James Molgaard / KLC fotos
World record-holder and The Bowerman candidate Mykolas Alekna looks to claim his first NCAA title this week at Hayward Field.
5 Women, 3 Men To Compete At Hayward Field
Eight student-athletes from the California track & field team will appear on one of the biggest stages of the sport this week, closing out the collegiate season with the NCAA Outdoor Championships at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. All events from the competition will be streamed on the ESPN family of networks.
Each event has 24 entrants (12 from the West region and 12 from the East region). The top 8 finishers will be named First-Team All-Americans, while places 9-16 will be dubbed Second-Team All-Americans.
As usual, several throwers at the NCAA Championships will be wearing the Blue & Gold.
World record-holder Mykolas Alekna seeks his first NCAA title in the men’s discus, having placed second as a freshman in 2022 and third in 2023 before redshirting his junior season in preparation for the Olympic Games (where he earned a silver medal). At just 22 years old, he is the only man in history to have surpassed the 75-meter barrier, posting a mark of 75.56m (247-10) in Ramona, Oklahoma, in April. He later picked up the ACC title with a new meet and Kentner Stadium record, then broke both the meet and E. B. Cushing Stadium records at the NCAA West Regional with a mark of 72.12m (236-7). Last Thursday, Alekna was named to The Bowerman Watch List for the 23rd time in his career, more than any thrower and third-most of all men in history.
Fellow 2024 Olympian Caisa-Marie Lindfors will be the last Cal athlete to compete this week, entering the meet as the No. 6 seed in the women’s discus. Her season-best throw of 61.52m (201-10) from the 130th Big Meet, while short of her school-record PR of 62.48m (205-0), was enough to cement her as the second-best discus thrower in the conference and third in the West region. Lindfors also claimed second place at the ACC Championships, as well as a third-place finish in the shot put. She last appeared at the NCAA Championships in 2022, where she finished fourth while competing for Florida State.
The women’s hammer will feature three Cal throwers for the first time in program history, also the largest group in the event since USC fielded three in 2012. ACC silver medalist and Cyprus native Valentina Savva, the nation’s top freshman and No. 8 overall, is the highest seed of the trio with a personal best of 69.20m (227-0), which she set at the Mt. SAC Relays in April for a Cal freshman record and the Bears’ third-best mark of all time. Savva is just four inches away from a Cypriot national record in the event, which currently stands at 69.29m (227-4).
Giavonna Meeks, a transfer from Vanderbilt, claimed ACC gold with a personal-best and Kentner Stadium record mark of 67.86m (222-8, fourth-best in program history) to pair with her conference indoor weight throw title, while 2023 Second-Team All-American Audrey Jacobs returns to the NCAA Championships for the first time in two years after an injury during the 2024 outdoor season. Jacobs boasts a season-best of 64.94m (213-0) and hopes to surpass her PR of 65.22m (213-11) that ranks sixth-best in Cal history.
The Bears will have an entry in the women’s shot put at NCAAs for the first time since 2001 after Lucija Leko, who is in her first season at Cal after spending a year at the University of Zagreb, posted a school-record 17.10m (56-1.25) two weeks ago at the NCAA West Regional to qualify for the final. In addition to placing well at NCAAs, her goal is to surpass the Croatian national record of 17.52m (57-5.75).
The Golden Bears’ two track athletes set to race – Garrett MacQuiddy (1500m) and Johnny Goode (400m) – have both posted historic seasons.
MacQuiddy has competed at Cal for his entire collegiate career, last reaching the outdoor championships in 2023 and finishing 20th in the semifinals before redshirting the 2024 season. He broke a 10-year-old school record in the 1500m in April at the Bryan Clay Invitational, finishing the race in 3:38.50, and followed that up with a silver medal at the ACC Outdoor Championships for his first conference podium finish. To advance to the final in Eugene, he will either need to finish among the top five in his heat or post one of the two fastest additional times among both heats.
Goode, a transfer from the College of San Mateo, crushed the 40-year-old school record in the 400m by .44 seconds last month at the ACC Outdoor Championships (45.02) to clinch the bronze medal. He has also posted the third-fastest 200m time in school history at 20.71, as well as an all-conditions personal best of 20.60. Goode will be the first Cal man to compete in the 400m (excluding all 440y competitors) at the NCAA Outdoor Championships since Dave Archibald and Forrest Beaty in 1964. He will need to be one of the top 2 finishers in his heat – or run one of the next three-fastest times of any competitor to not earn the auto-bid – to progress to the final.
NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – June 11-14 (Hayward Field – Eugene, Oregon)
Schedule
Live Results
Live Streams – Cal Events
EVENT SCHEDULE (All Times PT)
Wednesday, June 11
4:21 p.m. – Men’s 1500m Semifinals (Garrett MacQuiddy – Heat 1)
5:41 p.m. – Men’s 400m Semifinals (Johnny Goode – Heat 3)
Thursday, June 12
1:30 p.m. – Women’s Hammer Final (Giavonna Meeks – Flight 1; Valentina Savva – Flight 2; Audrey Jacobs – Flight 2)
6:10 p.m. – Women’s Shot Put Final (Lucija Leko – Flight 1)
Friday, June 13
2:15 p.m. – Men’s Discus Final (Mykolas Alekna – Flight 2)
5:12 p.m. – Men’s 1500m Final (if qualified – Garrett MacQuiddy)
6:02 p.m. – Men’s 400m Final (if qualified – Johnny Goode)
Saturday, June 14
12:30 p.m. – Women’s Discus Final (Caisa-Marie Lindfors – Flight 2)
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