The California track & field team will appear at three separate meets over a three-day span, hosting the Brutus Hamilton Invitational at Edwards Stadium on Thursday-Saturday and sending select groups to San Francisco State's Cox Stadium on Thursday-Friday for the Mike Fanelli Track Classic and Stanford's Cobb Track and Angell Field for the Stanford Invitational on Friday. Cal's home meet will feature the decathlon and heptathlon competitions on Thursday and Friday, while the remaining events will be contested Saturday.
 
Many of Cal's top throwers will be making their season debuts this week, headlined by discus world record-holder and Olympic silver medalist Mykolas Alekna as well as fellow Olympic discus thrower Caisa-Marie Lindfors. World U20 silver medalist Valentina Savva and two-time Indoor All-American Giavonna Meeks, the latter of whom appeared at the U.S. Olympic Trials last June, will appear in the hammer field.
 
BRUTUS HAMILTON INVITATIONAL (April 3-5, 9 a.m. PT – Edwards Stadium, Berkeley, Calif.)
Meet Info/Schedule – CalBears.com
Live Results (Multis) – RecordTiming
Live Results (Saturday) - RecordTiming
 
CALIFORNIA ENTRIES (MEN) – BRUTUS HAMILTON INVITATIONAL
Program Top 10 holders marked with an asterisk
100m – Javon Hampton Jr., Aidan Orias, Jason Plumb, Jakobi Smith, Wazell Wright, Aaron Yang
200m – Matt Gladney, Aiden Lippert, Aidan Orias, Jakobi Smith, Aaron Yang
400m – Johnny Goode*, Avinash Schwarzkopf
800m – Lamarr Kirk Jr., Garrett MacQuiddy*, Justin Pretre*
Mile – Caden Carney, Rowan FitzGerald, Zac Gibson
5000m – Julian Doak, Sam Franco, Alexander Lodewick, Roland Ruckmann-Barnes
110m Hurdles – Matt Gladney
400m Hurdles – Donovan Bradley, Daniel Chen, Owen Foley, Luke Tanguay
4x100m - California
High Jump – Brandon Cheeks II, Victor Ezike Jr., Riley Knott, Chukwunonso Udeh
Pole Vault – David Brok, Tyler Burns*, Luke Millam, Will Siemens, Parker Terrill*
Long Jump – Jeremiah Bolaños, Brandon Cheeks II, Kosi Nwafor, Brandon Rush
Triple Jump – Jeremiah Bolaños, Victor Ezike Jr., Kosi Nwafor, Brandon Rush
Shot Put – Nick Godbehere, Nik Iwankiw
Discus – Mykolas Alekna*, Charlie Dang, Jared Freeman, Nick Godbehere, Nik Iwankiw
Hammer – Kai Barham, Kai Burich, Jared Freeman*
Javelin – Charlie Dang
Decathlon – Riley Knott
 
CALIFORNIA ENTRIES (WOMEN) – BRUTUS HAMILTON INVITATIONAL
Program Top 10 holders marked with an asterisk
100m – Asjah Atkinson, Fallyn Gowans, Masina Mayo, Saqqara Ruffin, Jaymie Ruskovich, Mari Testa
200m – Masina Mayo, Jaymie Ruskovich, Nairobi Smith
400m – Jayden Hill, Nairobi Smith
800m – Carolina Dawson, Zoe Lahanas
100m Hurdles – Asjah Atkinson*, Fallyn Gowans, Saqqara Ruffin*, Mari Testa*
400m Hurdles – Jaya Westby, Loreal Wilson*
High Jump – Ashanti Elie, Adriana Ellard, Mara Lampsas, Jade Neser
Pole Vault – Ali Sahaida*
Long Jump – Ashanti Elie, Yuki Hamachi, Jade Neser
Shot Put – Lucija Leko*, Caisa-Marie Lindfors*, Giavonna Meeks
Discus – Adrianna Coleman, Lucija Leko*, Caisa-Marie Lindfors*, Amanda Spear
Hammer – Adrianna Coleman, Audrey Jacobs*, Giavonna Meeks, Valentina Savva, Angie Schykerynec, Amanda Spear
Javelin – Adriana Ellard, Yuki Hamachi, Carolina Visca*
Heptathlon – Torre Anderson
 
 
STANFORD INVITATIONAL (April 4 – Cobb Track and Angell Field, Stanford, Calif.)
Meet Info/Schedule – GoStanford.com
Live Results/Entries – RecordTiming
 
CALIFORNIA ENTRIES (MEN) – STANFORD INVITATIONAL
Program Top 10 holders marked with an asterisk
1500m – Caden Carney, Rowan FitzGerald, Garrett MacQuiddy*, Justin Pretre*
Long Jump – Javon Hampton Jr., Jason Plumb*, Trevor Rogers, Chukwunonso Udeh
 
CALIFORNIA ENTRIES (WOMEN) – STANFORD INVITATIONAL
5000m – Sophie Tau
Long Jump – Leah Anderson, Asjah Atkinson
 
 
MIKE FANELLI TRACK CLASSIC (April 3-4 – Cox Stadium, San Francisco, Calif.)
Meet Info/Schedule – MikeFanelliTrackClassic.com
Live Results/Entries – TimerHub
 
CALIFORNIA ENTRIES (MEN) – MIKE FANELLI TRACK CLASSIC
10,000m – Antoine Moret
 
CALIFORNIA ENTRIES (WOMEN) – MIKE FANELLI TRACK CLASSIC
5000m – Georgia McCorkle, Sarah Perkins, Amelia Wardle-Stacey
 
 
LAST TIME OUT (CLYDE LITTLEFIELD TEXAS RELAYS, MARCH 27-29)
Long jumper Jason Plumb posted the best mark of any collegian in the Section A competition, taking third overall with a season-best leap of 7.69m (25-2.75), while triple jumper Myla Canty took second in the Section B contest at 12.61m (41-4.5). 110m hurdler Donovan Bradley posted a season-best of his own in the prelims (13.99) before bettering that time to a wind-aided 13.79 in the final. Runners Johnny Goode (20.60w, 200m) and Jayden Hill (2:09.40) recorded personal bests in their respective events, while pole vaulter Ali Sahaida put up the second-best performance of her career with a mark of 4.22m (13-10) in the Elite Section.
 
LEADERS OF THE ACC
After the first month of outdoor competition, the Bears have four individuals standing atop five total conference lists. On the men's side, junior Johnny Goode leads the way in both the 200m and 400m, while Garrett MacQuiddy currently has the best time of all ACC 800m runners and Donovan Bradley ranks first in the 110m hurdles. One Cal woman – sophomore newcomer Lucija Leko – ranks first in the ACC shot put standings after posting the No. 4 mark in program history in her collegiate outdoor debut.
 
BEARS COLLECT FOUR INDOOR ALL-AMERICA HONORS
Cal's quartet of NCAA qualifiers each picked up an All-America nod at the Indoor Championships, marking the highest combined total by the program since 2018. Giavonna Meeks claimed her second-straight First-Team recognition after placing fourth in the weight throw, while David Foster took home his fourth Second-Team honor with a 15th-place finish in the 60m. Tyler Burns (pole vault - 12th) and Seth Johnson (heptathlon - 15th) were each named to the Second Team following their debuts on the NCAA big stage.
 
ALL-ACC HONOREES
Cal's men earned eight All-ACC honors and its women five at the Bears' first-ever ACC Indoor Championships on March 1-3, with the team's four medalists named First-Team All-ACC: Giavonna Meeks was Cal's first champion of the meet, posting a new meet record in the weight throw,  while top sprinter David Foster won his first conference title in the 60m after outpacing the field by .08 seconds. Jason Plumb and Tyler Burns took bronze in the long jump and pole vault, respectively, marking the second time in each of their careers that they have placed third at a conference meet. Men's Second-Team honors went to Johnny Goode (400m), Victor Ezike Jr. (high jump), Riley Knott (high jump), Trevor Rogers (long jump) and Seth Johnson (heptathlon); on the women's side, recognition went to Aysha Shaheed (60m), Asjah Atkinson (60m hurdles), Lucija Leko (shot put) and Valentina Savva (weight throw). Rogers, Shaheed, Atkinson, Leko and Savva also set new program top-10 marks with their performances.
 
WORLD RECORD RETURNER
Discus thrower Mykolas Alekna will compete for the Bears once more after taking the 2024 season off to prepare for his debut Olympic Games, where he surpassed the previous Olympic record on the way to a silver medal. The 22-year-old phenom stunned the athletics world by breaking track & field's oldest standing men's record last April, posting a throw of 74.35m (243-11) at the Oklahoma Throws World Invitational to surpass a mark that had stood since 1986.
 
Since enrolling at Berkeley in Fall 2021, Alekna has compiled an eye-popping résumé that has already elevated him into one of the sport's legendary figures. The two-time World medalist, three-time Lithuanian Male Athlete of the Year and two-time semifinalist for The Bowerman set his first collegiate record as a freshman, later becoming the youngest-ever European discus champion and youngest World discus medalist in history at just 19 years of age; that year, he was also named a semifinalist for the AAU James E. Sullivan Award and the USTFCCCA West Region and Pac-12 Men's Field Athlete of the Year. Most recently, he was named the top discus thrower in the world by Track & Field News and landed a spot on The Bowerman Preseason Watch List for the third consecutive year, becoming just the fourth man in award history to make a watch list in four different calendar years.
 
THROW LOUD AND PROUD
Cal's throws squad - which has already set six program indoor top-10 marks this season - looks prepped for another elite year, led by returning Olympic discus throwers Mykolas Alekna and Caisa-Marie Lindfors. Hammer thrower Audrey Jacobs owns the Dutch U23 record and earned All-America status as a freshman in 2023, while javelin specialist Carolina Visca set the school record as a rookie and was also named an All-American in 2023. Adrianna Coleman, a sophomore, has also reached the USATF U20 Championships in each of the past two years, taking bronze in the hammer in 2023.
 
The Bears also welcome several top newcomers to the team this year. Cal's throwing transfer class is headlined by Giavonna Meeks, who was an All-American weight thrower at Vanderbilt and reached the U.S. Olympic Trials in the hammer. Other new members of the squad include 2024 World U20 hammer silver medalist Valentina Savva, 2024 European Championships two-way competitor Lucija Leko (discus and shot put) and 2023 European U20 hammer medalist Kai Barham. Meeks (No. 2 weight throw, No. 6 indoor shot put), Savva (No. 4 weight throw) and Leko (No. 4 outdoor shot put, No. 4 discus, No. 5 indoor shot put) have already recorded marks on Cal's all-time top-10 lists.
 
SPRINTERS ON THE RISE
Cal's sprinters and hurdlers are prepped for another big outdoor season, following an indoor campaign in which they posted 13 new program top 10s and four school records. Newcomer Johnny Goode posted a breakout indoor season in which he set program records in the 200m, 400m and 4x400m relay and has already followed up with the No. 3 outdoor 200m time in program history - Cal's fastest since 1988 - as well as the No. 3 400m outdoor time. Isaiah Shaw, who joined Goode in his school-record relay effort, currently ranks No. 2 in Cal's outdoor history. Hurdlers Asjah Atkinson (No. 2 60mH indoor), Mari Testa (No. 5 60mH indoor) and Inara Ukawuba (No. 9 60mH indoor) are also looking forward to strong outdoor seasons as the former two, along with junior Saqqara Ruffin, are also ranked on Cal's 100m hurdles top-10 list at No. 5, No. 8 and No. 10, respectively. Rounding out the group are Chase Williams, who owns a share of the school 4x100m relay record and is ranked No. 5 on Cal's all-time 100m list, and Loreal Wilson, who is ranked No. 8 on the school outdoor 400m hurdles list.
 
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