Cal Track & Field: Bears' Early-Season Success Continues at Stanford Invitational

The Cal track and field teams are enjoying an early-season renaissance that extends beyond the Bears’ superb throwing group.

At the Stanford Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Cal athletes recorded 12 all-time top-10 program marks and 27 personal bests.

It’s the kind of performance that explains how Cal’s men (No. 18) and women (No. 20) landed in the national rankings last week.

The women, in particular, had a productive weekend.

Senior sprinters Ezinne Abba and Maisie Stevens finished 1-2 in the 100 meters on Friday, then duplicated that in the 200 on Saturday. Abba, who set Cal’s school record in the 100 (11.30 seconds) last season, flirted with that by clocking 11.33 in the prelims Friday. Stevens moved to No. 5 on Cal’s all-time list with an 11.43 mark, also in the prelims.

In the 200, Abba ran a winning time of 23.18, climbing to No. 3 all-time at Cal. Stevens’ runner-up time of 23.72 is 10th in program history.

Abba and Stevens teamed with freshmen Jahzara Richardson and Aysha Shaheed to win the 4x100 relay in a time of 44.45 that ranks third all-time at Cal.

Said Cal head coach Robyn Johnson: ”Ezinne is really coming into her own – coach (Ronnye) Harrison has done an incredible job with her, and she's getting better every single week, not to mention the season that Maisie is having.”

Camryn Rogers, the headliner on the Cal women’s team, made her outdoor debut Friday and seemed in mid-season form. In her first hammer throw competition since finishing fifth at the Tokyo Olympic last summers, the senior from Canada won her speciality with a throw of 74.18 meters (243 feet, 4 inches) that ranks No. 2 on the early-season world list.

All six throws in Rogers’ series would have ranked No. 1 on the 2022 collegiate list.

She won by 21 feet, with junior teammate Anna Purchase finishing second with a personal-best throw of 67.77 (222-4) that improves her own No. 2 all-time Cal mark and boosts her to No. 6 in the NCAA this season.

Freshman Mykolas Alekna, who made an NCAA-leading throw in the discus a week ago, bypassed the Stanford meet.

Other athletes who inked their names on Cal’s top-10 all-time charts at Stanford:

— Junior Amari Turner cleared 4.05 meters (13-5 1/2) to place second in the women’s pole vault, which is fifth-best in program history.

— Junior Krissy Smoot finished second in the women’s shot with a toss of 15.47 meters (50-9 1/4) to rank No. 6 all-time at Cal.

— Sophomore Jada Hicks was second in the 100 hurdles in 13.63, also No. 6 all-time.

— Garrett MacQuiddy ran 3:41.62 to finish second (behind post-collegiate Olympian Ryoma Aoki) in the men’s 1,500, climbing to No. 7 all-time.

— In the women’s triple jump, sophomore Busola Akinduro made a winning leap of 13.01 (42-8 1/4) to No. 8 in program annals while senior Felicia Renelus was second at 12.83 (42-1 1/4) for No. 10 all-time.

— Graduate Erin Archibeck ran 16:08.05 in the women’s 5,000 to move to No. 9.

Cover photo of senior sprinter Ezinne Abba courtesy of Cal Athletics

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo