GOLETA, Calif. (May 13) – The UC Santa Barbara track and field team is set for the second weekend of the postseason – the latter part of the Big West Championships hosted by Long Beach State on May 15-16 at Jack Rose Track. The Gauchos will compete across two days of competition, with all field events contested as finals, while most track events will begin with preliminary rounds on day one before finals on Saturday.

The Gauchos will face off against 11 other teams within the Big West, to determine final conference standings across 8 field events and 13 track events.  On the men's side, UC Santa Barbara enters the Big West Championships with 13 Gauchos ranked within the conference top 10, while the women have 20 athletes in scoring positions entering the meet.

FRIDAY
Women's hammer will kick off the field events at 10:30 a.m., followed by men's and women's long jump at 12:00 p.m. Men's hammer is set for 12:30, with women's shot put starting at 2:30 p.m. and men's and women's high jump at 3:30 p.m.. Friday field will conclude with men's shot put, which is slotted for 4:30 p.m.

The track will open with the finals for the 3k steeplechase at 12:45 p.m., with men's heats preceding the women's for each event. The 1500m is slotted for 2:00 p.m., with the short hurdles starting at 2:40 p.m. The first heat of the 400m will go at 3:15 p.m., followed by the 100m at 3:45 p.m. and 800m at 4:15 p.m. The 400m hurdles is set for 4:45 p.m., with the 200m at 5:15 p.m., and the finals for the 10,000m at 5:45 p.m. to round out the day.

SATURDAY
Saturday field will open with men's javelin at 10:00 a.m. followed by women's. Men's and women's pole vault will begin at 12:30 p.m., followed by men's discus at 1:30 p.m. Men's and women's triple jump is set for 3:00 p.m., with women's discus at 3:30 p.m. to finish out the field. 

The finals for the remaining track events will kick off with the 4x100m relay at 2:00 p.m. The 1500m is set for 2:22 p.m., with the short hurdles starting at 2:42 p.m., and the 400m at 3:02 p.m. The 100m is slotted for 3:19 p.m., the 800m at 3:36 p.m., and 400m hurdles at 3:53 p.m. The 200m will go off at 4:13 p.m., with the 5000m at 4:28 p.m., and 4x400 at 5:11 p.m. as the last event of the day. 

MEET DETAILS
For more details on the Big West Championships meet schedule and live results, visits UCSBGauchos.com 

LAST MEET
At the Big West Multis Championships, sophmore Hudson Shaver finished third on the podium for the decathlon, with a score of 7413. Jess Mackenzie finished fifth in the heptathlon with a score of 5371, and Bella Vally finished in seventh with a personal best of 5268 points. Shaver, Mackenzie, and Vally will return this weekend for the chance to score points in individual events for the Gauchos.

NEXT UP
The Big West Championships serves as the final weekend for Santa Barbara athletes to post qualifying marks for NCAA West Regionals, which will be hosted by the University of Arkansas May 27-30.