Live Results

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Senior Barbara Coward defended her conference title in the discus to lead the UC Irvine women's track & field team on the first day of the Big West Championships Friday at Pauley Track Facility.
 
Coward took a lead she would not relinquish on her opening throw that measured 169 feet, 8 inches. She saw a big improvement on her next attempt with a heave of 180-9, which stood as her best of the afternoon and beat out the rest of the field by over 21 feet.
 
Junior Brianna Villanueva earned her first career Big West podium finish as she came in third in the discus with a mark of 159-0.  Freshman Tayla Crenshaw also scored with a season-best 145-11 (8th).
 
Sophomore Natalie Koppel recorded a season-best 18-08.5 to place ninth overall in the long jump, while senior Adrienne Lee tied for 10th in the pole vault (11-09.25).
 
On the track, freshman Hannah Chau scored in the 10000m with a fifth-place finish. She clocked in at 35:43.62, topping her personal record by nearly seven seconds and moving her up to fifth in school history.
 
Freshman Zani Meaders posted the third-fastest qualifying time to advance to tomorrow's 400m final. Meaders crossed the finish line in 55.27 seconds, putting her at No. 4 on UCI's all-time charts.
 
Senior Julia Sambvani will also move on to Saturday's final in the 400m hurdles as she took seventh in the prelims with a time of 62.17.
 
Junior Mariah Theologidy came in two spots out of scoring position in the 3000m steeplechase where she notched a season-best 11:17.21 (10th). Her time ranks ninth in school history. Classmate Anastasia Karnaze was also 12th overall (11:23.25).
 
Senior Hope Bushnell finished 11th in the 100m prelims (12.00), while sophomore Mikayla Scott was 12th in the 200m (25.04). Junior Imani Jones was also 11th in the 100m hurdles (14.81).
 
UC Irvine returns to Pauley Track Facility on Saturday for the second and final day of the Big West Championships.