SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Elizabeth Akindele, Barbara Coward and Zani Meaders all earned an individual victory to lead the UC Irvine women's track & field team at the Big West Challenge Friday in Santa Barbara.
 
Meaders clocked in at 55.70 to finish ahead of the pack in the 400m. It was the second event win for the freshman this year. Sophomore Mikayla Scott came in third (56.62), while freshman Briana Johnson notched a season-best 59.55 (9th).
 
Akindele won the shot put with a season-best 45-09.25, which she recorded on her final attempt. Akindele, a senior from Clovis, Calif., was the only individual in the competition to surpass 44 feet on all four throws. Freshmen Tayla Crenshaw (40-09.75) and Ariya Chestnut (39-10.75) were also fifth and seventh, respectively.
 
Coward claimed the discus title by over 14 feet. The senior school record holder led wire-to-wire, and finished the evening with a top throw of 169-08. Junior Brianna Villanueva contributed a fourth-place showing (150-04).
 
Villanueva also scored in the hammer throw (4th), seeing an improvement in each round and registering a best of 167-04. Coward, who owns the No. 1 mark in the conference, did not compete.
 
Junior Anastasia Karnaze cracked the 11-minute mark in the 3000m steeplechase for the first time in her career as she took third with a personal-record 10:58.72. Karnaze moved up one spot to No. 4 on the Anteaters' all-time charts. Junior Mariah Theologidy added a season-best and Big West qualifying time of 11:29.48 (8th).
 
Senior Hope Bushnell was the runner-up in the 200m (24.45), and matched her season best in the 100m at 11.88 seconds to finish third.
 
Junior Imani Jones notched a lifetime-best 14.43 in the 100m hurdles, which was good for fourth.
 
Senior Julia Sambvani (64.29) and junior Cecily Montanez (64.63) were fourth and fifth in the 400m hurdles.
 
Freshman Hannah Chau finished fourth in the 3000m with a season-best 10:17.67. Freshman Natalie Ewe placed seventh overall in the 1500m with a time of 4:39.24. Freshman Destiny Whitaker also led a trio of 'Eaters in the 800m with a seventh-place finish (2:22.49).
 
Scott, Meaders, Sambvani and Whitaker wrapped up action on the track with a third-place finish in the 4x400 (3:52.12).

For the second meet in a row, senior Adrienne Lee cleared 11-11.75 to match her lifetime best in the pole vault (4th).
 
Freshman Lorraine Nance was among the top-five in the triple jump at 36-09, while junior Tatyana Hamlett was eighth (36-04).
 
UC Irvine returns to action next weekend when it heads south to La Jolla for UC San Diego's Triton Invitational, April 12-13.