Feb. 7, 2012

Full Cal Track & Field Press Release

THIS WEEK IN CAL TRACK & FIELD: California will have a split-squad feel this week with the team headed to separate meets in New Mexico and Washington. Portions of the team will be at the Don Kirby Invitational Friday in Albuquerque for a one-day event, while the remaining Bears will travel to Seattle for the Flotrack Husky Classic Friday and Saturday.

Both sites are familiar as Cal opened the year at the Cherry & Silver Invitational in Albuquerque and took part in the UW Invitational Jan. 27-28 in Seattle. The Bears return to Washington for the MPSF Championships Feb. 24-25.

The Don Kirby meet will feature no events longer than 800m and gets underway at 2 p.m. PT Friday. The Husky Classic will host a limited number of events Friday night (primarily the 200m, 5000m and DMR) before a full day of competition begins Saturday.

TWO WEEKS, TWO RECORDS: Cal has seen two school records go by the waysides in the first two weeks of the 2012 season. The first mark to fall was in the women's weight throw when senior Linda Oseso recorded a distance of 60-9.50 to win the competition at the Cherry & Silver Invitational Jan. 20. She broke the record of 60-4.50 set by Carrie Johnson in 2006.

The following Saturday, junior Sofia Oberg lowered the Golden Bear mark in the women's mile by seven seconds. Senior Taylor Dutch actually broke the school record first, finishing her section in 4:48.53, which was just ahead of Chelsea Reilly's 2010 mark of 4:48.89. But just over five minutes later, Oberg crossed the line in 4:41.57 in the next section race.

UW INVITATIONAL RECAP: Golden Bears captured three events at the UW Invitational in Seattle Jan. 27-28. Angelica Weaver lowered her PR in the women's 400m for the second straight week, this time in a winning time of 55.05. She entered the year with a best of 55.89 from the 2011 campaign.

Cal swept the men's and women's long jump events. Jonte Grant paced the field in the men's LJ with a mark of 23-7.50. Teammates Taylor Kientzel and Chase Wheeler tied for second at 23 feet even. In the women's event, Malaina Payton claimed first with an effort of 19-3.25.

Other notable performances came from Maurice Valentine Jr., who improved more than four inches in the high jump to a PR 6-10.75; Derek White, whose distance of 60-6.75 in the weight throw was 19 inches further than at the Cherry & Silver Invite; and Idarre Coles, who posted a 150-point PR in the heptathlon (4,867 points).

GOLDEN BEAR NOTES: Angelica Weaver has three wins this year, taking the 400m and 600m at the Cherry & Silver Invitational, in addition to the 400m at the UW Invite ... former Cal distance runners Magdalena Lewy Boulet (10th) and Brooke Wells (19th) placed in the top 20 at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston in January ... the Bears feature a pair of siblings on the roster in brothers Cody and Simon Schmidt and sisters Sofia and Rebecka Oberg; in addition, freshman pole vaulter Mackenzie Landry is the younger sister of former Cal pole vaulter Connor Landry ... Cal's women's cross country team finished 18th at the NCAA Championships in November, led by Deborah Maier (11th) and Chelsea Reilly (24th) ... over the summer, Angelica Weaver captured the USA junior title in the 400m hurdles with a time of 59.83, while Monte Corley won the 400mH crown at the Pan Am Junior Championships in a Cal freshman-record 51.21 ... two Bears earned first-team All-America status for their performances at the 2011 NCAA indoor meet - Mike Morrison (5th, heptathlon) and Allison Stokke (8th, pole vault) - while Hammed Suleman was a second-team pick (triple jump).