BERKELEY – The 2024 collegiate season will conclude this week for California track & field, with the Golden Bears sending nine male qualifiers across five events to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. All of Cal's field event finals, as well as the track event semifinals, will take place on Wednesday; those who qualify for the track finals will race again on Friday evening.
 
This year's group of qualifiers is tied with the 2014 and 1941 groups for the largest in men's program history. Cal has not had a men's outdoor champion since 2011, when Mike Morrison won the decathlon contest with a school-record 8118 points; its last team title was in 1922, the Bears' first appearance at the championships.
 
Wednesday's field event action kicks off with the men's hammer throw at 2 p.m., featuring multiple Cal athletes for the first time in program history. Ivar Moisander, who posted a career-best of 69.38m (227-7) last month at the Pac-12 Championships, is competing in his third straight NCAA Outdoor Championships and hopes to add a second All-America honor to close out his collegiate career. Rowan Hamilton posted the NCAA's best mark of the season at the Mt. SAC Relays (77.16m/253-2) - the No. 8 performance in collegiate history -  earned meet records at both the Brutus Hamilton Invitational and the Big Meet, and went undefeated all the way through the Pac-12 Championships. Should either claim the NCAA title, it would be the first by a Cal men's hammer thrower since Jack Merchant, who was also Cal's last shot put champion, in 1922.
 
Both of Cal's other Pac-12 champions also qualified for their second straight NCAA Outdoor Championships. Shot putter Jeff Duensing earned First-Team All-American status in 2023 with a career-best mark 19.98m (65-6.75) and captured his first career Pac-12 title in May after throwing 19.83m (65-0.75). The Bears' field event group is rounded out by repeat pole vault conference champion Skyler Magula, who tied for the top qualifying result at the NCAA West Preliminary (5.42m/17-9.25) and has a season-best mark of 5.52m (18-1.25), just below his personal record of 5.55m (18-2.5) from 2023. Cal has only had three outdoor pole vault champions in the program's history, with Lawrence Anderson's share of the 1954 title being the most recent.
 
The Bears will also make appearances in two track events, with each competitor making their NCAA Outdoor Championships debut and hoping to claim the program's first title in either race. The 4x100m relay squad, consisting of Chase Williams, George Monroe, Mason Mangum and David Foster (with Christian Trapps as an alternate) blazed to a time of 39.28 – second fastest in program history – at the NCAA West Preliminary to become Cal's first 4x100m relay team to qualify since 1977, adding another highlight to a standout season that included a Big Meet record in the event. Foster, a 2024 Indoor Second-Team All-American, also qualified in the 100m with a wind-aided time of 9.91 at the West Preliminary, becoming the first Bear in history to join the sub-10-second club and becoming the first male sprinter to advance for the Blue & Gold in the event since Willie White in 1960.
 
All competitions will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, with Wednesday's and Friday's track events scheduled on ESPN2 and the field events on ESPN+.
 
NCAA Outdoor Championships – California Entries (All Times PT)
 
Wednesday, June 5
2 p.m. Men's Hammer Final – Ivar Moisander (Flight 1); Rowan Hamilton (Flight 2)
4:32 p.m. Men's 4x100m Relay Semifinal – California (Heat 2 – Chase Williams, George Monroe, Mason Mangum, David Foster, Christian Trapps)
5 p.m. Men's Pole Vault Final – Skyler Magula (Flight 1)
5:46 p.m. Men's 100m Semifinal – David Foster (Heat 3)
6:40 p.m. Men's Shot Put Final – Jeff Duensing (Flight 2)
 
Friday, June 7
6:02 p.m. Men's 4x100m Relay Final
6:52 p.m. Men's 100m Final
 
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