From left: Giavonna Meeks, David Foster, Tyler Burns, Seth Johnson
T&F3/4/2025 11:09 PM | By: Cal Athletics
Bears To Send 4 To NCAA Indoor Championships
Meeks, Foster, Burns, Johnson Earn Berths To Virginia Beach
Four athletes from the California track & field team will represent the Golden Bears at the NCAA Indoor Championships in two weeks' time, as
Giavonna Meeks (weight throw),
David Foster (60m),
Tyler Burns (pole vault) and
Seth Johnson (heptathlon) were officially announced as national qualifiers by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Tuesday. This year's championships will take place at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, from March 14-15.
Each individual event only accepts 16 athletes, while the relay races take just 12 squads from across the nation. All four of Cal's entries are ranked 12th or better in the national standings. Should any of them win a title, it would be a program first for each of their respective events.
Meeks, a redshirt sophomore, ranks No. 19 in collegiate weight throw history and No. 2 all-time at Cal. The two-time ACC Women's Field Athlete of the Week posted the second-best throw in the NCAA this year (23.59m/77-4.75) on her way to her first conference title, also giving the program its first ACC gold and setting a new meet record. This will be her second appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships, having placed sixth in the event for First-Team All-American status while competing for Vanderbilt in 2024. Meeks has also had a prolific season for Cal in the shot put and currently ranks sixth in indoor program history with a best mark of 15.66m (51-4.5). She will be the third Golden Bear female weight thrower to make the NCAA Championships, following in the footsteps of Chioma Amaechi (2014) and
Camryn Rogers (2021-23).
Foster, who won 60m gold by .08 seconds at the ACC Indoor Championships with a time of 6.56, is a three-time Second-Team All-American and owns three school records plus an additional two top-10 program marks. He matched his school-record personal best of 6.54 – tied for sixth-fastest in the nation this year – at Cal's January season opener (the Spokane Sports Showcase), then followed up with the third-fastest indoor 200m time in program history (21.22) the next day. This will be the senior's third-straight NCAAs appearance, following the 2024 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Already the first Cal man to compete in a 60m championship, Foster is also just the second Cal men's sprinter to make a repeat appearance at the indoor championships (Ashtyn Davis, 60m hurdles, 2017-18).
Burns, a redshirt junior, will compete at his first NCAA Championships next week as the nation's No. 6-ranked pole vaulter. He took home his second conference bronze over the weekend with a mark of 5.49m (18-0) at the ACC Indoor Championships, following a record-setting indoor campaign in which he became the program's all-time leader with a clearance of 5.62m (18-5.25) at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational in January. Burns also ranks third in outdoor program history and has an all-conditions best of 5.66m (18-6.75). This will be Cal's second-straight year advancing a pole vaulter to the NCAA Indoor Championships, following alumnus
Skyler Magula's appearance in 2024, and the fourth year overall that it has done so (Brent Burns, 1992; Clarence Phelps, 1997).
Johnson, who placed fifth in the heptathlon at the ACC Indoor Championships with a total of 5505 points, also recorded Cal's 10th-fastest 60m hurdles time (7.96) in history at the meet to earn a spot on his second program all-time list. His career best of 5800 points, which ranks third in the team record books, was achieved at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic in February and is tied for the 12th-best score nationwide. At that meet, he posted four additional standing personal records and placed first overall in the field, outpacing his competition by 366 points. Johnson, an indoor redshirt sophomore, joins a proud tradition of Golden Bear heptathletes that have competed in the NCAA Indoor Championships, which includes Jonas Hallgrimsson (2006), Mike Morrison (2010-11), Tyler Brendel (2019) and Hakim McMorris (2023).
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