The California track & field team will continue heading into the thick of its season this Saturday, heading down to Stanford's Cobb Track and Angell Field for the 131st Big Meet. First held in 1893 under the moniker "First Intercollegiate Field Day", the dual between the Golden Bears and the Cardinal will be scored in a 5-3-1 format, except for the relays (5-0 scoring). This year's contest will also serve as Stanford's Senior Day.
 
Live results from the meet will be available on RecordTiming. The day's field events will begin at noon PT with the men's hammer throw, while the track events are slated to start at 1:15 p.m. with the women's 3000m steeplechase.
 
Cal's men have won each of the past four Big Meets, while Stanford's women are on a two-year win streak. The Cardinal women are ranked No. 11 in the nation this week on the USTFCCCA track & field rating index (TFRI).
 
Last weekend, Cal posted five top-10 times across three different meets. The first of these came in the women's 3000m steeplechase at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic, where sophomore Sarah Perkins recorded a time of 10:59.52, followed by juniors Sophie Tau (15:57.16) and Addie Johnson (16:04.57) respectively posting the No. 4 and No. 6 5000m times in program history at the Stanford Invitational. Sophomore Nairobi Smith set a new meet record at the Brutus Hamtilon Invitational with a 100m time of 11.25, second-fastest in Cal history, while classmate Inara Ukawuba rose from No. 9 to No. 7 with a 100m hurdles time of 13.40.
 
 
THE 131ST BIG MEET (April 11 – Stanford, California)
Event Info
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
 
100m – Javon Hampton Jr., Josh Myers, Aidan Orias, Jakobi Smith, Chukwunonso Udeh, Wazell Wright
200m – Josh Myers, Aidan Orias, Trevor Rogers, Jakobi Smith, Wazell Wright
400m – Nathan Lee*, Arian Naim
800m – Jackson Hein (FR), Lamarr Kirk Jr., Justin Pretre
1500m – Bradley Arrey (FR), Julian Doak, Alexander Lodewick, Gabriel Rodriguez
3000m – Caden Carney, Roland Ruckmann-Barnes, John Sesteaga
110m Hurdles – Donovan Bradley*, Seth Johnson, Matt Gladney
400m Hurdles – Daniel Chen, Luke Tanguay
4x100m Relay – California
High Jump – Antonio Bayon (FR), Brandon Cheeks II, Victor Ezike Jr.
Pole Vault – Kai Anderson (FR), Will Siemens, Parker Terrill*
Long Jump – David Brok, Javon Hampton Jr., Jason Plumb*, Trevor Rogers, Brandon Rush, Chukwunonso Udeh
Triple Jump – Jeremiah Bolaños, Frankie Cruz Jr., Victor Ezike Jr., Kosi Nwafor, Brandon Rush, Chukwunonso Udeh
Shot Put – Nik Iwankiw, Matas Mikulenas (FR), Eliot Traxler (FR)
Discus – Luke Buddie, Nik Iwankiw, Eliot Traxler
Hammer – Kai Barham, Kai Burich, Miles Clark (R-FR)
Javelin – Luke Buddie, Seth Johnson
                                                                                                                                       
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
 
100m – Lauren Gilhooly (FR), Caitlyn Johnson (FR), Paige Porter, Saqqara Ruffin, Nairobi Smith*, Kaitlyn Williams (FR), Inara Ukawuba
200m – Paige Porter, Nairobi Smith*, Kaitlyn Williams (FR)
400m – Diana Scott (FR)
800m – Salma Bejia (FR), Carolina Dawson, Savannah Harris (FR)
1500m – Addie Johnson
3000m – Sabine Kim (R-FR), Sophie Tau*                                  
100m Hurdles – Saqqara Ruffin*, Inara Ukawuba*
400m Hurdles – Jaya Westby
3000m Steeplechase – Georgia McCorkle*, Sarah Perkins*
4x100m Relay – California
4x400m - California
High Jump – Zahra Amos, Kimiko Hirahara (FR), Grace Reinhardt-Perez
Pole Vault – Anya Patel (FR), Ali Sahaida*
Long Jump – Avery Hart (FR), Caitlyn Johnson (FR)
Triple Jump – Leah Anderson, Avery Hart (FR)
Shot Put – Audrey Jacobs, Lucija Leko*
Discus – Adrianna Coleman, Lucija Leko*
Hammer – Adrianna Coleman*, Audrey Jacobs*, Isabella Popejoy, Valentina Savva*, Angie Schykerynec
Javelin – Grace Reinhardt-Perez
 
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Redshirt junior decathlete Luke Buddie was named the ACC Men's Field Athlete of the Week on Tuesday in recognition of his standout performance at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational, where he posted six personal bests and five total wins in his conference-leading finish of 7168 points. This is the sixth ACC weekly award of any kind won by a Cal athlete this season, with Buddie joining teammates Sam Novak (twice), Pietro Camilli, Ali Sahaida and Kai Anderson. Buddie is the first of these to be named ACC Men's Field Athlete of the Week as well as the first Cal athlete to earn conference Field Athlete of the Week honors since school record-holder Mike Morrison in 2011.
 
IN THE RANKINGS
Six of Cal's four-deep event squads rank in the national top 20, including five in the top 10. The women's hammer squad of Valentina Savva, Audrey Jacobs, Adrianna Coleman and Isabella Popejoy currently leads the nation.
 
SMITH, ASCENDANT
Nairobi Smith has etched her name all over the Cal record books in her breakout sophomore season, with four individual top-10 times to her name so far in 2026. Smith's indoor campaign saw her rise steadily up the Bears all-time 200m list, eventually breaking the program record with a bronze-medal performance of 23.52 at the ACC Indoor Championships to cap off a season in which she also recorded Cal's all-time No. 6 60m entry (7.40). In just her second meet of the outdoor season, Smith made her debut on Cal's outdoor 200m top-10 list with the No. 4 time in team history (23.28), fastest by any Bear since Ezinne Abba in 2022; the next week, she made her collegiate 100m debut with a time of 11.25 at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational, good for a new meet record and the second-fastest time in program history (also behind Abba in 2022).
 
HIGH HOPES FOR THE HURDLERS
Cal's hurdles group looks to be as strong as ever, with three women having combined for four program top-10 times thus far. In the indoor season, Austrian U23 100m hurdles champion Mari Testa (No. 1), Saqqara Ruffin (No. 5) and Inara Ukawuba (No. 9) each posted program top-10 entries in the women's 60m hurdles. Ukawuba later recorded Cal's No. 9 100m hurdles time in the first meet of the Bears' outdoor campaign, then rose to No. 7 two weeks later.
 
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 part-time 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).
 
STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal track & field, follow the Bears on X (@CalTFXC), Instagram (@caltfxc) and Facebook (@Cal Cross Country/Track and Field).