The California track & field team will split into two groups this weekend, with the distance runners returning to Washington's Dempsey Indoor in Seattle for the Husky Classic and the rest heading east to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nevada, for the Battle Born Classic.
Both meets will stretch over a two-day span (Friday-Saturday). The Battle Born Classic's events will commence at 10 a.m. PT on both days, with a live stream available on the
Mountain West Network and live results on
RecordTiming. Cal will begin racing at the Husky Classic at 4:30 p.m. Friday and 11:10 a.m. Saturday, with that meet streaming live on
Runnerspace+ and posting live results on
pntfo.
Two program record-holders (senior
Ali Sahaida and junior
Mari Testa) will be back in action this weekend, competing in the pole vault (Sahaida) and 60m hurdles (Testa).
A pair of Cal's distance runners will be making their season debuts this weekend, both in the 5000m. Redshirt freshman
Sabine Kim is slated to race for the first time indoors and will be joined by junior
Sophie Tau, who ranks fifth in indoor program history. Over in Nevada, indoor redshirt freshman
Frankie Cruz Jr. will be making his indoor debut in the triple jump.
Last week at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic, Cal added two new school records and six additional program top 10s to its season total. In addition to Sahaida's and Testa's program-leading marks,
Pietro Camilli and
Miles Clark rose to No. 2 and No. 9, respectively, in Cal weight throw history;
Adrianna Coleman likewise improved to No. 6 in the women's event.
Sam Novak crushed his own freshman record in the pole vault to move into a tie for third all-time at Cal, while
Nairobi Smith (200m, tied – No. 2) and
Inara Ukawuba (60m hurdles, No. 9) recorded their own program top-10 times on the track. Sahaida, Novak, and Coleman each won their events, as did
Seth Johnson in the heptathlon.
BATTLE BORN CLASSIC (Feb. 13-14 – Reno, Nevada)
Event Info
Live Stream (Mountain West Network)
Live Results
CALIFORNIA ENTRIES (MEN)
Program top-10 holders marked with an asterisk
(FR) or (R-FR) indicates that the athlete is a freshman or redshirt freshman
(ACC) indicates that the athlete has qualified in that event for the ACC Indoor Championships
60m –
Aidan Orias*
200m –
Trevor Rogers,
Wazell Wright* (ACC)
Pole Vault –
Kai Anderson (FR, ACC),
Will Siemens* (ACC),
Parker Terrill
Long Jump –
Jason Plumb* (ACC),
Trevor Rogers* (ACC),
Chukwunonso Udeh
Triple Jump –
Frankie Cruz Jr. (R-FR),
Jeremiah Bolaños (ACC),
Kosi Nwafor,
Chukwunonso Udeh
Shot Put –
Nik Iwankiw (ACC),
Eliot Traxler
Weight Throw –
Kai Barham,
Miles Clark* (R-FR, ACC)
CALIFORNIA ENTRIES (WOMEN)
Program top-10 holders marked with an asterisk
(FR) or (R-FR) indicates that the athlete is a freshman or redshirt freshman
(ACC) indicates that the athlete has qualified in that event for the ACC Indoor Championships
60m –
Lauren Gilhooly (FR),
Caitlyn Johnson (FR),
Paige Porter,
Nairobi Smith
200m –
Nairobi Smith* (ACC),
Paige Porter
800m –
Savannah Harris (FR)
60m Hurdles –
Fallyn Gowans,
Saqqara Ruffin* (ACC),
Mari Testa* (ACC),
Inara Ukawuba* (ACC)
Pole Vault –
Ali Sahaida* (ACC),
Shelly Coates (FR)
Long Jump –
Avery Hart (FR),
Caitlyn Johnson (FR, ACC)
Triple Jump –
Leah Anderson,
Avery Hart (FR)
Shot Put –
Lucija Leko* (ACC)
Weight Throw –
Adrianna Coleman* (ACC),
Valentina Savva* (ACC)
HUSKY CLASSIC (Feb. 13-14 – Seattle, Washington)
Event Info
Live Stream (Runnerspace+)
Live Results
CALIFORNIA ENTRIES (MEN)
Program top-10 holders marked with an asterisk
(FR) or (R-FR) indicates that the athlete is a freshman or redshirt freshman
(ACC) indicates that the athlete has qualified in that event for the ACC Indoor Championships
800m –
Jackson Hein* (FR; ACC),
Lamarr Kirk Jr.*
Mile Invite –
Justin Pretre* (ACC)
Mile –
Caden Carney,
Rowan FitzGerald (ACC),
Zac Gibson,
Gabriel Rodriguez
5000m –
John Sesteaga
CALIFORNIA ENTRIES (WOMEN)
Program top-10 holders marked with an asterisk
(FR) or (R-FR) indicates that the athlete is a freshman or redshirt freshman
(ACC) indicates that the athlete has qualified in that event for the ACC Indoor Championships
800m –
Carolina Dawson*
Mile –
Georgia McCorkle
3000m Invite –
Addie Johnson* (ACC)
5000m –
Sabine Kim (R-FR),
Georgia McCorkle,
Sophie Tau*
RECORDS, RECORDS, RECORDS
The Bears have reached five different school records and three different freshman records so far this season. At the Spokane Sports Showcase, the Bears posted a pair of all-time program bests in the middle-distance events - the first by
Lamarr Kirk Jr., who bettered his own 1000m record by over five seconds with a time of 2:27.97, and the next by rookie
Jackson Hein, who surpassed a 10-year-old mark in the 600m at 1:18.83.
Pietro Camilli threw the weight 19.61m (64-4) in his collegiate debut, crushing Cal's 11-year-old freshman record, while
Sam Novak recorded a win in the pole vault with a mark of 5.25m (17-2.75) to become the first Cal freshman in history to cross the 17-foot barrier indoors, breaking the program's 19-year-old top rookie mark. At the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational, Camilli improved his freshman weight throw record to 19.98m (65-6.75), while
Seth Johnson improved his own program 300m record to 34.65. Cal returned to Albuquerque two weeks later for the New Mexico Collegiate Classic, where
Ali Sahaida posted the best pole vault mark by a female Bear (indoors or outdoors) with an eight-inch PR of 4.49m (14-8.25) and Camilli further bettered his weight throw mark to 20.44m (67-0.75), second-best in program history; the next day, hurdler
Mari Testa tied Cal's 60m hurdles record with a time of 8.22 while Novak obliterated his pole vault freshman record with a mark of 5.45m (17-10.5) to tie for third all-time at Cal.
GOING UP
Cal's pole vaulters are responsible for three of the Bears' four ACC weekly awards this season.
Sam Novak was named the ACC Men's Freshman of the week in his collegiate debut after surpassing a 19-year-old program freshman record and winning the event title, then won the same award three weeks later after crushing that mark with another win, becoming the first Cal pole vaulter in history to win multiple weekly awards in the same season. Novak shared the glory of his second win with
Ali Sahaida, who won her third consecutive event title with her third straight PR to shatter an 8-year-old program record and was named the ACC Women's Field Athlete of the Week. The two are the first Cal pole vaulting duo in history to be honored with a weekly award on the same day. Currently, Sahaida sits atop the ACC with the nation's No. 6 mark, while Novak is the NCAA's top-ranked freshman and No. 3 overall in the conference.
NEW RISERS IN THE ACC
A Cal student-athlete has been named the ACC Men's Freshman of the Week three times so far this season thanks to a trio of outstanding performances that established those individuals as the conference's top rookies in their events. Pole vaulter
Sam Novak tied for No. 6 in Cal history in his collegiate debut at the Spokane Sports Showcase, then moved into a tie for No. 3 in Cal history (and the top spot by a freshman nationwide this year) at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic.
Pietro Camilli recorded an indoor weight throw mark that was fourth-best in program history at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational to earn his first ACC award (and is now No. 2 in program history after crossing the 20-meter barrier at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic). Middle-distance star
Jackson Hein will be a strong contender for a weekly award moving forward, having posted the top time by an ACC freshman in the men's 800m (UW Invitational) and breaking Cal's 600m record at the Spokane Sports Showcase.
HIGH HOPES FOR THE HURDLERS
Five returning Cal hurdlers posted program top-10 times in 2025 and are looking to improve even further in 2026. Upperclassmen
Mari Testa,
Saqqara Ruffin and
Loreal Wilson are each coming off breakout campaigns: Testa made her debut on Cal's indoor (No. 5, 60m hurdles) and outdoor (No. 8, 100m hurdles) all-time lists, while Ruffin's and Wilson's outdoor seasons saw them likewise appear on the top-10 lists for the first time at No. 6 (100m hurdles) and No. 5 (400m hurdles), respectively. Sophomore
Inara Ukawuba raced just once in a Cal uniform before missing the outdoor season, but she matched the ninth-fastest 60m hurdles time in program history. On the men's side,
Donovan Bradley, who had already posted Cal's fourth-fastest 60m hurdles time as a freshman in 2024, followed that up with the program's fifth-fastest 110m hurdles time as a sophomore. So far in 2026, Testa (Tied - No. 1), Ruffin (No. 8) and Ukawuba (No. 9) have already posted program top-10 entries in the 60m hurdles, with the four-deep squad ranking 16th in the nation this year.
ALL-ACC RETURNERS
Ten Bears on this year's squad combined for 14 All-ACC honors (six indoor, eight outdoor) last season. Junior thrower
Lucija Leko was responsible for three of those, with one first-team (outdoor shot put) and two second-team (indoor shot put, discus) nods, while classmates
Trevor Rogers (long jump) and
Valentina Savva (hammer, weight) each earned an outdoor silver medal and indoor second-team recognition. Senior long jumper
Jason Plumb won conference bronze medals in two consecutive years, his most recent coming at the 2025 ACC Indoor Championships. The Indoor All-ACC group is rounded out by second-teamers
Victor Ezike Jr. (high jump) and
Seth Johnson (heptathlon), while the outdoor group also consists of second-team honorees
Donovan Bradley (110m hurdles),
Loreal Wilson (400m hurdles),
Audrey Jacobs (hammer) and
Adrianna Coleman (hammer). Of those, Johnson went on to claim Second-Team All-America status at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships, while Savva was named Second-Team All-American at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Both Leko and Jacobs also clinched All-America Honorable Mention nods outdoors.
INTERNATIONAL STARS
Three returning Bears followed up their collegiate seasons with high-level international competition in the summer of 2025.
Valentina Savva, who broke the Cal freshman records in both the hammer and weight throws and earned Second-Team All-America honors in the former, crossed the 70-meter barrier for the first time to finish third at the European U23 Championships and set a new Cypriot hammer record. Teammate and 2023 Second-Team All-American
Audrey Jacobs also reached the hammer final at the European U23 Championships and finished second at the Dutch Championships, while
Lucija Leko (Croatia) competed in both the discus and shot put at the European U23 Championships and finished seventh in the former. On the track,
Mari Testa competed in the 100m hurdles at the Austrian U23 Championships, winning her first title to qualify her for the European U23 Championships.
ROOKIES ON WATCH
Cal is fielding a plethora of talented freshman looking to make some noise at the conference and national levels this season. The trio of
Lauren Gilhooly,
Kaitlyn Williams and
Tiffany Williams lead a strong freshman sprints unit, with Gilhooly ranking among California's top high school girls in the 100m and 200m. South African middle-distance star
Salma Bejia, who was the national U20 bronze medalist in 2024, was named the No. 10 women's 800m recruit by Track & Field News, while
Bradley Arrey ran the third leg of a 4x800m California state champion relay squad that was third-fastest in the nation and
Jackson Hein posted the fourth-fastest 800m time by a California high school boy in 2025. The pole vault group bears a pair of top Track & Field News-ranked recruits in
Sam Novak (No. 2) and
Kai Anderson (No. 12), both state champions in 2024; Novak, a native of Arizona, posted the fifth-highest jump by a high school boy nationwide in 2025 and is a two-time U.S. Track & Field (USATF) U20 Championships competitor, while Anderson had the second-best mark among California high school boys last year. Horizontal jumpers
Caitlyn Johnson (the 2025 No. 20 girls triple jumper in Texas) and
Avery Hart (the 2025 No. 3 girls triple jumper and No. 4 girls long jumper in Massachusetts) look to bolster an already-impressive squad that has qualified at least one woman to the NCAA West Regionals in four of the past five years. For the throws, 2025 Italian U23 hammer silver medalist
Pietro Camilli, 2025 Lithuanian U20 shot put champion
Matas Mikulėnas and 2025 California boys No. 2 shot putter
Eliot Traxler hope to become the next Bear greats. Finally,
Antonio Bayon, the No. 8 decathlon recruit (Track & Field News), looks to be another standout multi-eventer at Cal, joining a group that has seen nine men in program history collect a total of 15 All-America honors.
NEW YEAR, NEW STAFF
Cal's full-time coaching staff has two new faces this year in Tyler Burdorff and Nicole Matysik. Burdorff, who leads the throws unit, arrived at Cal from Maryland, where he coached two national-record holders, four USATF Indoor Championships finalists, a European U20 Championships qualifier and two USATF U20 Championships qualifiers as well as two All-Americans. Matysik raced for Furman cross country and track & field as a collegiate runner, earning 11 combined All-SoCon honors and five conference titles. In addition to Burdorff and Matysik, this year's Bears are also receiving new instruction from two-time Olympic hammer thrower Stamatia Scarvelis as well as program alumni Carrick Denker (who won All-West Region honors in the 2024 cross country season) and
Riley Knott (a three-time All-ACC jumper).
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