Another Big Meet Record for Mykolas Alekna in His Edwards Finale

In the 130 years of the Big Meet between Cal and Stanford, Mykolas Alekna has competed just three times.

But the world-recordholder in the men’s discus set a Big Meet record for the third time in as many tries Saturday in likely his final appearance at Edwards Stadium, helping the Golden Bears to a 95-65 victory over Stanford.

Cal has won the men’s meet four years in a row and nine times over the past 12. In a track and field rivalry that began in 1893 — just one year after the first Big Game football matchup — the Bears now have a 75-53-2 series lead.

Stanford’s women won for the second year in a row, prevailing 87-72 after outscoring the Bears 48-3 in races covering 400 meters through 3,000 meters plus the two relays.

Alekna, who broke his own world record last month, threw 233 feet, 10 inches (71.29 meters) on the first of his six attempts, eclipsing his own stadium record and his two-year-old Big Meet standard.

The Big Meet records he set in 2022 and '23 also established collegiate records. His college record now is his world standard of 247-11 (75.56).

The 22-year-old Lithuanian, twice a medalist at the world championships and a silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, went on to twice more top 70 meters on Saturday.

Alekna will complete his final college season over the next couple months, chasing what he hopes will be his first NCAA title. Then he plans to return home, diploma in hand, to prepare for the World Championships at Tokyo in September.

Alekna and Cal’s throws crew outscored their Stanford counterparts 31-5 in four events to help the Bears dominate the team competition.

Jared Freeman led a 1-2-3 sweep in the hammer throw with a mark of 215-9 and was second to Alekna in the discus with a mark of 196-1 (59.77) that ranks 10th on Cal’s career list. Charlie Deng captured the javelin with a throw of 195-8 (59.65).

Cal senior Johnny Goode set a Big Meet record and barely missed his personal best with a 45.82 winning mark in the 400 meters. He eclipsed the previous meet standard of 46.37, set by Stanford’s Rene Rodriguez in 1994.

Goode also ran the decisive second leg on the Bears’ winning 4x100 relay (40.15), with Trevor Rogers, also a freshman wide receiver on the Cal football team, anchoring the unit.

Other Cal winners on the men’s side included Aiden Lippert in the 200 (21.21), Garrett MacQuiddy in the 1,500 (3:44.42), Donovan Bailey in the 110 hurdles (14.13), Jason Plumb in the long jump (24-9 3/4 - 7.56 meters), Kosi Nwaford in the triple jump (50-3 1/4 - 15.32 meters) and Riley Knott in the high jump (6-8 3/4 - 2.05 meters).

In the video above, Asjah Atkinson outsprints Cal teammate Saqqara Ruffin to the finish line in the 100-meter hurdles.

The Cal women throwers were just as impressive outscoring the Cardinal 32-4, including sweeps in the javelin and hammer throw. Torre Anderson won the javelin (114-1 - 34.78 meters) and Valentina Savva took the hammer (226-5 - 69.03 meters).

School-recordholder Caisa-Marie Lindfors took the discus with a Big Meet record throw of 201-10 (61.52).

Lucija Leko captured the shot put with a winning toss of 52-2 3/4 (16.53) with third-place finisher Giovanna Meeks moving to No. 9 on the program’s all-time list with a mark of 50-8 3/4 (15.46).

Ali Sahaida won the pole vault by clearing 14-1 1/4 (4.30 meters), moving her to a share of second place on the Bears’ all-time list.

Other Cal winners among the women were Nairobi Smith in the 200 (wind-aided 24.02), Asjah Atkinson in the 100 hurdles (13.44), Loreal Wilson in the 400 hurdles (59.32) and Myla Canty in the triple jump (42-6 - 12.29 meters).

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