No. 15 Cal continues to climb following Stanford Invitational
Cal looks more and more formidable with every passing week. Don’t just take my word for it — look at the USTFCCCA rankings, where the Bears’ men’s and women’s teams both rose to No. 15 in the poll released after this weekend’s Stanford Invitational.
So what took the men there from the No.18 spot, and the women from No. 20?
Throwers have been perhaps the most integral part of the blue and gold’s success this season. That trend continued in Palo Alto, as Camryn Rogers and Anna Purchase went 1-2 in the women’s hammer throw.
It was another dominant showing by Rogers, whose mark of 74.18 meters was the second-farthest of any woman in the world so far this outdoor season. Needless to say, Rogers earned the Pac-12’s Women’s Field Athlete of the Week award for her performance. Purchase’s throw, meanwhile, made her the second-farthest-throwing woman in program history, behind only Rogers.
Sprinters Ezinne Abba and Maisie Stevens also turned in a 1-2 finish for the women’s track and field squad. The two turned in top-five times in Cal history, with Abba running 11.33 seconds in her preliminary heat, and Stevens running 11.43 seconds. The pair also finished 1-2 in the 200-meter dash, and recorded top-10 program times. In the 100-meter hurdles, Jada Hicks also put herself in elite company by running 13.63 seconds, good for seventh in school history.
Several more Cal women turned in performances that required a little editing of the record books — Erin Archibeck went 16:08.05 in the 5000-meter run for the program’s ninth-best time, while pole vaulter Amari Turner’s clearance of 4.05 meters puts her fifth in that event.
The men more than held their own as well, as Di’Niko Bates, Hakim McMorris, Jake Porter and Garrett MacQuiddy all walked away with both a PR and a top-three finish in their respective events.
It was an especially great showing by MacQuiddy, who ran 3:41.62 in the 1500-meter run to finish just half a second behind Olympian Ryoma Aoki and ahead of everyone else in the formidable field. Among those to finish behind MacQuiddy was Finley McLear, who placed second at last year’s NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in the 800-meter run.
Freshman David Foster also impressed, running 10.52 and 10.54 in his preliminary heat and then in the final of the 100-meter dash. These times were just 0.01 and 0.03 seconds off of his college PR in that event.
Evidently the Bears are firing on all cylinders, so it’s no wonder why they find themselves ranked among the nation’s top-15 teams for both men and women. While the Pac-12 is an unkind conference to be a part of (the men rank behind Stanford, USC and Arizona State, while the women are behind Oregon and USC), Cal is capable of posing a real threat to just about any team in the country.
This weekend, the blue and gold showed that they don’t fade under the bright lights at pivotal meets — in fact, they only shine brighter.
Ethan Moutes covers track and field. Contact him at emoutes@dailycal.org.