The Cal Poly track and field team had three decathletes and three heptathletes compete in this weekend’s multi-event portion of the Big West Conference Championships.
The men’s decathlon team, led by senior Devin Bennett, scored a total of 15 points over two days, giving the team a one-point advantage over rival UC Santa Barbara.
After the Mustangs’ performance, the men’s team leads the Big West Championships while headed toward the second, and final, weekend of competition.
Bennett opened the second day of competition with a sixth-place 110-meter hurdle run behind his career-best discus mark of 139 feet, 7 inches.
After a winning pole vault mark of 14-5 1/4, Bennett propelled himself from 10th place into sixth place.
Bennett, who finished second in the conference in 2014, continued his momentum by winning two more events and raising himself into fourth place.
A career-best javelin throw — also the 10th-best in school history — helped bring Bennett for a top three finish. Bennett also won the 1,500-meter, finishing nearly 24 seconds ahead of UCSB runner-up Tyler Nelson.
Bennett finished third place overall with 7,153 points, earning him all-conference honors. Following Bennett were junior teammates Ted Scranton (fourth, 7,038) and Ivy Adair (fifth, 6,882).
The Cal Poly women’s heptathlon team was led by junior Jessica Rasmussen, who finished seventh overall with a score of 4,567. Rasmussen’s finish was good enough to compile two points for the women’s team heading into the final weekend.
Rasmussen highlighted the Mustangs’ afternoon with a second-place long jump finish. Her jump of 19-2 landed her in the No. 5 spot conference wide.
Mustangs’ sophomore Kirby Ruback and redshirt freshman Keana Viss also competed during the weekend. Ruback finished 11th with 4,269 points while Viss finished 12th with 4,221.
All three heptathletes scored career-high totals over the weekend.
Cal Poly heads into the final weekend leading the men’s field by one point while sitting in fifth place in the women’s category. The Mustangs compete again May 13 and 14 at 11 a.m in Long Beach. Saturday’s events will be televised live on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.