Steve Scott Invitational
Dates: Friday-Saturday, April 27-28
Time: 1 p.m. / 12 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Stadium - Irvine, Calif.
Live Results // Meet Program // Schedule

UC Irvine Meet Notes

The UC Irvine men's track & field team will host its third and final home meet of the season this weekend with the Steve Scott Invitational set to run, April 27-28, at Anteater Stadium. This is UCI's final tune-up before the Big West Championships.
 
The two-day meet gets underway Friday at 1 p.m. with the women's pole vault. The hammer throw, javelin and long jump will follow, while the steeplechase and 5000m will also be contested on the track, starting at 7 p.m. A full day of events is then slated for Saturday, commencing with the 4x100 relay at 12 p.m. Prior to the final event of the weekend, UC Irvine will recognize its three seniors, Jon Dickinson, Michael Hamill and Izzak Mireles.
 
ABOUT STEVE SCOTT
Steve Scott, the namesake for this weekend's meet, is one of the most prolific athletes in UC Irvine history. From 1974-78, Scott was a six-time All-American in track and cross country for the Anteaters. He won six NCAA indoor and outdoor track titles, and still holds the school and Big West Conference record in the 1500m with a time of 3:36. Scott was also a three-time U.S. Olympian, while holding the American record in the mile for over 25 years. He is a member of both the UC Irvine and USA Track & Field Hall of Fame.

QUICK HITS
• Brandon Lucas established personal bests in the 100m (10.60) and 200m (21.08) at the Mondo Team Challenge.
• Both of those marks are among UCI's all-time top-10 as he is sixth in the 100m and seventh in the 200m.
• Asa Allen has two individual victories in the 110H and ranks eighth in program history with a season-best 14.28.
• Freshman Seth Enochs, who won the long jump in his first three meets, is tied for fifth in school history at 24-05.5.
• Omar Valenzuela was just six inches shy of cracking UCI's top-10 in the discus with a PR 169-01 last weekend.
• The Anteaters' 27-man roster features 12 newcomers, including eight freshmen.
• 2016 Olympian & 2012 NCAA champion Charles Jock (800) has returned to his alma mater as a volunteer assistant.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• Omar Valenzuela was 13th in the discus with a career-best 169-01 at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate.
• Paul Resong also notched a 200m personal-record 22.32, despite running into a slight headwind.
• Izzak Mireles led the distance runners at the Bryan Clay Invite, taking 14th in the 5000m with a season-best 14:43.53.
• Ravi Sharma clocked in at 15:32.57, shaving over 30 seconds off his previous best.
• Kit Carter registered a PR 1:55.36 in the 800m, while Ashton Garcia did the same in the 1500m (3:53.18).
• At the Mt. SAC Relays, Asa Allen took sixth in the 110H at 14.37 seconds.
• UCI closed out the weekend at the Beach Invite where Andres Woodruff ran a lifetime-best 53.98 in the 400H (12th).
• Allen added another top-10 performance in the 110H as he tied for seventh (14.38).
 
LEADING MAN
Junior Brandon Lucas owns UC Irvine's top times of the 2018 campaign in the short sprints. At the Mondo Team Challenge, Lucas won the 200m in a personal-record 21.08, which ranks seventh in school history. He became the first Anteater to register a top-10 mark in the 200m since Dayne Comrie (2008). The transfer from Central Arizona College also established a lifetime-best 10.60 in the 100m, putting him at No. 6 among the program's career leaders.
 
FILLING THE VOID
UC Irvine suffered a big loss with the graduation of three-time All-American and Big West champion Lloyd Sicard, but junior transfer Asa Allen (Merritt College) has made a smooth transition into the Anteaters' leading role in the 110H. In just his second race of the season, Allen ran a 14.28 to win the event and rank eighth in program history. The Oakland, Calif., native is currently second in the Big West and 33rd in the NCAA West Region.
 
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Freshman Seth Enochs wasted no time in making a name for himself at the collegiate level as he won the long jump in each of his first three meets. At the season-opening Ben Brown Invitational (March 10), Enochs recorded a winning mark of 23-02.5. The Yucca Valley, Calif., native followed that performance by earning his second-straight individual victory at the UCI Spring Break Collegiate Classic on March 17. He had the top distance in the prelims with a lifetime-best 24-01.75, but that PR was short-lived as he saw an improvement of over three inches in the finals, hitting 24-05.5. It was the first time an Anteater surpassed the 24-foot mark since 1992, and was best jump by an 'Eater in 34 years. He went on to pick up his third-straight title at the UCR Spring Track Classic (24-00.25).
 
TESTING THE WATERS
Sophomore Hector Garcia ran his first collegiate 800m at the UCR Spring Track Classic on March 24 and finished sixth out of 29 competitors with a time of 1:55.01. He ran the half-mile race again at the Big West Challenge and saw an improvement of .11 seconds as he placed fifth overall at 1:54.90. That is the Anteaters' top 800m time of the year. Garcia also set personal records and owns UC Irvine's season bests in the 1500m (3:52.87) and mile (4:16.38). He added a PR of 15:07.84 in the 5000m at the season-opening Ben Brown Invitational. Garcia was an All-Big West performer in cross country during the fall.
 
MAKING STRIDES
Sophomore Andres Woodruff broke the 54-second mark in the 400m hurdles for the first time in his career last weekend. Woodruff notched a personal-record and team-leading 53.98 to place 12th out of 48 at the Beach Invitational. He also had a pair of runner-up finishes at the UC Riverside Spring Track Classic (54.11) and the UCI Spring Break Collegiate Classic (54.66), while taking third at the Big West Challenge (54.33).
 
GOING THE DISTANCE
Fifth-year senior Izzak Mireles has been the Anteaters' top distance runner this year as he leads the team in the 3000m (8:38.57), 5000m (14:43.53) and 10000m (31:21.57). His 10K time is a personal record that he established at UCLA's Bob Larsen Distance Carnival. Mireles' success is a culmination of his determination and hard work as he trained on his own his freshman year before earning a spot on the team in 2015. He graduated last June with a bachelor's degree in psychology and social behavior, and is now in the urban planning master's program.
 
JUST THROWING IT OUT THERE
Senior Jon Dickinson improved his career best in the hammer throw by six feet, five inches with a toss of 176-02 at the Ben Brown Invitational (March 9), moving him up one spot to No. 9 in school history. Junior Omar Valenzuela also stepped into the spotlight on his home turf, taking second in the discus at the UCI Spring Break Collegiate Classic (168-04). He went on to record a personal-best 169-01 at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate on April 19.
 
UP NEXT
The Big West Championships begin with the heptathlon and decathlon, May 4-5, while the main events are slated for May 11-12, in Northridge.