double this weekend, the extra 109.344 meters missing from the first event could net him a solid early season mark if the pace is moving.
Junior George Harris got plenty of impliment practice two weeks ago at the Round-Up with three first place wins in the discus, hammer, and shot put. Like Palma, he has scored at conference in both the discus and the shot before, so improving his resume in the hammer (which he just started this year) could be a worthy investment for this third season at UCSB.
Sophomore Glenn Mbamo is getting into his groove very early two weeks ago with a triple jump mark of 14.48m (47' 6.25") into a -0.2 m/s headwind, good enough for tenth on the all-time list by a mere 0.01m. A 14.66m (48' 1.25") jumper in high school, Glenn could be looking at a strong season after starting off with his second best triple jump of his life in late February.
Redshirt senior James Douglass, like Rosvall, also clocked some even splits for the 800m at the Round-Up to win leading start to finish in 1:54.13. The two time conference scorer from 2016 and 2017 was in a funk 2019 after redshirting in 2018, but the fifth year may just be dialed in for his final season after starting 2020 with the fastest opener of his career.
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