LA JOLLA, Calif. – Coming off the first split-squad weekend of the season, the entire UC San Diego track and field team is back together this week, as they head to Riverside for the Chris Rinne Twilight meet on Friday. The meet is hosted by the Tritons' Big West conference-mate UC Riverside. Fellow Big West member Cal State Northridge will be in attendance, with USC the most notable non-conference attendee.
 
DETAILS
at Chris Rinne Twilight
Friday, April 22
Field Events — 2:15 p.m. | Track Events — 5 p.m.
UC Riverside Track & Field Stadium | Riverside, Calif.
Live Results | Meet Info & Schedule (PDF)
 
ATTENDING UC SAN DIEGO HOME EVENTS
For the latest information on attending home events, please visit our Spectator Information Page. Parking permits are required seven days per week at UC San Diego.
 
UC SAN DIEGO AND COVID-19
UC San Diego's nationally renowned Return to Learn program was created to return to in-person teaching, learning, conducting pioneering research and serving our communities in the safest way possible. The program has three adaptive pillars that are central to our strategy to resume on-campus activity: risk mitigation, viral detection, and intervention.
 
For the latest information on UC San Diego and COVID-19, please visit the University's Return to Learn site.
 
CHRIS RINNE TWILIGHT HISTORY
The Tritons had a fantastic trip to the Chris Rinne Twilight meet last year, their first ever visit to the event. Blake Walkowiak set the current UC San Diego discus record at last year's meet, and Jake Selstad set the meet record in the 800-meter run. In total, the Tritons tallied eight event wins and four top ten marks in program history. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
UC San Diego split their squad for the first time this season last week, with scholar-athletes competing at both the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California, and the Beach Invitational in Long Beach. Eight distance runners set new top ten all time marks in Azusa, with three more Tritons doing so in Long Beach. For a complete recap of the Bryan Clay Invitational, click here, and for a complete Beach Invitational recap, click here.
 
JIMENEZ NAMED TRITON ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (APR. 18)
Junior Kalobe Jimenez stood out among the eleven Tritons to set top ten marks in UC San Diego history on the team's first split squad weekend April 15-16. He was the only one to set multiple top ten all time marks, doing so in the 110-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash at the Beach Invitational to earn Triton Athlete of the Week honors.
 
SELSTAD EARNS TRITON ATHLETE OF THE WEEK HONORS (APR. 11)
Senior Jake Selstad was one of four record breakers at the Triton Invitational April 8-9, setting a new UC San Diego record in the men's 800-meter run. Selstad became the first Triton to complete the race in under 1:50, placing first with a time of 1:49.97, earning Triton Athlete of the Week for his performance.
 
SALERNO AND AHNER ENTER FINAL SEASON
Head coaches Tony Salerno and Darcy Ahner announced that the 2022 season will be their last at the helm of UC San Diego's track and field teams. The duo, who have over 70 combined years of coaching experience, have been fixtures in La Jolla since the turn of the century, and have served as the Tritons' co-head coaches since 2007. For more on Ahner and Salerno, click here.
 
ON THE MOVE
After 20 seasons playing as an NCAA Division II team, the entire athletics program is in its second year of a four-year transition to NCAA Division I, culminating in full DI status as a member of the Big West Conference for the 2024-25 academic year. At that time, all sports will be eligible for conference and NCAA postseason play.
 
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
The 2022 track and field squad is composed of four graduate students, 24 seniors, 36 juniors, 14 sophomores and 15 freshmen. All but four men and three women hail from California.
 
NEW TRITONS ON THE BLOCK
The freshman class consists of eight women and seven men. The women's rookies are Julia Di Silvestri (Ventura/Ventura HS), Idara Ibekwe (Riverside/John W. North HS), Phoebe Ladd (Irvine/Woodbridge HS), Sylvana Northrop (Cupertino/Monta Vista HS), Sarah Paino (Anaheim/Canyon HS), Lauren Pritchard (Monterey/Carmel HS), Emily Richards (Aliso Viejo/Aliso Niguel HS), and Kelsie Yamano (San Clemente/San Clemente HS).
 
The men's freshman class is Colin Beale (Manhattan Beach/Mira Costa HS), Miles Bennett (Castro Valley/Castro Valley HS), Charlie Frank (Dearborn, Mich/Dearborn HS), Nathan Garderes (Thousand Oaks/Thousand Oaks HS), Nathaniel Grant (Rancho Cucamonga/Rancho Cucamonga HS), Jordan Haney (Carlsbad/San Marcos HS), and Andrew Villapudua (South Pasadena/South Pasadena Senior HS).
 
RETURNING RECORD SETTERS
UC San Diego returns a wealth of talent for the 2022 season. A total of 26 scholar athletes on the 2022 track and field roster have posted results among the top ten best in Tritons' history, with three currently holding UC San Diego records. Graduate student Blake Walkowiak set the Tritons' discus record of 176'10" last season, and fellow grad student Evan Shimasaki set the record in pole vault a season earlier, clearing 16'6.75" in 2020. Senior Max Halvax's record 400 meter time of 47.84 has stood since 2019.
 
UP NEXT
UC San Diego will split their squad again next week, sending a select group of scholar-athletes to Iowa for the Drake Relays, while a majority of the team will remain in Southern California, competing at UC Irvine's Steve Scott Invitationals. Both meets will take place April 29-30.
 
WHY THE TRITONS?
The Triton is described as the offspring of Poseidon and Amphitrite, a demigod of the sea with a lower part of the body like that of a fish. It is known as a mighty and fierce sea warrior. Given UC San Diego's close proximity to the Pacific Ocean and its connections with the world-famous Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Triton became our mascot in 1964.
 
UC SAN DIEGO ATHLETICS LAUNCHES WEEKLY PODCAST
As part of UC San Diego's transition to Division I, the Athletics Department launched a weekly podcast, Tritoncast. Produced by UC San Diego Athletics Communications, Tritoncast features in-depth interviews with UC San Diego personalities including scholar-athletes, alums, coaches, and administrators. Triton fans will get an inside look at the UC San Diego Athletics Department as the program transitions to NCAA Division I and the Big West Conference. New episodes of Tritoncast are available each week on the most popular podcasting apps, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Audible, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Vurbl. In addition, each episode can be heard and downloaded on UCSDTritons.com. For individual show information and listen links, follow Tritoncast on Twitter @Tritoncast.
 
GET SOCIAL WITH UC SAN DIEGO TRACK & FIELD
Keep up with the Tritons all season long on social media through Twitter and Instagram. The team's handle is @ucsdtrackfield.
 
FOR THE YOUNGER CROWD
Got some young Triton fans in your family? If they are eighth grade or under, check out the Junior Triton Club. Membership includes a free t-shirt, admission to over 100 UC San Diego home athletic events, and much more!
 
GEAR
For the latest Triton apparel and accessories, click here.
 
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program has begun a new era as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have garnered prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.