Erin Huang
UC San Diego track and field blazed past its Big West competitors at the Triton Invitational on Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5, breaking school records in front of the home crowd. Held at Triton Track and Field Stadium, the 32nd annual invitational was UCSD’s lone home meet of the season and an opportunity to celebrate the nine graduating Triton athletes.
Two school records fell on Friday afternoon alone. With one month left before UCSD’s first Division-I conference championship, the Tritons looked to chase down personal records and Big West qualifier marks.
Sophomore sprinter Anthony Flowers took home UCSD’s first win of the meet with a time of 20.88 seconds in the 200-meter on Friday afternoon, breaking his own record from last month. His personal-best time is the second-fastest 200 in the Big West this season.
“I definitely expected breaking [the record] again,” Flowers said in a post-race interview with The UCSD Guardian. “I was really looking for a PR, which I ended up getting. I hadn’t PR’d since high school and then I finally got to break that with the 20.88 yesterday. I usually have a 4×100 and 100 before that, so I wanted to take advantage of having fresh legs under me.”
Junior distance runner Sylvana Northrop followed suit, smashing her own 5,000-meter school record by 10 seconds and winning the event in a blistering 16:24.50. Northrop set the previous school record one month ago at the second outdoor track meet of the season. Her mark was just 0.19 seconds behind the facility record that was set in 2023.
Friday’s standout performances also included the women’s triple jump and the men’s 10,000-meter race. Freshman Makena Bailey led the Tritons in the women’s triple jump, tying for second with a mark of 11.71 meters. UCSD dominated the event, putting up the next five highest marks out of the field of 23.
Distance seniors Jordan Haney and Miles Takiguchi went 1-2 in the last track event on Friday evening — the men’s 10,000 — capping off an explosive first day at the Triton Track.
Haney, who has a 29:59 personal record in the event, won with a time of 30:42. He led from the first lap, running an aggressive solo race in an unsuccessful chase for a personal best. Takiguchi followed just over 20 seconds behind to cement UCSD’s double podium finish.
“Time wise, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but this race is also kind of special to me because before I was on the team, I did a lot of 10K time trials on the track here as a freshman,” Haney said. “I walked on as a sophomore, and to have my last regular season 10K on the track at night, doing [it] alone, and having the whole team there cheering was pretty awesome.”
The Tritons kept up the momentum early Saturday morning with a win in the men’s 4×100-meter relay. Flowers — in his second victory of the weekend — joined freshman Brycen Tablit, junior Kian Maher, and sophomore Brandon Orlow to take first place for UCSD.
Their 41.07 time gave them the win, though it fell slightly behind the school record of 40.57 that they set last month. Flowers, who hoped to improve on another one of his records this weekend, stumbled and got off to an unfavorable start.
“That didn’t go as planned,” Flowers said. “We had some issues with the officials, for sure. I was not even anywhere near my zone, and they set off the race, so I had to run back 50 meters, back to my lane and get ready to get the baton. I barely got the baton, so that definitely impacted our race a lot.”
The Tritons also put up a strong showing in both the men’s and women’s 1,500-meter. Northrop held off an Irvine athlete to take first place with a time of 4:25.69. Distance sophomore Camille Lindsay and senior Kelsie Yamano followed close behind to take third and fourth. Distance senior Nathan Garderes picked up another podium finish for the Tritons, clocking a 3:51.26 time to take third in the men’s 1,500.
UCSD had less success in the hurdles — graduate student Amari Jenkins, No. 4 on UCSD’s all-time 100-meter hurdles list, took a painful fall on two hurdles before the line and could not finish the race. She would come back from the DNF to place fifth in the 400-meter hurdles later that afternoon with a time just 0.86 seconds shy of her personal best.
Junior Allyson Abandonato took third in the women’s 800-meter with a personal best time of 2:09.09 that puts her at second on the Triton all-time list. On the men’s side, sophomore Shane Badcock and senior Kai Dettman battled a tight field in the fastest heat of the men’s 800. Badcock was in the lead with 200 meters remaining, but an Irvine athlete found the last gear to overtake him and win. Badcock placed third with a time of 1:51.08, and Dettman was close behind in fourth at 1:51.42.
To round off his trio of sprint events this weekend, Flowers competed in the 400-meter and placed 15th overall with a time of 48.84. For Flowers, who specializes in the 100 and 200, the 400 was a chance to train outside of his usual distance. Ahead of him, an Azusa Pacific University athlete ran 45.80 to break the 45.83 stadium record from 1997.
Off the track, Tritons dominated the shot put events. Junior Feyi Olukanni launched a personal best shot put throw of 15.30 meters to take fifth place and move up to No. 2 on the UCSD all-time women’s shot put list. Olukanni’s performance puts her at second in the Big West this season. On the men’s side, freshman Tyler Lange’s mark of 15.40 meters was a personal best that put him in third for shot put at the Triton Invitational.
With the outdoor season winding down, the Tritons have two more chances to improve their marks and chase personal records — the upcoming Mt. Sac Relays in Los Angeles from April 17 to 19 and the Steve Scott Invite in Irvine on May 2 and 3.
UCSD track and field athletes who met the Big West qualifying standards are looking forward to competing in their first-ever postseason championship.
“Honestly, I think this is the best group we’ve had at this school, definitely since we’ve been D-I but even, of course, when we were D-II,” Flowers said. “I’m confident in our guys and what we can produce on the track. We definitely have a chance to place at least top three in the Big West. I have no fear or [doubt] of that.”
The Big West track and field championships will take place in Long Beach from May 9 to 17.