Track and Field competes well at C2C Championships

Friday, May 3

Salisbury, MD

1:00 PM Pacific Fri/ 8:00 AM Sat

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

Coast-To-Coast Conference Outdoor Championships

5/4/2024 4:01:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

Janku named women's Track Athlete of the Meet

SALISBURY, MD — The UC Santa Cruz Track and Field teams finished strong as the 2024 Coast-To-Coast (C2C) Outdoor Championships wrapped up Saturday afternoon at Salisbury University.

The women's team finished second with 202.5 points, the most ever at the C2C meet. They started the day with wins in the 3,000m steeplechase and 1,500m races. Kenzie Seymour won the 3000m Steeplechase in 11:33.55, while Sofia Placias was 22 seconds later to earn second place. The Banana Slugs took the top five places in the 1,500m with Hanna Hekkanen crossing first in 4:42.21, followed by Elena Stanciu, Riley Martel-Phillips, Faith Dyogi, and Frieda Cedillo. Hekkanen also won the 800m race for the second year in a row crossing in a time of 2:20.78. Seymour was second and Cedillo was third, with Marianne Chuang and Dyogi finishing fifth and sixth.
One year after finishing runner-up in the 400m, Caitlin Donovan won the conference title with a new school record of 59.18. Mae Stafford was third in 1:00.65.

The Banana Slugs had a great team effort by winning both the relays as well. The 4x100 relay of Akira Jones, Stafford, Donovan, and Amaya Cummins finished in 49.50 to beat Christopher Newport by 1.7 seconds. The 4x400 quartet of Sophie Jimenez, Cummins, Stafford and Donovan won in 4:04.33, making it four-for-four in titles for the women since UC Santa Cruz joined the conference.

Like the women, the men's team also collected a massive amount of points in the distance races. Holden Spencer became the first Banana Slug to win the conference title in the 1,500m finishing in 4:01.39 and defeating two-time champion Daniel Ferrante of Christopher Newport by 2.9 seconds. School record holder Eric Jackson led start to finish and repeated as 5,000m champion in 14:53.14. Luke Holland was third in 15:11.40, and Casey Orton and Benthan Vu placed fifth and sixth. All-American Eric Anderson took the 800m title in 1:51.42, with Aaron Hillberg taking second-place 2.64 seconds later.

Jack Kibort lowered his school record in the 200m and finished fourth in 22.01. In their C2C debuts, Evan Hofstetter and Soujit Ing went 2-3 in the 400m hurdles. Hofstetter finished in 56.84 and Ing crossed in 57.30.

The men finished in third place with 176 points, one of the closest conference meets ever as both Banana Slug teams finished within eight points of champions Christopher Newport.

The Banana Slugs regroup next weekend as the team heads to the Azusa Pacific Last Chance to solidify NCAA qualification.