LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego track and field teams started their 2013 season in strong form on Saturday with decisive team victories on both the men's and women's side over Cal Poly Pomona and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the UCSD/CPP/CMS Triangular at Triton Track & Field Stadium.
UCSD accumulated a total of 167 points on the women's side to easily cruise past CPP (97) and CMS (90), as the men did the same with their 155 total points to hold off both the Stags (108) and the Broncos (95).
Altogether, the Tritons earned 20 first-place finishes on the day, including nine for the women and 11 for the men.
Senior Zach Nagengast had a considerably good day in the field, winning both the men's discus throw and hammer throw with marks of 153'10" and 167'10", respectively. The Paso Robles native also took second in the shot put, throwing a distance of 49'4.25".
"We had a lot of event winners and that's really what you're looking for any time there's a scoring meet," said UCSD men's head coach Tony Salerno. "As we tell our kids, when you're competing at home, the objective is to win, and then the marks take care of themselves. We did both today on both sides. On the men's side, we had some nice double winners, including Zach Nagengast in the throws, and really across the event areas. Those will be the big ones; those double winners."
Elsewhere in the jumping events, freshman Sean Cook scored a pair of first-place finishes in the long jump (22'1.75") and triple jump (46'). Cook was UCSD's top finisher in the high jump as well, placing third overall with a leap of 6'2.75".
Sophomore Keith Rose swept both of his sprinting events with wins in the 100-meter dash and 200. Rose crossed the finish line in the 100 with a time of 10.94 seconds and finished the 200 in 21.92.
Junior Kellen Levy and sophomore Tanner Collins went first and second place in the 3,000, finishing their races with respective times of 8:35 and 8:38.06.
Senior Ryan Eckert won the shot put for the men, upon hitting a personal-best mark of 52'7.25".
Sophomore Jeffrey Lim (56.32), junior Clint Rosser (14'11.5") and sophomore Nash Howe (197'2") won the 400 hurdles, pole vault and javelin throw, respectively, for the UCSD men.
Highlighting the day for the Triton women was sophomore Dereka Chargualaf, who won the women's 200 with a career-best time of 25.82. Chargualaf also finished second in the 100 with a collegiate-best time of 12.72 and ran the second leg of the 4x100 relay en route to a winning time of 49.13.
"On the women's side, there's just a lot of good PRs kind of spread around and a good showing of depth," said UCSD women's head coach Darcy Ahner. "It's really nice to see that depth again in some of the areas. We're just going to keep building from here, but it feels good to win at home and start the season off this way and we're excited about what's to come."
Doing her part for the Tritons was sophomore Chantia Justice, who finished first in the triple jump with a personal-best mark of 38'6.75". The La Quinta native also took third in the high jump (5'3").
Senior Uchenna Agbahiwe had a first-place showing in the discus throw, hitting a top distance of 141'11". Agbahiwe also finished as the runner-up in the shot put (37'0.25").
Sophomore Sabrina Pimentel finished in first in the 800, breaking the tape with a time of 2:19.55, and freshman Corinne Hinkle finished second with a time of 2:21.53.
The Tritons will next travel to the 17th Annual Rossi Relays. The meet, hosted by CMS, will be held on Saturday and is slated for an 11 a.m. start time.
--UCSDtritons.com --
