The Cal Poly track and field programs had a busy weekend, competing in three events from Wednesday through Saturday.
Senior Devin Bennett started the weekend off strong with a second-place finish in the decathlon at the California Invitational hosted by Azusa Pacific. After rising 11 spots on the final day of competition, Bennett’s 7,118 points is the fifth highest score since the program transitioned to Division I in 1985.
Junior Ted Scranton also participated in the event for the Mustangs and placed ninth. Scranton had four personal records (PR’s) over the course of the 10 events.
Other Cal Poly athletes competed at the Mt. SAC Relays at Cerrito College on Friday. Freshmen Peyton Bilo and Katie Izzo finished eighth and ninth in the 1,500-meter race with times of 4:23.30 and 4:23.44, respectively.
Two of the Mustangs’ men, sophomore Peter Cotsirilos and junior Alex Heuchert, posted PR’s in their 1,500-meter race while finishing 10th and 13th with times of 3:49.30 and 3:49.34.
Junior Swarnjit Boyal moved to eight place in the school record books with a 14:02.40 32nd-place finish in the 5,000-meter race.
Members from both the men’s and women’s track and field teams completed their weekend at the Beach Invitational, hosted by Long Beach State on Friday and Saturday.
The Mustangs posted two top-10 performances, one by senior Kendal Nielsen and one by junior Arnie Sambel. Nielsen, the Big West Conference’s triple jump leader, finished fourth in the women’s triple jump with a distance of 40 feet, 2.25 inches. Sambel finished 10th in the men’s shotput with a distance of 54 feet, 10.75 inches.
Other notable performances from the Beach Invitational include sophomore Danielle Taylor’s 15th-place finish in the women’s high jump (5’ 5”), junior Tyler Rohde’s 16th-place finish in the men’s 200 meters (21.83 seconds, career best), junior Ben Hartinger’s 17th-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (14.72 seconds) and junior Allie Sulaitis’ 25th-place finish out of 129 runners in the women’s 800-meter race (2:10.84, career best).
The Mustangs’ also recorded a season best in the 4×100 meter relay with a time of 41.45 seconds, good for a fourth-place finish.
Cal Poly returns to action next Saturday, April 23 when it travels to Clovis for Fresno State’s Bulldog Invitational.