Cal Track & Field: David Foster Sizzles to Wind-Aided 9.91

The junior advances to the NCAA nationals in Eugene in both the 100 meters and the 4x100 relay

Cal junior David Foster / Photo by Steve Pretre

Cal junior David Foster, already the school-recordholder in the 100-meter dash, ran a blistering wind-aided time of 9.91 seconds at the NCAA West Regional meet Friday — almost certainly the fastest all-conditions time ever recorded by a Golden Bears sprinter.

The 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 all-conditions time in program history.

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The time is faster than the 2024 wind-legal world-leading mark of 9.93 by 18-year-old Florida high schooler Christian Miller, but the wind reading makes it ineligible for any record purposes.

Foster, whose wind-legal program record is 10.14 seconds, was aided Friday by a backing wind of 2.9 meters per second. That’s equivalent to about 6.5 miles per hour. Only times in sprint events run at 2.0 mps or lower count for record purposes.

His clocking was not even the fastest of the day at the meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Houston duo of Louie Hinchcliffe and Shaun Maswanganyi ran 9.84 and 9.89, respectively, in a different heat, their times benefiting from a 2.5 mps wind.

All three qualified for the NCAA nationals, June 5-8 at Eugene, Oregon.

Even wind-aided, there is no questioning Foster’s mark is fast. Very fast.

Omari Lewis of Trinidad and Tobago owns the fastest wind-aided time in the world this season, a 9.88 clocking aided by a substantial wind of 5.1 mps (11.4 mph). Two others have run 9.91 or better. Foster had previously run 10.06 wind-aided.

A native of Katy, Texas, Foster broke Atlee Mahorn’s 34-year-old Cal record of 10.18 earlier this season. According to the World Athletics website, Mahorn never ran a faster wind-aided time than 10.01, and that came in 1991, a year after the Canadian graduated from Cal.

He will run in one of three NCAA semifinal races at Eugene, with 24 qualifiers from the West and East regional meet vying for eight lanes in the final. Auburn junior Favour Ashe won the East regional 100 meters with a wind-legal time of 9.94, equal to the fastest by a collegiate runner this season.

Foster is the first Cal male sprinter to advance to the NCAA Championship in the 100 meters since Willie White in 1960.

Foster also helped anchored Cal’s 4x100 relay to a berth at the NCAA nationals on Friday. The foursome of Chase Williams, George Monroe, Mason Magnum and Foster clocked a season-best 39.28 to finish third in its heat and improve its mark as the No. 2 entry on Cal’s all-time list.

The school record is 39.11, set in 1975 and featured future NFL wide receiver Wes Walker running anchor.

Houston posted the fastest time of the day at 38.80, although the time five teams coming out of the East ran faster on Friday, led by Kentucky at 38.53.

Four Cal field event athletes qualified for Eugene during Wednesday’s competition: pole vaulter Skyler Magula, shot putter Jeff Duensing and hammer throwers Rowan Hamilton and Ivar Moisander.

The Cal women have yet to earn a berth at the nationals, although Jada Hicks in the 100 hurdles and Aysha Shaheed in the 100 meters will compete for berths in Saturday’s quarterfinal races.

Caisa-Marie Lindfors has a good chance to qualify Saturday in the women’s discus, where she has the to mark in the West field.

NOTE: Cal junior Mykolas Alekna, the world-recordholder in the discus, remained undefeated in three outings this season, winning Thursday at the Jõhvi 2024 meeting in Estonia. Alekna, who is redshirting this collegiate season to prepare for the Paris Olympics, threw 225-9 (68.82 meters) to prevail in a field that included international stars Kristjan Ceh (225-1 / 68.60) of Slovenia, Matthew Denny (223-0 / 67.99) of Australia and Daniel Stahl (218-9 / 66.69) of Sweden.