FULLERTON, Calif. (May 11, 2023) – The UC Santa Barbara Track and Field teams are ready for the postseason as they head to The Big West Championships hosted by Cal State Fullerton. These student-athletes prepped all season for the chance to bring the conference title back to Santa Barbara.
"This is the best time of year," said Director of Track and Field Cody Fleming. "Conference weekend is unlike anything else in our sport. The emotion. The team rallying behind each other. We've got some individuals ready for breakout performances and we're looking forward to seeing who steps up and cracks the scoring column."
The Gauchos are already coming into this weekend on a really good note as Jessica Swalve placed second in the heptathlon while Brad Thomas and Matthew Molina finished in second and third, respectively, in the decathlon last weekend to already give the Gauchos points on both sides. Now, the rest of the teams will compete this weekend to earn points for the Gauchos with hopes of UC Santa Barbara bringing home the team trophy.
UC Santa Barbara has numerous athletes they expect to make an impact throughout the weekend, and the current conference standings show the same result. In both the men's and women's javelin, UC Santa Barbara has the top spot with Chase Tarr coming in at No. 1 in The Big West this season while Malia Benson is the top thrower on the women's side. Also helping the throws are Amanda Spear and Jared Freeman, who remained in the Top Five in the conference all season long in the hammer and discus.
Mariana Lanz has been instrumental on the track and in the triple jump. She is currently ranked second in The Big West in the triple jump heading into this weekend while she is third in the 400 and fifth in the 800. Other Gauchos rank in the Top Three in various events heading into championship weekend, and they are Deonne McCrary (400), Ethan Godsey (5000), Matt Richardson (steeplechase), Leon Gillis (high jump) and Eitan Goore (pole vault).
Competition will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday with the women's hammer with the men to follow while the track events begin at 2:20 p.m. On Saturday, the day will kick off with the field events again at 10 a.m., this time with the men's javelin with the women to follow before the finals of the track events begin at 1 p.m. Both days can be streamed on ESPN+ with live results available through finishedresults.trackscoreboard.com. For more information on the meet and to see the full schedule of events, visit bigwest.org.
