SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — With a strong finish on day two at the Big West Multi Championships, seniors Kyle Clancy and Drake Foote both recorded the best decathlon point totals in UC Davis Division I history, and the best since the 1982 school record, and finished one point apart. Senior Erinn Beattie paced herself to a second place overall finish in the women's heptathlon, while junior transfer Sydney Holmes cracked into the top-ten overall to conclude the opening weekend of the 2019 Big West Track & Field Championships.

Opening day two with the 110m hurdles, Clancy earned his third and final event win, running 14.50, with Foote crossing in 15.11 — just 0.03 short of a PR for Foote. The Aggie duo put up top-ten event marks in the discus, before turning to the pole vault for a head-to-head competition. Foote, who hit a personal best 4.86m (15-11.25) at the 40th Sun Angel Classic in April, nearly achieved another PR, winning the event with a 4.80m (15-9), before missing his three attempts at 4.90m (16-00.75). As just the second athlete in the meet to clear over 15 feet, Clancy nailed a huge PR in the event, improving upon his previous best of 4.52m (14-10.00) to reach 4.70m (15-05.00), and earning key points in the race to the podium. 

In the final events of the afternoon, Foote sat within 100 points of Clancy, and narrowed the gap even more with a third-place javelin mark. With season-best distances, Foote threw 54.43m (178-07), while Clancy notched fifth overall with a 52.54m (172-04) throw, leading into the final event: the grueling 1500m. Foote raced to a 10-second PR, crossing in 4:50.85 for his first finish under the five-minute mark, followed by Clancy at 4:59.50 with a season-best run in the event. Upon the conclusion of the decathlon, Clancy emerged in third place overall with a total of 7,252 points, just a single point ahead of Foote's 7,251 points. 

Both marks are lifetime bests for Clancy and Foote, and will go down in the UC Davis record books. Clancy surpasses Matt Chisam (7,189 points, 2003) for second all-time, joined by Foote at third overall — a leap above his previous best and eighth all-time mark of 6,846 points. The duo finish the meet with the best marks in UC Davis' Division I program history, and the highest point totals since Tim Gelonek's 1982 school record of 7,430 points. 

In the women's competition, Beattie was able to earn a second place overall finish in the heptathlon for the second consecutive year, as she finished with 5,515 points and two event wins. Continuing the rivalry with UC Santa Barbara's Hope Bender, the two were responsible for six out of seven event titles between the two of them, with Bender coming out on top with a Big West Multi Championships Meet Record 5,814 points and the 2019 overall title. 

Of the final three events, the top placing finishers of Bender, Beattie, and Hawai'i's Calli Ann Abbot each claimed an event title to settle into first through third places overall, respectively. The winner of an event earns 10 points towards the team score, with second place receiving eight points, and third through eighth garnering a descending number. UC Santa Barbara will enter next weekend's portion of the Big West Track & Field Championships with 10 points, followed by UC Davis with eight, and Hawai'i with six. 

Although Beattie did not achieve a personal best mark this weekend, she improved upon last year's performance at the Big West Championships of 5,458 points, which was good enough to set a school record at the time. 

Competing alongside Beattie, Holmes put up a season-best result of 4,327 points, finishing in ninth place overall. Holmes was just short of her personal best and ninth all-time mark of 4,459 points from the 2018 Big West Championships, but did not PR in any individual event, leaving quite a few points on the table for future efforts. 

The action at the Big West Championships continues next weekend, May 10-11, at the Pauley Track Facility in Santa Barbara, Calif. Admission is priced at $13 for adults and $8 for students for a single session, with ticketing options available for all sessions. More information about next week's championships will be updated on UCDavisAggies.com.

2019 Big West Multi Championships
Team Results

Men
1. UC Santa Barbara, 14 points
T2. UC Davis, 11 points
T2. Long Beach State, 11 points
4. Cal Poly, 3 points

Women
1. UC Santa Barbara, 10 points
2. UC Davis, 8 points
T3. Hawaii, 6 points
T3. Cal Poly, 6 points
5. UC Riverside, 5 points
6. Long Beach State, 4 points

DECATHLON
1. Tyler Nelson, UCSB, 7,420 points
2. John Broadhead, LBSU, 7,293 points
3. Kyle Clancy, UCD, 7,252 points
4. Drake Foote, UCD, 7,251 points

110m Hurdles1. Kyle Clancy, UCD, 14.50 (911 points)
5. Drake Foote, UCD, 15.11 (856 points)

Discus
1. Tyler Nelson, UCSB, 41.56m/136-04 (696 points)
6. Drake Foote, UCD, 36.01m/118-01 (584 points)
8. Kyle Clancy, UCD, 32.49m/106-07 (514 points)

Pole Vault
1. Drake Foote, UCD, 4.80m/15-09.00 (849 points)
2. Kyle Clancy, UCD, 4.70m/15-05.00 (819 points)

Javelin
1. Aaron Cheek, UCSB, 58.20m/190-11 (711 points)
3. Drake Foote, UCD, 54.43m/178-07 (654 points)
5. Kyle Clancy, UCD, 52.54m/172-04 (626 points)

1500m
1. Sam Pica, UCSB, 4:31.78 (733 points)
5. Drake Foote, UCD, 4:50.85 (614 points)
9. Kyle Clancy, UCD, 4:59.50 (563 points)

HEPTATHLON
1. Hope Bender, UCSB, 5,814 points — Meet Record
2. Erinn Beattie, UCD, 5,515 points
9. Sydney Holmes, UCD, 4,327 points

Long Jump
1. Hope Bender, UCSB, 6.09m/19-10.75 (868 points)
3. Erinn Beattie, UCD, 5.74m/18-10.00 (771 points)
7. Sydney Holmes, UCD, 5.31m/17-05.25 (645 points)

Javelin
1. Calli Ann Abbott, UH, 39.58m/129-10 (659 points)
5. Erinn Beattie, UCD, 33.66m/110-05 (546 points)
7. Sydney Holmes, UCD, 32.60m/106-11 (526 points)

800m
1. Erinn Beattie, UCD, 2:13.42 (915 points)
6. Sydney Holmes, UCD, 2:35.03 (631 points)

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