CALIFORNIA (April 17, 2023) – Over the weekend, the UC Santa Barbara Men's and Women's Track and Field teams competed at three different meets: the Bryan Clay Invitational, the Mt. SAC Invitational and the Pacific Coast Invitational.
The Mt. SAC Invitational was up first, where most of the field events and some track events competed. The women's side was highlighted by Malia Benson, who threw a distance of 47.08 meters in the javelin on her way to a seventh-place finish. On the men's side, Eitan Goore had a phenomenal performance in the pole vault as he tied the UC Santa Barbara school record in the event with a mark of 5.25 meters. Along with Goore, Chase Tarr placed sixth in the javelin, throwing a distance of 61.82 meters.
The next meet was at the Bryan Clay Invitational hosted by Azusa Pacific, where the distance runners competed. Ethan Godsey brought his cross country success onto the track as he finished fifth in the 5K with a time of 14:14.47, his new PR in the event. The women's side led to Sarah Chaves and Madeline Franco placing highly in their respective events. Franco earned sixth in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:36.39 while Chaves grabbed ninth in the 5000 with a time of 16:50.07. Along with that, Stina Johansson ran a new personal-best 3000 steeplechase with a time of 10:52.21.
To round out the weekend, the Gauchos also competed at the Pacific Coast Invitational hosted by Long Beach State. One of the best finishes for the Gauchos came from Aakersh Mathur, who finished third in the 3000 steeplechase with a time of 9:45.10. Tyler Holl continued his excellence on the track as he earned a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.57 seconds while earning a time of 14.53 seconds in the 110 hurdles for 13th. The distance runners came out and shined at this event as well. Aamir Rehman won the 5K with a time of 15:05.94 while Zak Blunt earned an eighth-place finish in the 800 with a time of 1:56.52. The women also saw a great deal of success. Kennedy Johnson finished 10th in the long jump as she went a distance of 5.78 meters. Sophia Pardo also finished highly in her event, running a time of 57.83 seconds in the 400.
The Gauchos can be found back in action at the end of April as they make the trip North for the Fresno State Invitational. More information to come on this meet.
