Indoor Track and Field squad opens 2023 season in Oregon

Sunday, February 5

Newberg, OR

11:00 AM

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

George Fox Indoor Meet

2/5/2023 7:30:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

By: by Carlie Floyd

The UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs track and field team participated in the George Fox Indoor meet and the University of Portland Indoor meet both located in Oregon. This is just the beginning of the indoor season for 2023! The sprinters, jumpers, throwers, and hurdlers were competing at the George Fox Indoor meet in Newberg while the long distance and middle distance runners competed at the University of Portland Indoor meet.

Sprints/Hurdles/Relays

Chloe Solomua, her last season before graduating, got 5th place overall in the women's 60 meter hurdles with a time of 9.45. Solomua also ran the 60 meter dash with a time of 8.23. While Amaya Cummins , a sophomore who has been breaking records at UCSC since she was a freshman, placed 5th for the 60 meter dash receiving a time of 8.10, which was just 0.12 seconds from her school record. Ria Saini who is also a sophomore, was so close to also achieving a personal record for the 60 meter dash by earning an 8.81 as their time. For the men, Jonathan Stenger, a sophomore, placed 3rd with a time of 7.70 in the 60 meter dash. At the 2022 C2C championship, Stenger achieved a personal record time of 7.06 in the 60 meter dash.

Middle Distance/Distance

UC Santa Cruz, which is known for their hardworking, driven Long Distance and Middle Distance runners, did an outstanding job at the University of Portland Indoor Meet. Just to highlight some of the runners who did a fantastic job:
Manogya Yara, a first year student, placed 2nd in the men's 400 meter dash with a time of 51.51. In the women's 3000 meter dash, Iris Abegglen placed 2nd with a time of 10.53.65 and Sage Simms placed 9th with a time of 11:02.52. Raymond Ingersoll placed 3rd in the men's 3000 meter run with a time of 8:42.12. Ash Baudin with a time of 5:09.06 and Riley Martel-Phillips with a time of 5:11.61 were neck to neck in the women's one mile run, Ash placing 3rd and Riley placing 4^th with both hitting PRs for the top two times in school history. Eric Anderson in the men's one mile received first place with a time of 4:16 and Brett Bailey received 3rd place with a time of 4:20.21. Anderson also ran the men's 800 meter run with a time of 1:57:71 placing 3rd. Hana Yamamoto received 2nd place with a time of 2.19.44 in the women's 800 meter run, while Holden Spencer placed 1st in the men's 800 meter run with a time of 1:56.75.
The Men's 4x400 meter run did an outstanding job and placed 1st. They received a time of 3:29.90, with the outstanding work of Ethan Bizzack, Rowan Davis, Aaron Hillberg and Vance Byer. They achieved a new personal record for UC Santa Cruz Men's 4x400 Relay.

Jumps

At the George Fox Indoor Meet, Jeremy Miller and Drew Koesel were the only two competing in high jump and they did an outstanding job. Miller received 5th place clearing 1.82m (5ft 11.5 in) and Koesel received 7th place (1.77m/5ft 9.75 in) for Men's High Jump. This is one of Drew's last meets and will be graduating this year while Jeremy is just a sophomore at Santa Cruz.

Throws

Whitney Porter, a first year at UC Santa Cruz is the one and only woman weight thrower and shot put thrower. Whitney contributed greatly to the competition and will be improving out this season drastically. She was 20^th in the Weight Throw with 7.50m /24ft 7.25in and was 21^st in the Shot Put with 8.50m/27ft 10.75 in. This being one of her first meets competing as a Banana Slug, she will continue to achieve personal records. Also, Shea Wissler who also contributed to the short distance events in the George Fox Indoor Meet also competed in Men's Shot Put receiving 12th place with a distance of 11.96m/39ft. 3 in.