No. 15 Cal track and field moves forward on a day of reflection
On Saturday, the Bears hosted the Brutus Hamilton Invitational — their final home meet of the 2022 outdoor track season. Seeing as this was the team’s last competition in Edwards Stadium, the meet doubled as a Senior Day celebration, a day dedicated to celebrate the team’s 29 outgoing veterans, who contributed toward a program that is currently at a zenith higher than it has reached in years.
Senior Day is a designation that welcomes reflection, a look back at the path one traveled en route to their current position in time and space. But if the Bears were looking back during the Brutus Hamilton Invitational, it wasn’t evident; a slew of new records and PRs suggest that all competitors were facing forward.
As always, Cal’s throwing corps showed out. In the men’s shot put event, the Bears took the top five spots. It was none other than senior and All-American Josh Johnson who landed atop of the podium with a throw of 19.63 meters giving him his second-best showing of the 2022 season so far.
And, of course, fellow senior Camryn Rogers had to offer Edwards Stadium a parting gift. This came in the form of the Olympian hitting a mark of 74.80 meters in the hammer throw — a new stadium record, and even more impressively, the second-best throw in the world this year.
Younger throwers showed out as well: Junior Anna Purchase, who finished behind only Rogers in the women’s hammer throw with a toss of 70.63 meters, walked away with the second-best throw by any woman from Great Britain and the best throw by any woman besides Rogers in Cal history. And, as if that wasn’t enough, sophomore Ivar Moisander flung for 66.40 meters in the discus throw, putting him fourth in school history.
A handful of sprinters turned in special performances as well. Seniors Ezinne Abba and Maisie Stevens, joined by sophomore Jada Hicks and freshman Aysha Shaheed, combined to set a school record of 44.25 seconds in the 4×100-meter relay. Abba also ran the 200-meter dash later in the day, and her time of 22.99 seconds was good for second in program history.
On the men’s side, underclassmen David Foster (10.42 seconds in the 100-meter dash) and George Monroe (21.30 seconds in the 200 dash) continued to impress. Junior Kamau Carlisle — who tends to compete in long jump for the Bears — also turned in a stellar performance, running a time of 10.65 seconds in the 100 dash.
It would be impossible to give every great showing at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational its due, but among the others were a 1-2-3 finish for seniors Marea Zlatunich, Meredith Corda and Jessica Nye in the 1500-meter run (Zlatunich and Corda earned PRs), a time of 1:50.19 for senior Moises Medrano in the 800-meter run and a mark of 5.21 meters for freshman Tyler Burns in the pole vault — which lands him in a tie for eighth in program history.
All in all, the Bears set 28 personal records at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational. While it was a day dedicated to recognizing seniors and all they’ve accomplished, that didn’t stop Cal from setting out to accomplish more. This team’s potential only seems greater with each passing week.
Ethan Moutes covers track and field. Contact him at emoutes@dailycal.org.