Junior Jaci Powell, the only Cal athlete at the meet, was able to set three personal records on route to a fourth-place finish in the competition.

Powell competes in the heptathlon, a contest that consists of seven events — the 100-meter hurdles, 200-meter sprint, high jump, shot put, long jump, javelin throw and the 800-meter race. The athlete with the most combined points wins the competition.

Though Powell was there without her team, she found that she was still able to focus and compete at a high level.

“It’s always nice to have your team there, but then again, it’s an individual sport,” Powell said. “So I was focusing on just me.”

The first day of the competition featured four of the seven events — including two that Powell set personal records in. Powell set her first of three PRs in the 100-meter hurdles, which she ran in 14.07 seconds to earn a third-place finish.

However, Powell struggled in the high jump, finishing in last place among 10 competitors. In shot put, she could only muster a seventh-place finish.

Powell bounced back when she put together her second personal record of the day, posting a time of 24.86 seconds in the 200-meter sprint. Powell came in second to only the blazingly fast Keia Pinnick of Arizona State, who was 0.35 seconds faster.

With the first day already in the books, Powell only had three events left to improve her seventh-place standing.

“I’m competitive,” Powell said. “I don’t want to see seventh place. And I didn’t see myself staying in seventh place, because long jump and javelin are two of my better events.”

On Sunday, Powell immediately rebounded. She placed third in the long jump, and in the javelin throw, she dominated with a 145-foot toss that was enough to earn Powell her third PR and her only first place finish of the weekend.

“It’s just been going well,” Powell said of the her performance in the javelin toss. “It’s just really exciting when you’re working on these things in practice, and they come together in an event.”

In the last event of the competition, Powell placed sixth in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:23.19.

When the dust finally settled, Powell managed to jump up the ranks to a final position of fourth place in the overall point standings — just six points outside of the top three. Arizona State’s Pinnick took home the heptathlon’s top spot with a score that was a full 450 points more than Powell’s score.

Despite not being atop the leaderboard, Powell posted the best finish by a Cal athlete in the last eight years. Her total of 5351 points, which topped her previous record by more than 150 points, is the highest score a Bear has achieved since 2004.

“Some pieces didn’t go as planned, but that’s just the way this event works,” Powell said. “The score overall is a PR, and I’m happy with it.”

Contact Riley McAtee at rmcatee@dailycal.org

The post Jaci Powell sets PRs in 4th place finish at Pac-12 Multi-event Championships appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Maier led for most of the race before Texas A&M’s Natosha Rogers and Wichita State’s Aliphine Tuliamuk surpassed her to set the pace. She crossed the line in 32:47.20, trailing behind Rogers and Tuliamuk by six seconds or less.

Although Maier missed her personal best at the Payton Jordan Invitational on Apr. 29 by a large gap of 35 seconds, and she narrowly missed the times of two of her opponents that day, Maier still managed to place in the NCAA top three for the 10,000 meters. Her third place finish matches the top NCAA 10K performance for the Bears, achieved by Kirsten O’Hara in 1988.

Maier’s superior season began with an 11th place finish at the NCAA cross country meet, which tied for the best result in school history. She later earned national runner-up honors in the 3000 and 5000 meters at the NCAA indoor meet, becoming the first Cal runner to score in two individual events in 22 years. During the outdoor season, Maier yet again broke a school record after running her first 10K meters at the Payton Jordan Invitational, becoming the third-fastest 10K collegian of all-time.

Along with Maier, the Bears had bright spots in high jumper Harrison Steed and women’s 5K runner Chelsea Reilly. Steed set a Cal personal record with a clearance of 7-2.50, finishing eighth on Thursday and ninth on Cal’s all-time performer list in the men’s high jump.

Senior Chelsea Reilly, who owns a PR from the Payton Jordan Invitational, concluded her college career with a solid ninth place finish on Saturday. Reilly garnered her best ranking ever in an individual event at a national meet with a 16:11.37 time.

None of the seven individuals who represented Cal track and field matched their lifetime PRs set prior to the final NCAA meet of the season. Most of their performances this past week were actually topped by those at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds.

Senior Brian Carmichael qualified for his first NCAA Championship meet with a clearance of 7-1.50 in the high jump during the preliminary rounds. However, after passing through the first three heights this past Thursday, Carmichael topped out at 7-0.50, ending his NCAA career with a 15th place finish.

Redshirt freshman Scott Esparza took 21st in the hammer, while junior Chad Jones finished 24th in the triple jump. Esparza and Jones both saw their seasons end before advancing to the final rounds in their respective fields, despite having set personal bests two weeks earlier during the preliminary rounds.

Cal’s performance this year at the NCAA championships shows a slight overall improvement over last year, when two of the five athletes who qualified also placed in the top 10.

Though Reilly and Carmichael will graduate, most other Cal competitors from this year’s championship can return for next year’s meet.

The post Maier finishes third at NCAAs appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The Bears came out strong, taking seven total events such as the pole vault, long jump and hammer. But after that, Stanford took over and won the meet 106-67 against the men and 122-41 against the women.

“Early on, we showed really great effort and it looked like we may be able to pull it off for a bit,” track and field coordinator Tony Sandoval said. “But in the end, Stanford just had a little more and they came out on top.”

Indeed, the Cardinal seemed to have a bit more in every aspect of the game en route to their big win. Chris Derrick, owner of the top 3000-meter time in Big Meet history since 2010, broke his own mark with a time of 7:54.31, beating his old time by nearly 10 seconds. for the only record set by either team.

Despite the dominance of the Cardinal, the Bears had a few bright sports of their own that the team can build upon. One of those few spots during the meet was the performance of senior Brian Carmichael.

Carmichael moved into a tie for ninth place all time in Cal history for the high jump, setting a personal record with a height of 7-2.25.

“Individually, this was really big for me because I set a PR and it’s something I can keep working on,” Carmichael said. “Overall, I though we showed up and put in a great effort, but unfortunately the score didn’t show that.”

This meet came just one week after the Stanford Invitational, in which the Bears visited the rival school in an unscored matchup, giving both teams a sense of what to prepare for. Cal had some early success in a few of its field events, while Stanford owned most of the running events.

The Bears had key winners in the women’s and men’s hammer in Linda Oseso and Scott Esparza, respectively. Meanwhile, Charnell Price and Alima Kamara both set personal records in the women’s 200 meters, finishing second and third.

Overall, Cal did not lack the required effort, but could not compete with the depth or durability of Stanford, which had almost all of its athletes competing, as opposed to the many injuries facing Cal. The Cardinal had an extremely balanced showing, dominating many aspects of the meet including the hurdles and long distance races.

“There was not really anything major that I thought we did wrong,” Sandoval said. “One turn here, and one turn there, and soon enough you’ve got something that’s blown open.”

Despite this loss, the Bears will have to keep their practice and conditioning going if they want to accomplish the goal of winning Pac-12′s, which will be coming up in the next month.

“We had already established that we wanted to win Pac-12’s,” Carmichael said. “That’s still our goal, and if we keep working, I think we can do it.”

The post Bears blown out by Cardinal in weekend meet appeared first on The Daily Californian.

This weekend the Bears will have another chance to face the Cardinal on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Edwards Stadium.

And this weekend, it counts.

With the Stanford Invitational so fresh in their minds, the Bears will enter prepared give the Cardinal a close showing. At the Invitational, Cal had seven top-10 finishes, including a few personal records on the men’s side.

Dash Oliver and Jonathan Berry-Smith both set personal records in the 200 meter race, finishing with times of 22.02 and 22.23, respectively. Meanwhile, the women finished with three top-10 results. Amanda Hunter also notched a victory in the 400 meter hurdle.

Although the Bears did not have the edge last weekend, they have some strengths that they would like to exploit during their next try against the Cardinal in their long distance races.

Cal has runners Collin Jarvis and Taylor Bryson who ran two of the fastest 5000 meter times in school history and will try to use them to gain an advantage, but Stanford will look to derail that. The Cardinal are led by Chris Derrick, who holds the third best 1500 meter time in the country, and Amaechi Morton, who lays claim to the nation’s top time in the 400 meter hurdle.

Stanford seems poised for success after dominating both the men and women in last year’s matchup, winning 98-65 against the former and 88-75 against the latter. Most of the team from last year has returned, and the Cardinal will definitely look to take its wins in the sprints and middle distance races.

This year’s faceoff marks the 118th annual Big Meet, in which the men have held a sizable lead in head-to-head matchups. The women, by contrast, have competed in only 33 meets, and have a losing record.

Despite Stanford’s recent dominance in the Big Meet, Cal will be driven by revenge. Last week’s Stanford Invitational showed that the squad has the potential to stay in the meet if all of the racers can contribute in their specific ways. On Saturday, they will have a chance to do so when it really matters.

The post Cal races to rematch against the Cardinal appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The 3000 meter record has been one of several that has fallen this indoor track season. The Bears will look for the momentum they have built during the indoor season to carry over to outdoor competition, which will kick off the first weekend in March.

“The indoor season is a good stepping stone for outdoor because we are able to see where many of the athletes are in terms of fitness,” coach Tony Sandoval said.

The 2012 Cal track and field team features a majority of freshmen and sophomores with a sprinkling of juniors and a few seniors. The team has a strong base in its distance squad and talented sprinters and jumpers — all competing with the common goal of winning a Pac-12 Championship.

“We would like to really establish our program on the national stage and show the other teams what we are capable of when focused,”  Sandoval said.

In the few meets the team has already competed in, several Bears have had strong performances.

Junior Deborah Maier slashed her own school record in the 5000 meters by more than 30 seconds. Maier redshirted last season but set the previous school record two years ago. Maier’s time of 15:29.24 stands as the fifth-fastest collegiate mark of all-time in the women’s indoor 5000 meters. The record is also the best at Cal in the event under any conditions — indoors or outdoors — besting the previous time set by Kirsten O’Hara in 1985.

Maier is also an Olympic hopeful in the 5000 meters.

“She has raw talent, and I think she has great shot at running for Team USA this summer” Sandoval said.

In the field events, senior Linda Oseso broke the women’s weight throw record for the second time this season with a distance of 62-4.00.

On the men’s side Collin Jarvis moved up to second on Cal’s all-time performer list with his mark of 7:55.11 in the 3000 meters.

The Bears have suffered their fair share of injuries early on, notably elite jumper Hammed Suleman went down with a stress fracture the first meet of the season. According to Suleman, he does not have a time table on his recovery, but he hopes to be back in time for the outdoor season opener.

“Even if I am unable to jump for the moment, I want to help the team in other ways,” Suleman said. ”I want to be a leader and make those around me better.”

The team will require a strong batch of leaders this season to guide the freshmen and sophomores. According to Reilly, the older members are emphasizing taking care of the little things, such as eating right, sleeping enough and practicing hard every day in the hopes that things will fall into place on race day.

“There is more talent on this team than I have ever seen,” Reilly said. “We are going to be defined by how hard we work and by how much we want to win.”

The post Bears prepared for run at Pac-12 title behind stars Reilly, Maier appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The Don Kirby Invitational held Friday in Albuquerque, N.M., as a one-day event featured mostly jumping and sprint events while the Flotrack Husky Indoor Classic lasted Friday and Saturday in Seattle and saw an emphasis on middle and longer distance running.

On Friday, junior Deborah Maier, running in her debut for the indoor season, slashed her own school record in the 5000 meters by more than 30 seconds. Maier redshirted last season but set the previous school record two years ago, also at the Husky Indoor Classic. During the fall, Maier placed 11th at the NCAA Championships.

Maier’s time of 15:29.24 stands as the fifth fastest collegiate mark of all time in the women’s indoor 5000 meters. The record is also the top time at Cal in the event under any conditions — indoors or outdoors — besting the previous time set by Kirsten O’Hara in 1985.

“Deborah has been an All-American in cross country twice and in track once — she has so much raw talent,” coach Tony Sandoval said. “We think she is going to have a great season.”

Fifth year senior Chelsea Reilly ran her career debut in the 3000 meters and set a school record of 9:00.86; her time beat the previous record set by Maier in 2010 by nearly 20 seconds.

Reilly’s time is well below the NCAA automatic qualifying standard meaning she will run at the Championship meet. Her time ranks third among NCAA Division I runners this season.

“That race was very special for Chelsea,” Sandoval said. “It was her first time running the event so setting the record is quite remarkable … she has had to battle back from injury and that has made her stronger.”

In the field events, senior Linda Oseso broke the women’s weight throw record for the second time this season with a distance of 62-4.00.

Oseso set her mark on her first attempt of the day. She first set the record in the season-opening Cherry & Silver Invitational in Albuquerque, where she went 60-9.50. she has thrown over 60 feet in all three meets this season.

On the men’s side Collin Jarvis moved up to second on Cal’s all-time performer list with his mark of 7:55.11 in the 3000 meters. Freshman Jonte Grant had a six-inch improvement in the men’s long jump and placed second with a best of 24-1.75.

The post Maier, Reilly take lead for Bears in weekend races appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The Don Kirby Invitational will take place Friday in Albuquerque, N.M., as a one-day event while the Flotrack Husky Indoor Classic will last Friday and Saturday in Seattle.

Both locations are familiar to the Bears as they opened the indoor season with the Cherry & Silver Invitational in Albuquerque and took part in the UW Invitational Jan. 27-28 in Seattle. The team will return to Washington Feb. 24-25 for the MPSF Championships.

The Don Kirby meet will feature no event longer than 800 meters and the Bears will be focusing mainly on the jumping events. Coach Tony Sandoval indicated that the thin air and altitude of New Mexico foster a highly conducive environment for jumpers.

Junior Hammed Suleman will look for a strong performance in New Mexico; last year, he jumped a distance of 50-2.50 in the triple jump, becoming the first Bear in over seven years to surpass 50 feet in the event. Since that jump, Suleman has reached at least 50 feet in the triple jump every meet.

Cal will look for a strong showing from its distance runners in Washington. According to Sandoval, Washington has traditionally been a venue where runners make competitive times.

“Washington is the Disneyland for middle and distance running because some of the best times in the nation occur there,” Sandoval said.

The meet will also see the season debut of many Cal runners. Fifth-year senior Chelsea Reilly will begin her season running the 3000 meters for the first time in her career. Reilly is trying her hand at the 3000 meters after coaches saw a competitive cross country season from her.

“I’m excited to see what I can do at a new event” Reilly said.

Junior Deborah Maier, the school record holder in the 3000 meters, will also be running her first race of the season.

Running on an indoor track presents different challenges when compared to outdoor competition. According to Reilly, while the weather is not a factor, the turns on the track are often steeper meaning runners have to begin to kick earlier in the race.

The Bears will use Washington as a chance to assess where the team has strengths and where it can improve. According to Sandoval, the team is sending a number of young athletes to the meet and the coaching staff is anxious to see how they perform.

“We have really dynamic people and are looking great across the board,” Reilly said. “This meet is one of our first tests against some of the best teams in the nation.”

The post Bears hope for happy results at Washington meet appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Robert Thurman tallied three points all of last season. Don’t tell Europe that.

The Cal men’s basketball power forward poured in 38 points in the final two games of the Bears’ European Tour.

Cal defeated the Danish National Team, 81-73, on Saturday at Kildeskovshallen, Adolphvej 25, with the junior scoring a team-high 21 points. Sunday’s rematch wasn’t as close; the Bears won, 95-78, to finish the trip with a 4-1 record.

Although Thurman led coach Mike Montgomery’s club with 17 points on Sunday, fellow forward David Kravish was equally impressive. The freshman posted 14 points and seven rebounds, and was on the court during a pivotal run in the fourth quarter that put Cal ahead by 10.

If the two big men can continue their strong play during the regular season, it will help make up for the loss of graduated starting center Markhuri Sanders-Frison, who scored nearly 11 points a game and led the team with 7.4 rebounds per game last season.

But he was the lone departure from the 2010-2011 squad — everyone else, including All-Pac-10 First-Teamer Jorge Gutierrez, returns.

Gutierrez, last season’s leading scorer, played this past weekend for the first time on the trip. The senior guard had 13 and nine points, respectively, in the two contests. Reigning Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Allen Crabbe added 13 on Sunday.

Also in the starting lineup was Justin Cobbs, seeing his first action this trip since his freshman year at Minnesota during the 2009-10 season. The redshirt sophomore filled up the stat sheet on Sunday, with eight points and eight assists.

Matt Chisam named track and field assistant coach

It seems the Cal track and field team has traded in one All-American decathlete for another.

NCAA decathlon champion Mike Morrison graduated, but the Bears have added a new decorated decathlete to their squad — the coaching staff, to be precise.

Matt Chisam has been hired to be the Bears’ new assistant coach. A certified athletic trainer, he will work mainly with pole vault and assist with the jumps.

Chisam spent the last five years at Harvard, where he coached four conference champions. He was involved in developing and implementing training programs for various events, including the pole vault, high jump and hurdles.

Chisam was also in charge of the Crimson’s multi-event competitions and the timing systems for home meets.

A 2005 graduate of UC Davis, Chisam was the 2003 NCAA Division II runner-up in the decathlon. During his career with the Aggies, Chisam won conference titles in the 100m hurdles and the decathlon. His senior year, Chisam received the university’s Outstanding Senior Award as team captain in 2005.

He didn’t stop competing after college, though.

Chisam placed ninth in the decathlon at the 2009 USA championships and fourth in the heptathlon at the indoor combined event championships. At the 2008 Olympic Trials, he finished 15th.

Chisam comes from a track & field family. His father Scott led the UCLA women’s squad to NCAA championships in 1982 and 83. His mother Roberta coaches high school cross country in Mountain View, Calif.

The Cal squad will have to replace a bevy of seniors besides Morrison. The departed group includes Tracey Stewart, a two-time Pac-10 runner-up in the triple jump, and Kristen Meister, an All-American who holds the Cal record in the high jump.

Women’s basketball team to face former coach in upcoming season

Coming off a disappointing season, the Cal women’s basketball team will have a rigorous non-conference schedule when they kick off their 2011-12 campaign.

The team’s schedule was released, and the Bears play the likes of Rutgers, Ohio State and Texas during their preseason. Their entire schedule includes 13 squads that made the postseason last year.

Also noteworthy is a Nov. 27 matchup with Virginia in the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Showdown in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Cavaliers are led by Joanne Boyle, who resigned from Cal right after this past season ended. The Bears’ new head coach, Lindsay Gottlieb, will have an opportunity to beat her former boss; Gottlieb was Boyle’s assistant at Cal from 2005-08.

The Bears play Rutgers on Nov. 13 in     New Brunswick, NJ, in a rematch of last year’s battle. Cal won that game, 66-57.

The conference season will open in Los Angeles against UCLA on Dec. 29.

The post Sports In Brief appeared first on The Daily Californian.

“We’re pleased that we had some success, but there are a lot of improvements that we need to make,” coach Tony Sandoval said. “We will have to rebuild with a younger group of our team.”

One senior star, Mike Morrison, won the NCAA outdoor title in the decathlon on June 10 help the men to a 13th place finish in the NCAA Program of the Year rankings. Morrison placed fifth in the heptathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this season before claiming his collegiate decathlon crown by with a school-record total of 8,118 points.

“I came into college with the goal of winning an NCAA championship, this is what I’ve been working for for five years,” he said. “To accomplish it is really rewarding.”

Morrison set six personal bests along the way to becoming the fourth Bear to win the decathlon title and the 36th to become an NCAA track and field champion. Of the team’s five-athlete contingent to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, four were seniors.

Kristen Meister, the Cal record holder with a height of 6-1.25 in the high jump, finished in a tie for seventh to earn All-America honors while Tracey Stewart, a two-time Pac-10 runner-up in the triple jump, finished 10th in her event.

However, the duo’s efforts alone could not earn the women’s squad a spot in the NCAA Program of the Year rankings. Cal was not always at full strength, as long-distance runners Sofia Oberg and Deborah Maier were slowed by injuries.

“The women aren’t quite there and that’s an area that we have to continue to address with recruiting and coaching, but we need to get better on both sides no matter what,” Sandoval said.

On the men’s side, Hammed Suleman was regularly recording over 50 feet in the triple jump before suffering a stress fracture in his shin. He placed 12th in the event at the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this season before the injury forced him to redshirt for the outdoor campaign.

Meanwhile, Cal’s lone non-senior from the NCAA Outdoor Championships shoulders some serious expectations for his final year; junior Ray Stewart, this year’s Pac-10 champion in the 110m hurdles, hurt his hamstring in the preliminaries and was disqualified from his heat at the Championships.

“There wasn’t a lot of time for that (hamstring) to heal up, it got a little better but it wasn’t 100 percent,” Sandoval said. “He had a terrible start and hit a bunch of hurdles, that was a big disappointment.”

Replacing the outgoing talent will be no small feat for Cal, but having Suleman and Stewart around should make the transition easier. Another returning athlete with the potential to bolster the Bears is Collin Jarvis, a sophomore who made a difference in  cross country — as well as in the 3000m during the track and field campaign.

Still, the upcoming season should bring its share of growing pains for Cal.

“We have some good recruits coming in but they’re going to be freshmen,” Sandoval said. “Next year will be a rebuilding year for us.”

Byron Atashian covers track and field.

The post Cal’s senior standouts will leave behind a sizeable void appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The Cal track and field squad’s star decathlete came back from an elbow injury sustained one season ago to capture the decathlon title at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Friday.

In his final bid for a collegiate crown, the University of Florida transfer set a new decathlon record for the Bears at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

“It’s a goal five years in the making and to accomplish it is really rewarding,” Morrison said. “It’s not only a huge relief, but it’s the pinnacle of my season.”

The title was a relief because at last year’s championships, Morrison tore a ligament in his elbow during the javelin throw and finished as runner-up to Oregon’s Ashton Eaton.

Finally capturing the elusive NCAA title was sweet redemption for Morrison and posting six career bests on the way to a Cal-record 8,118 points only put a cherry on top.  Morrison’s mark surpassed Chris Huffins’ 8,007 point effort from 1993 and made him the fourth Bear to bring home an NCAA decathlon title.

“He responded when the pressure was on,” coach Tony Sandoval said of Morrison. “He set a series of personal records knowing he had to do it to win.”

Morrison sat in fourth place after the first day of competition and didn’t take the lead until the ninth event, the javelin throw.

He threw a personal record of 198-4, good for third best in the field, to garner 745 points and overtake Clemson’s Miller Moss for first place, 7,408 to 7,345. With only the 1500m remaining,
Morrison again put up a big performance for the big stage. He established another personal best with a time of 4:35.35.

The mark was good enough to hold off Duke sophomore Curtis Beach, who ran a 3:59.13 to finish with 8,084 points — second only to Morrison.

“(Beach) has a great future in the sport and he put some pressure on me towards the end, but if you look at how deep the field is, he’s definitely not the only one in contention next year,” Morrison said. “There’s going to be another dog fight next year.”

This year, however, Morrison came out the top dog by ending with a well-needed strong finish.

He has come up with similar heroics on an almost regular basis in the past, often setting personal records on the third and final jump or in the final few deciding events.

“I’ve always thrived in the pressure situations,” Morrison said.”I’m able to rely on experience, stay disciplined, and be confident that my energy levels are going to be higher.”

However, the rest of Cal’s five-athlete contingent at the Championships could not match Morrison’s success.

On the women’s side, Kristen Meister tied for seventh in the high jump after clearing  a height of 5-10.75 and fellow  senior Tracey Stewart finished 10th in the triple jump with an effort of 42-6.00.

Of the men’s contingent, senior Steve Sodaro finished 23rd in the semifinals of the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 9:13.38 and Ray Stewart, the Pac-10 champion in the 110m hurdles, was disqualified from his heat — bringing his promising season to an end.

Byron Atashian covers track and field.

The post Morrison finishes off career with NCAA decathlon title appeared first on The Daily Californian.