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IRVINE, Calif. – The UC Irvine men's outdoor track & field team has officially released its 2017 schedule head coach Jeff Perkins announced Wednesday.

For the third year in a row, the Anteaters will begin the campaign in La Jolla as they travel south for the All-UC Championships. They follow the season opener with a short trip to Cal State Fullerton for the Ben Brown Invitational on March 11.

"We haven't attended the Ben Brown Invitational in a while, it's been at least four or five years now," Perkins said. "For us, it's a good chance for our athletes to get on their facility because that's where the conference championships will be hosted. It is also a huge invitational, so we will be looking forward to that as an early season test."

The 'Eaters then host the UCI Spring Collegiate Classic at Anteater Stadium, March 17-18.

"It will be nice to stretch our legs a little bit – it will be our third meet of the season," Perkins said. "We'll see how we size up against some teams that are coming from out of state. We're excited to have Northern Arizona and Army come to the meet along with some local universities as well."

UC Irvine then closes out the first month of the season at the UC Riverside Spring Track Classic (March 24-25).

The Anteaters jump right into a busy April that sees them competing in eight meets. They first head to Sacramento for the Mondo Team Challenge (April 1) at Hornet Stadium, which has served as the host site for past U.S. Olympic Trials and national championships. UCI then makes its way back to Fullerton for the Big West Challenge Cup on April 7. The following week, the 'Eaters are slated to send a split squad to the Bryan Clay Invitational (April 13-14), Pacific Coast Intercollegiate (April 14), Mt. SAC Relays (April 14-15) and Beach Invite (April 15).

UC Irvine will also return to La Jolla for the Triton Invitational prior to hosting the annual Steve Scott Invitational, April 28-29.

The Big West Championships begin with the decathlon, May 5-6, while the rest of the team will get their final tune-up at the Oxy Invite. The conference meet continues with the main events, May 12-13, in Fullerton.

The NCAA West Preliminaries will run from May 25-27, in Austin, Texas, while the NCAA Outdoor Championships are once again set to take place in Eugene, Ore., June 7-10.

Senior Lloyd Sicard, an NCAA semifinalist and U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier, will lead UC Irvine in 2017. Sicard is coming off his second-straight Big West title in the 110-meter hurdles where he already owns the school record with a personal-best 13.60. He was also a member of the 4x100 (Sicard, Duane Soloman, Brandon Howard, Antwon Parker) and 4x400 (Sicard, Parker, Paul Resong, Isaiah Jewett) relays that claimed all-conference honors with top-three finishes at the league meet.

Junior Brandon Howard is also a threat in the 400m hurdles where he was last year's conference runner-up and an NCAA West Preliminary qualifier.

In the field events, senior Matt Seawright returns after advancing to the NCAA West Prelims in the hammer and discus. He currently ranks among the top-10 in school history in the hammer (3rd, 203-02), discus (4th, 183-04) and shot put (8th, 54-06).

"Lloyd has definitely set a high bar, he's really challenged himself so we're looking for him to lead that pack," Perkins said. "Brandon Howard comes back for us as an NCAA Regional qualifier in the 400 hurdles. We'll also be looking for Matt Seawright to break the school record in the discus and hammer – he's come so far in one year.

"We also have a bunch of young guys who are setting themselves up for success. We have a freshman, Hector Garcia, who will be one of our best 5K/10K runners. He did really well in cross country and we're looking forward to seeing what he can do."