IRVINE, Calif. -- UC Davis third-year sophomore Matthew Okonkwo earned Male Track Athlete of the Meet on the final day of the Big West Conference Track & Field Championships, hosted by UC Irvine at Anteater Stadium. He captured the individual 400-meter championship with a time of 47.26 seconds, then added a second title with his 21.23 in the 200 dash. Additionally, fourth-year sprinter Theo Goodwin added a third individual title for the Aggies with his win in the 100-meter dash.
Both the Aggie men and women finished fifth in the team standings. The women scored 73 points, well ahead of the sixth-place tie between Long Beach State and Hawai'i (51) but also 50 points behind UC Irvine in fourth (123). The men moved up to fifth with 92 points thanks to Saturday's output. Cal Poly won the overall women's team title with 181.5 points, while Cal State Fullerton beat out the Mustangs for the men's championship, 163-157.
Okonkwo, a third-year psychology major from Winchester, California, outran the Cal State Fullerton of Parris Samaniego (47.60) and Justin Lowe (48.17) for the title. He is the third Aggie to win this championship, joining Thomas Phillips, who won back-to-back 400 crowns in 2009 and 2010; and Brian Thomas, who captured the event in 2018. Thomas set a school record of 46.47 in that meet, a standard that Okonkwo broke with his 46.36 at the CSUN Red & Black Invite this season.
Okonwko followed with another commanding win in the 200, with his 21.23 beating runner-up Rasaun House of Cal State Fullerton by more than a third of a second. The communication major from Winchester is the first Aggie to win this event on the men's side. UC Davis joined the Big West Conference in 2008.
Goodwin, a former transfer from the University of Nevada, edged Cal Poly's Chineme Allison at the finish line with his 10.67 time, tying a personal record he set just two weeks prior in the Causeway Track Classic. Originally from Christian High School in El Cajon, the American studies major first attended Nevada to play football, then transferred to UC Davis in 2019. Goodwin is the second UC Davis champion in the men's 100, joining Marcus Johnson (2014).
This marks the second straight Big West meet in which the same school swept the men's 100, 200 and 400, as Cal State Fullerton performed that feat with Mason Rollins and Marcel Espinoza in 2019. The UC Davis women did the same back in 2014, with Ashley Marshall (100 and 200) and Cekarri Nixon (400) forming the triple.
The Aggie men also picked up second-place points in the first running event of the day, when the 4x100 relay squad of Brandon Jetter, Okonkwo, Sebastian Criego and Goodwin crossed in a season-best 41.05 seconds – less than a tenth behind champion Long Beach State. Cal State Fullerton held the initial lead until Okonkwo caught up on the back stretch, then the 49ers and Aggies overtook the Titans in the final 100 meters for the top two places.
Junior Anthony Easter added eight more team points with this runner-up finish in the 110 high hurdles at 14.32. Charles Kelly of Cal State Fullerton, the conference favorite heading into the race, ran a 14.10 to win the event. Easter then joined teammates Will Sornberger and Joey Monti for a 12-point bump in the 400 hurdles. Easter placed third (51.86) in the long hurdles, while Sornberger (52.48) and Monti (54.55) each hit personal records for fifth and seventh.
On the women's side, UC Davis amassed 15 points from the triple jump thanks to a foursome in the event. Samantha Louie placed third with a leap of 12.07 meters, or 39 feet, 7.25 inches. With that mark, the biochemistry & molecular biology major from Sunnyvale became the eighth Aggie woman in history to break the 12-meter mark, moving into seventh in the school record book against of teammate Sydney Holmes. Kerrington Smith (11.78m/38-7.75), Amanda Mell (11.61m/38-1.75) and Holmes (11.53m/37-10) finished fifth through seventh, respectively.
Freshman Sierra Atkins added to the scoring column with her third-place 16:39.29 in the women's 5,000. She and Cal Poly's Sierra Brill traded positions for second and third throughout the race, with Brill ultimately finishing 27 seconds ahead of the Aggie communication major. Harvard transfer Brooke Starn placed fifth in the 5K with 16:53.22, adding another four points to the standings.
UC Davis finished the day with a third-place showing in the 4x400 relay. Sebastian Criego led off for the Aggies, then handed off to Okonwko, who added a 46.3 split in the final event of the day, the 4x400 relay. Will Sornberger extended the foursome's lead on the third leg, but Cal State Fullerton – looking to move past Cal Poly for the overall team standings – overtook the Aggie anchor Anthony Easter with less than 100 meters to go.
The 2021 Big West championships marked the return of the meet for the first time in two years, as last year's event was cancelled. All Division I athletes around the country now await the selections for the NCAA East and West Prelims, held in Jacksonville, Florida; and College Station, Texas from May 26-29. The accepted entries and seedings will be announced during that week.
2021 BIG WEST CONFERENCE TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS, DAY 3
Anteater Stadium (Irvine, Calif.)
Winners plus UC Davis entrants • All events are finals
WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES - 1. Cal Poly, 181.5; 3. Cal State Fullerton, 149.5; 3. UC Santa Barbara, 130.5; 4. UC Irvine, 123; 5. UC Davis, 73; 6 (tie). Long Beach State, 51; Hawai'i, 51; 8. CSUN, 26; 9. UC Riverside, 18; 10. CSU Bakersfield, 11.5.
MEN'S TEAM SCORES - 1. Cal State Fullerton, 163; 2. Cal Poly, 157; 3. Long Beach State, 152; 4. UC Santa Barbara, 137; 5. UC Davis, 92; 6. UC Irvine, 66; 7 (tie). CSUN, 22; UC Riverside, 22; 9. CSU Bakersfield, 3.
MEN'S TRIPLE JUMP - 1. Mathieu Tshani, CSUN, 15.68m/51-5.5 (w: +1.6).
WOMEN'S TRIPLE JUMP - 1. Crystal Washington, LBSU, 12.34m/40-6 (w: +0.0)... 3. Samantha Louie, 12.07/39-7.25 (w: +1.4); 5. Kerrington Smith, 11.78m/38-7.75 (w: +0.0); 6. Amanda Mell, 11.61m/38-1.25 (w: +0.6); 7. Sydney Holmes, 11.53m/37-10 (w: +1.5).
WOMEN'S DISCUS THROW - 1. Brianna Villanueva, UCI, 50.38m/165-3... 19. Nane Ikahihifo, 37.99m/124-7; 21. Brena Videll, 36.02m/118-2; 23. Erika Nordman, 31.68m/103-11.
MEN'S DISCUS THROW - 1. Alec Jones, LBSU, 57.88m/189-10... 9. Corey Moore, 49.96m/163-11; 14. Jarrett Rasmussen, 45.59m/149-7.
WOMEN'S 400 RELAY - 1. UC Irvine (Koppel, RIchardson, Marquez, Costa), 46.57... 5. UC Davis (Smith, Bateman, Bufka, Thomas), 47.95.
MEN'S 400 RELAY - 1. Long Beach State (Babineaux, Harris, Watterson, Smith), 40.96... 2. UC Davis (Jetter, Okonkwo, Criego, Goodwin), 41.05.
WOMEN'S 1,500 METERS - 1. Astris Rosvall, UCSB, 4:20.11... 7. Sierra Atkins, 4:31.01; 12. Chloe Arriaga, 4:43.77.
MEN'S 1,500 METERS - 1. Justin Robison, Cal Poly, 3:44.68... 6. Ryman Crone, 3:50.91; 12. Nicholas Brichta, 3:53.29.
WOMEN'S 100 HURDLES (w: +0.9) - 1 (tie). Brisa Guzman-Sanchez, CSUN; Molly Ross, CP, 13.75.
MEN'S 100 HURDLES (w: +1.4) - 1. Charles Kelly, CSF, 14.10... 2. Anthony Easter, 14.32.
WOMEN'S 400 METERS - 1. Anisa Rind, CP, 56.36.
MEN'S 400 METERS - 1. Matthew Okonkwo, UC Davis, 47.26... 5. Sebastian Criego, 48.96.
WOMEN'S 100 METERS (w: +1.8) - 1. Kayla Richardson, UCI, 11.65... 6. Kayla Bateman, 12.07.
MEN'S 100 METERS (w: +1.2) - 1. Theo Goodwin, UC Davis, 10.67.
WOMEN'S 800 METERS - 1. Astrid Rosvall, UCSB, 2:04.94... 8. Anaya Ward, 2:12.94.
MEN"S 800 METERS - 1. Jimmy Chahal, UCSB, 1:51.10.
WOMEN'S 400 HURDLES - 1. Maya Occiano, CSF, 1:00.08.
MEN'S 400 HURDLES - 1. Charles Kelly, CSF, 51.23... 3. Anthony Easter, 51.86; 5. Will Sornberger, 52.48; 7. Joey Monti, 54.55.
WOMEN'S 200 METERS - 1. Kayla Richardson, UCI, 24.11.
MEN'S 200 METERS (w: +0.4) - 1. Matthew Okonkwo, UC Davis, 21.23... 6. Theo Goodwin, 21.87.
WOMEN'S 5,000 METERS - 1. Katie Camarena, UCSB, 16:29.57... 3. Sierra Atkins, 16:39.29; 5. Brooke Starn, 16:53.22; 12. Marie Navarro, 17:28.66; 15. Chloe Arriaga, 17:48.78.
MEN'S 5,000 METERS - 1. Garrett Reynolds, UCSB, 14:07.60... 10. Ryman Crone, 14:47.44; 13. Austin Vasquez, 14:51.97; 16. Nicholas Brichta, 14:54.23; 23. Ivan Mendez, 15:39.23.
WOMEN'S 4x400 RELAY - 1. Cal Poly, 3:48.48... 5. UC Davis (Ford, Ward, Smith, Thomas), 3:55.47.
MEN'S 4x400 RELAY - 1. Cal State Fullerton, 3:11.93... 3. UC Davis, 3:12.97 (Criego, Okonkwo, Sornberger, Easter).
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