SAN DIEGO – Across town at the 45th annual Aztec Invitational, UC San Diego competed Friday and Saturday against some of the nation's top track and field teams. The Tritons posted 27 top 10 finishes with five new or improved top 10 all-time marks.
Battling the southern California rain on Saturday, the men finished sixth overall scoring 56 points while the women scored 26 points to finish eleventh.
ON THE WOMEN'S SIDE
On Friday,
Michelle Huerta led the Triton women with a ninth-place finish in the 5000m with a time of 17:55.07. She was followed by teammate
Jenna Satovsky in tenth with a time of 18:10.64. On the field side,
Alexandra Farfaras and
Gabriella Lopez represented in the hammer throw taking 12th and 13th.
In the 100m hurdles,
Amari Jenkins ran a personal record with a time of 14.28. The time earned her a 20th place finish at the invite and moved her into 10th place in the Big West. Moving into the third-place top 10 all-time,
Maxine Schultz ran 55.21 in the 400m dash finishing seventh at the invite. Her time now puts her fourth in the Big West in the event. Posting another top 10 finish for the gold and blue,
Isabelle Shepherd ran a time of 2:15.40 in the 800m for tenth place.
Running in a downpour, Jenkins finished 11th in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:03.01 and moves into the 10th spot overall in the Big West. Schultz earned another top 10 finish in the 200m dash with a time of 24.75.
Posting the second fastest time of the season,
Lauren Schiele,
Idara Ibekwe,
Kate MacNaughton, and
Maxine Schultz earned third place in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:46.46.
On the field side,
Tamara Aimufia led the Tritons in the long jump with a personal record. The freshman jumped a distance of 19'9" for a fifth-place finish at the invite and the top mark in the Big West. In pole vault,
Julia Di Silvestri finished seventh with a height of 12' 2.5." Throwing a distance of 116' 6," Farfaras took 11th in discus. In shot put,
Gabriella Lopez finished eighth with a distance of 35' 3.75."
ON THE MEN'S SIDE
UC San Diego's highest finish came in the 1500m posted by
Zeno Castiglioni. Finishing first, Castiglioni ran a time of 3:49.97 and now leads the Big West. In the same event,
Charlie Frank took seventh with
Andrew Schulz taking eighth, and
Jordan Haney taking tenth. Running his outdoor debut,
Jeremy Frank finished ninth in the 110m hurdles with a time of 15.06. In the 400m dash, Jake Heilein finished 13th with a time of 48.67.
Nolan Crespo represented in the 100m with a time of 11.06 for the 15th place finish. Three Tritons finished in the top 10 in the 800m with
Kai Dettman leading the way in fourth place with a time of 1:53.85.
Shane Badcock finished fifth with a time of 1:54.00 and
Thomas Fry taking eighth with a time of 1:55.51. Another three Tritons finished top 10 in the 400m hurdles with
Liam Urich leading in eighth with a time of 57.66.
Henry Xiao finished ninth with a time of 1:00.98 and
Zachary Matlock finished 1:02.26. Crespo earned a seventh-place finish in the 200m posting a time of 21.96.
Finishing third,
Frank McGowan,
Jake Heinlein,
Anthony Flowers, and
Blake Armstrong ran a time of 3:26.37.
Getting things started in the field on Friday afternoon,
Matthew Amankonah earned third place with a mark of 174' 8" in the hammer throw.
Ian Gammal joined the senior with a ninth-place finish in the same event.
Zavier Annis jumped 42' 11.5" in the triple jump for sixth place. Returning on Saturday, Amankonah led the Triton men in shot put finishing fifth.
Nathan Tripp finished sixth in the same event with a distance of 51' 1.5." Gammal joined the seniors with a ninth-place finish. Representing in discus, Gammal finished 11th with a mark of 121' 20."
UP NEXT
The Tritons travel north to the Bay Area for the Stanford Invitational hosted by the Cardinal March 22 and 23.
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 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 NCAA Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.
