March 16, 2012
Heat/Flight Assignments | Schedule
SACRAMENTO, Calif.- Coming off a strong opening weekend last week, the UC Davis men's and women's track and field teams will head into final exams next week after taking a full contingent into the Hornet Invitational at Sacramento State on Saturday.
UC Davis will send 31 women and 30 men across the causeway to compete against several other programs and unattached athletes. Competition begins in the field with the men's hammer throw at 9:15 a.m. and continues through the women's discus at 2:30 p.m. The women's 5,000-meter run will start the running events which conclude at 3:40 p.m. with the men's 4x400 relay.
A rainy Friday should give way on Saturday afternoon to partly sunny skies after a possibility of showers in the morning.
"Given the elements, I think we'll go in hoping just to be closer (and) maybe be cautious," said Aggie coach Drew Wartenburg. "We need to compete right now just so we can get a read on where we are and getting further experience.
"We loaded up a lot of events and hopefully come back with similar results to last week before we go into a down week for final exams and a bye before we come back for spring break."
Aggies will be spread through the events including several athletes scheduled to compete in at least three. On the women's side, Leslie Reed, Melanise Chapman and Janay Pierce are slated for the 100, 200 and 4x100 while thrower Ashley Hearn is entered in the hammer, discus and shot put.
Sava Boyadjiev is scheduled to compete in the 100, 200, 4x100 and long jump while Andrew Mo is lined up for the hammer, discus and shot. Eleven other UC Davis men are entered in two events.
UC Davis enjoyed a strong start to its spring season at last week's Aggie Open at Woody Wilson Track. Five Aggies won individual events while two relays won three of the four relays competed.
Junior Sarah Sumpter had a noteworthy day, leading a 1-2-3 UC Davis finish in the 5,000 with a time of 16 minutes, 33.91 seconds that jumped her six spots to No. 3 all-time on the program's career leaders list. It was the fastest time in Division I so far this season and resulted in her earning Big West Track Athlete of the Week accolades.
Chapman (200 meters), Kayla Carter (100H) and Lauren Radke(pole vault) also won events with Radke clearning 3.86 meters (12 feet, 8 inches) to tie for first place while moving her up a spot to No. 2 all-time.
Karl Moran won the 400 hurdles to help lead the UC Davis men's performances while Brock Bennett had a better than five-foot career best in the javelin with a mark of 210-1. Robert Neely (7.23 meters, T-10th) in the long jump and Brandon Greenberg(15.85 meters) in the shot put also had career marks.
"I think our overall quality right now is good and better than it's been," said Wartenburg. "At this point in time we're just looking to make sure that bodies are healthy; that's the bottom line.
"We've been impressed in people's willingness to do multiple events right now (so we can) get more reps and looks at competition. That, in and of itself, is a general bottom line and a positive."
Saturday's meet will have representatives from several regional programs including Cal, Fresno State, Nevada, the host Hornets and several community colleges.
