Jan. 23, 2013

Complete News Release

THIS WEEK IN CAL TRACK & FIELD: After a strong start to the 2013 indoor season last week, the Cal track & field team heads to Seattle for the UW Invitational Friday and Saturday for the first of three meets on the University of Washington campus. The Bears expect to have more distance runners in the field this weekend after concentrating on sprints and field events at the opener.

The highlight for Cal at the 2012 UW Invite came in the women's mile when Golden Bears broke the school record twice. Running in the second of three sections, Taylor Dutch edged down the mark by less than half a second to 4:48.53. But in the next section race, Sofia Oberg came through the finish in 4:41.57 to smash the mark by nearly seven seconds. Chelsea Reilly later lowered the record even further at the MPSF Championships in late February 2012.

The UW Invitational includes two-day multi-event competition, with the majority of action on Friday in the men's heptathlon and women's pentathlon. The meet resumes at 9 a.m. Saturday morning at the Dempsey Indoor facility.

Following this week, Cal takes a break until the Don Kirby Invitational Feb. 8 in Albuquerque, N.M., and the Husky Classic Feb. 8-9 in Seattle. The MPSF Championships will also be at UW on Feb. 22-23.

RECAPPING THE OPENER: With more than 20 personal bests set during the two-day Cherry & Silver Invitational, Cal came home from Albuquerque a confident group. On the track, Alima Kamara set a meet record in the 600m (1:32.21) and established an indoor best in the 400m (55.51), while Ray Stewart returned from a knee injury that kept him out almost all of last year to win the 60m hurdles in 7.97. In the high jump, Brian Carmichael (7-0.25) and Mike Tracy (6-8.25) both set PRs, and Chad Jones went 50-9.50 in the triple jump. In addition, Hammed Suleman posted good opening marks in the long jump (24-5.75) and triple jump (50-7.25), and Derek White claimed the men's weight throw at 62-6.00. For the women, Chioma Amaechi set PRs in the shot put (49-10.00) and weight throw (60-3.00) in her first meet after a redshirt year.

Several Golden Bear newcomers also stood out in their collegiate debuts. Randy Bermea won the rarely-run indoor 400m hurdles in 52.48 and Ethan Cochran had Cal's top mark in the shot put (52-6.75). Freshman Victoria Owers posted marks of 49-3.75 in the shot and 58-3.75 in the weight throw, with fellow freshman Shelby Ashe finishing with a mark of 56-5.75 in the weight throw.

CAL WOMEN 11TH THIS WEEK: After earning a preseason ranking of No. 9, Cal's women's team fell two spots to 11th in the latest USTFCCCA poll.

BEARS RETURN 4 ALL-AMERICANS FOR 2013: Four Golden Bears who qualified for the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships and earned All-American honors are back for the upcoming campaign. Leading the crew is senior distance specialist Deborah Maier, who was the national runner-up in both the 3000m and 5000m last year. In addition, junior Malaina Payton took 14th in the women's triple jump at NCAA's, while Sofia Oberg and Angelica Weaver comprised half of Cal's 10th-place distance medley relay.

GOLDEN BEAR NOTES: Sophomore Kelsey Santisteban qualified for the NCAA national meet and earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors in cross country last fall ... Cal class of newcomers on the women's side has been ranked fifth best in the country by Track & Field News ... Golden Bears set five indoor records last season, all on the women's side: mile (4:41.29, Chelsea Reilly), 3000m (9:00.86, Reilly), 5000m (15:29.24, Deborah Maier), DMR (10:56.29, Reilly, Angelica Weaver, Sofia Oberg, Maier) and weight throw (63-3.25, Linda Oseso).