• Event: Brutus Hamilton Open And Challenge
• Date: Friday, April 28, Saturday April 29
• Location: Edwards Stadium / Berkeley, Calif.
• Time: Friday at 9:15 a.m. - Saturday at 10:00 a.m. 

BERKELEY - California returns to Berkeley this weekend for its annual home meet, the Brutus Hamilton Open and Challenge, the final home meet of the 2017 season.    
The historic two-day meet is named after legendary former Cal head coach Brutus Hamilton. A fixture on the Golden Bear track for 30 seasons, Hamilton led Cal to 14 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships while producing 59 individual conference champions, 13 national champions and seven Olympians.

The Brutus Hamilton meet is attended by a wide array of high-level talent from many collegiate programs, as well as a select group of elite club programs. Cal will have many of its top performers in the meet, as well.

A runner to watch this weekend is Michael Saruni, a freshman from UTEP, who enters the weekend with the fourth-fastest 800m time in the country at 1:45.82.  

• LAST TIME OUT: KANSAS RELAYS
Cal enjoyed some strong performances at last week's Kansas Relays. Ashley Anderson picked up another victory and another PR in the triple jump with her mark of 12.99m. In the discus, Malik McMorris PRed with a mark of 55.77m, taking third. Peter Simon won the shot put, convincingly, with his mark of 18.55m.    

•BEARS IN THE RANKINGS
The Bears have two competitors in the top 10 in the current national rankings. Bethan Knights is sixth in the 10,000m (33:31.25), while Ashtyn Davis is ninth in the 110m high hurdles (13.65). Knights leads the Pac-12, while Davis is second, in those events. 

In the Pac-12 rankings, Cal has five competitors that rank first or second in the conference. Ashley Anderson ranks first in the triple jump (12.99m), while Robert Brandt in the 10,000m (28:48.38), Kendall Mader in the discus (53.22m), Destiny Parker in the hammer (61.69m) and Peter Simon in the shot put (19.41m), each rank second.

• LAST YEAR'S BRUTUS HAMILTON MEET 
Cal earned six total victories - including three of the meet's nine special events - and both teams won the scoring portion in last year's Brutus Hamilton Challenge.
 
Highlights included former Cal standout, NCAA champion and Olympian Alysia Montano winning the Louise Romo 800 Meters - the first time she has run the event in Berkeley since 2008. Montano ran a Brutus Hamilton-meet record of 2:01.27.

In the Dave Maggard Shot Put, Peter Simon (61-7.50) led a Cal sweep of the top three positions, along with runner-up Sullivan Parker (57-3.00) and third-place finisher Malik McMorris (55-5.50).

Bethan Knights (4:24.08) gave the Edwards Stadium fans an exciting finish in the Marilyn Davis 1500 Meters. Jockeying for front position throughout the race, Knights only secured victory after making a strong surge in the final 35 meters.

• FAREWELL TO THE SENIORS
Cal will also honor its 15 seniors during the two-day event. The seniors competing for the final time at Edwards Stadium are Georgia Bell, Megan Bordes, Christine Canning, Scott Chiesa, Matt Esparza, Noel Frazier, Ivan Gonzalez, Thomas Joyce, Ilse Kaaja, Josh Lewis, Evan Malone-White, Xochitl Navarrete, Aaron Russell, Jayla Scholis and Brenden Song. 

• NEXT UP
Following this weekend's action, Cal will compete in three different meets next week, the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford, the Sacramento Open and the Pac-12 Multi-Championships.