Beach Opener
Dates: Friday-Saturday, March 1-2
Time: 12 p.m. / 8 a.m. (PST)
Location: Jack Rose Track - Long Beach, Calif.
Meet Info // Schedule // Live Results

Notes (PDF)

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine women's track & field team kicks off the outdoor season this weekend as it travels to Long Beach for the Beach Opener, March 1-2. The two-day meet will be held at Jack Rose Track on the campus of Long Beach State.
 
Competition gets underway with the javelin (12 p.m.) and hammer throw (3 p.m.) on Friday. A full day of events is then slated for Saturday, starting with the 3000m at 8 a.m.
 
The Anteaters have 23 student-athletes entered in 13 different events. They will be going up against fellow NCAA Division I members USC, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Bakersfield and host LBSU, along with a handful of DII, DIII and junior college programs.

STORYLINES
• This marks the first time UC Irvine has entries in the Beach Opener, which is in its third year.
• The Anteaters will stay in Southern California for the remainder of the regular season.
• The only time UCI travels outside of the region is for NCAA postseason competition.
• The NCAA West Prelims will take place in Sacramento, while the NCAA Championships will be held in Austin, Texas.
• The 'Eaters have a good mix of experience and youth with 22 returners and 19 newcomers.
• Of their 22 returners, 10 have already etched their names in the program's record book.
• Senior Barbara Coward leads the way as the school record holder in the discus (180-08) and hammer (192-03).
 
SPRINTS/HURDLES
• Senior Hope Bushnell ranks among the top-three in school history in the 100m (11.76) and 200m (24.03).
• She finished third in the 200m at the 2018 Big West Championships to earn all-conference honors.
• Sophomore Mikayla Scott was a work horse at last year's Big West meet, scoring in the 100m, 200m and 4x400.
• Bushnell, Scott and senior Julia Sambvani were also part of the 4x100 relay that qualified for the NCAA West Prelims.
• Freshman Zani Meaders looks to make an immediate impact after breaking UCI's indoor 400m record last week.
• Senior Mychal Robinson is expected to lead the hurdlers after a fifth-place finish in the 100H at conference a year ago.
 
THROWS
• Senior Barbara Coward is primed to improve on her school records in the hammer and discus.
• Coward was the Big West champion in the discus and runner-up in the hammer in 2018.
• She is a three-time NCAA West Prelim qualifier in the discus, while also advancing to regionals in the HT last year.
• Junior Brianna Villanueva has made huge strides as she sits among UCI's top-10 in the discus and hammer.
• Villanueva scored in the hammer at last year's conference meet, coming in fifth overall.
• Senior Elizabeth Akindele was a 2018- All-Big West performer with a third-place finish in the shot put.
• Akindele is currently fourth in school history with a lifetime-best 47-01.
• Freshman Tayla Crenshaw, a local product out of Costa Mesa HS, is slated to make her Anteater debut this weekend.
 
JUMPS
• Last year, sophomore Natalie Koppel became the first 'Eater to reach the 19-foot mark in the long jump since 2011.
• She ranks third in program history with a personal-record 19-05.5.
• Junior Tatyana Hamlett saw big improvements in 2018 with lifetime bests in the LJ (17-06.25) and TJ (37-05.75).
• Entering the mix in 2019 is freshman Lorraine Nance, who was a high school state qualifier in the triple jump.
• Senior Adrienne Lee is also back in the pole vault where she owns a personal-best 11-03.75.
 
DISTANCE
• Freshmen Hannah Chau and Natalie Ewe are coming off an impressive cross country season in the fall.
• Chau was UC Irvine's top finisher in five of six races.
• She also established the eighth-best 6000-meter time in school history at 20:59.2.
• Ewe recorded the Anteaters' top 5000m time of the season at 17:57.70.
• UCI also has a solid returning group in Anastasia Karnaze, Brenda Dorantes, Keely Boyd and Megan Mirkhanian.
• Karnaze ranks fifth in program history in the steeplechase.
 
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Jeff Perkins on the season outlook: "We will rely heavily on the youth movement within our program. We have many athletes who we have been waiting on to show their talents and this outdoor season is the time. The returning group made up of Barbara Coward, Hope Bushnell and many others will lead the way, but the rookies will be close behind giving us the depth we have been longing for."
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine is back in action next weekend, making the short trip to Fullerton for the Ben Brown Invitational, March 8-9.