BERKELEY – After a season of training and competing against themselves, the Cal track & field team will finally move into championship season. The Pac-12 Championship started last weekend with the multis event, but the rest of the Bears will begin competition on Saturday and Sunday at Roy P. Drachman Track & Field Stadium in Tucson, Arizona.
 
The hammer throw will lead off both days at 11 a.m. with the men starting the championship on Saturday. The running events will begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday and 6 p.m. on Sunday. The Bears will enter the championship looking to claim places on the podium and conference titles.
 
For the second time in event history, both days of the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships will be broadcast live. Coverage of the event will air on Saturday, May 11 starting at 7:30 p.m. PT and Sunday, May 12 starting at 6 p.m. PT across all Pac-12 Network channels, the Pac-12 Now app and Pac-12.com. Paul Sunderland, Tom Feuer, Jordan Kent and Jill Savage will cover the action.
 
Junior Tuomas Kaukolahti is the reigning champion in the triple jump. He won last year with a mark of 52-8.25 which won the event by more than a foot. The Finland native has been even better during his second year as he recorded a personal best of 54-1.75 earlier this year at the Big Meet to move into sixth place on the school's all-time list. He has not finished first at a triple jump competition during his Cal career that was not at a NCAA Championship event. He will enter Sunday's competition as the favorite with a season-best mark that is more than three feet further than anyone else.
 
Camyrn Rogers will take to the hammer ring for one of the best competitions of the weekend. The Pac-12 features the three-best hammer throwers in the country. Rogers, who owns the Cal school record, will look to take down Beatrice Llano of Arizona State and Alyssa Wilson of UCLA. Rogers defeated Wilson on her way to winning the U20 World Championship last summer. The three are all sophomores and look set to compete for the crown and potentially the national championship over the next couple of weeks and seasons.
 
On the men's side, Silviu Bocancea enters the meet with the second-best throw in the conference. The senior had a career best of 225-9 at the Big Meet to move into second place on the school's all-time list. Bocancea was a second-team All-America last year and he will be the first Bear to compete this weekend.
 
Redshirt Freshman Iffy Joyner enters as the third-best discus thrower in the conference. Joyner set Cal's freshman record at the Big Meet as he threw 193-9. That throw helped him to win the competition and move into ninth on the school's all-time record book.
 
Cal will send two participants to both of the men's hurdle races who have a good opportunity to earn a spot on the podium. Paramveer Chohan has been consistent throughout his junior season, topping out with a time of 50.63 so far. That mark ranks fourth in the conference, while Jasher Foster comes in with the sixth-best time of 51.31. Foster is also the fifth-ranked hurdler at the 110m distance. He enters with a time of 13.82, which he set in his first race of the outdoor season at the Cal Opener. He will be joined by Misana Viltz who ran a 13.90 at the Big Meet.  
 
The 3000m steeplechase is another event where the Bears will have strong competitors on both the men's and women's side. Annie Boos will enter with the fourth-best time in the conference as she set a school record of 10:14.83 at the Stanford Invitational. Only a sophomore, she has run consistently and improved from her freshman season, where she set the freshman record.
 
Takeshi Okada will look to repeat his magical run from last year in the men's competition. Running out of the slow heat, Okada dominated the competition and put down a time of 8:53.80 that everyone had to chase, he ended up finishing in third place. This year, Okada ran a personal best of 8:49.35, which ranks third in the Pac-12. Teammate Kai Benedict has a season-best mark of 8:52.38. Benedict and Okada currently hold the ninth and 10th spots on the school's all-time list.
 
The women's 4x100m relay has been a bright spot for the Bears this year. They enter the competition with the third-best time at 44.67. The quartet of Deshae Wise, Zion Corrales Nelson, Maisie Stevens and Jackie Patterson set the mark at the Hornet Invitational this year. They'll also be competing in individual events as Wise will be in the 100m hurdles. Corrales Nelson and Patterson will take part in the 100m and 200m competitions while Stevens will focus on the 100m.
 
Last season, Cal finished in sixth place on the men's side as they tallied 67 points. They recorded an eighth-place finish on the women's side as they accumulated 40 points. Overall, Cal won two individual titles last season as Kaukolahti claimed the crown in the triple jump and Lauren Martinez won the Pac-12 pole vault championship.
 
Cal will enter the Pac-12 Championship in second place on the men's side after Hakim McMorris set a personal best in the decathlon at the multis championship last week. The freshman notched 7259 points after setting personal bests in six events to take second and put himself in 23rd place in the NCAA standings, giving himself a chance at a berth at the NCAA Championships.