Megan George, Taisyn Crutchfield, Persis William-Mensah and Michelle Norman ran the second-fastest 4x100 relay time in Big West Championship history Saturday. (photo courtesy of Big West Conference)
LONG BEACH, Calif. --- UC Irvine's depth in the hurdles was evident Saturday and the Anteaters' 4x100 relay also put on an impressive display on the final day of the Big West Conference Track & Field Championships at Long Beach State's Jack Rose Track.
Junior Megan George successfully defended her conference title in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.33 seconds. The back-to-back winner is UCI's only league champion in that event since the Big West began conducting a women's championship in 1984.
Paige Bushnell finished third in the 100 hurdles Saturday with a time of 13.70 and Tyra Jones was fifth (13.90) as UCI totaled 20 team points in the event.
The 4x100 relay of Taisyn Crutchfield, George, Michelle Norman and Persis William-Mensah blazed to victory in a school-record 44.51 seconds, the second-fastest time in conference championship history. It is UCI's first victory in the event since 1992.
Bushnell placed second in the 400-meter hurdles in 59.66 seconds, the No. 5 time in Anteater history. Kaulyn Lee-McNeill finished fifth in 59.90 and Crystal Lizaola was eighth in 62.37.
William-Mensah was runner-up in the 100 meters in 11.55 seconds and Norman finished fourth in 11.72.
Norman was fifth in the 200 meters in 24.03 while Simone Buchanan placed fifth in the 400 meters with a time of 55.40, fourth-best in UCI history.
The 4x400 relay of Lee-McNeill, George, Lizaola and Buchanan finished fourth in a season-best time of 3:43.21.
Bridget Devaney broke her own school record in the hammer throw with a seventh-place finish of 182-5, passing her previous mark of 180-8 that she set in the adidas/Steve Scott Invitational April 29.
In the shot put, Elizabeth Akindele and Melanie Speech didn't figure into the scoring, but Akindele's mark of 45-4 ¼ and Speech's 44-1 ¼ are improvements on their Nos. 4 and 5 marks, respectively, on UCI's all-time Top 10 list.
UCI finished fifth in the team competition with 86 ½ points as UC Davis won the title with 135 ½ points.
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