Big West Championships
Dates: May 10-11 (Friday-Saturday)
Location: Pauley Track Facility - Santa Barbara, Calif.
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IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine women's track & field team makes its way to Santa Barbara this weekend for the Big West Championships, May 10-11. The conference meet will be held at UCSB's Pauley Track Facility.
 
The main events of the women's Big West Championships get underway Friday with the pole vault at 11 a.m. The running events are then set for an afternoon start with the steeplechase at 2 p.m. On Saturday, the hammer kicks things off at 9 a.m., while action on the track commences with the 4x100 relay at 2 p.m. The Anteaters have 17 individuals entered in 17 events, including both relays.
 
STORYLINES
• UC Santa Barbara is hosting the Big West Championships for the first time since 1983.
• The 'Eaters competed at UCSB's Pauley Track Facility earlier this year at the Big West Challenge on April 5.
• Senior Barbara Coward has broken her own school records in the hammer (196-07) and discus (186-04) this year.
• She tied a conference single-season record with her fourth Big West Field Athlete of the Week award on May 1.
• Coward was recognized after winning the hammer throw at the Steve Scott Invite with a program-best 196-07.
• Brianna Villanueva also jumped to No. 2 in school history with a lifetime-best 186-01.
• In total, the 2019 Anteaters have produced 12 marks that rank among the top-10 in school history.
• All of UC Irvine's regular-season meets took place in Southern California.
• The only time the 'Eaters will travel outside of the region is for NCAA postseason competition.
• The NCAA West Prelims are in Sacramento, while the NCAA Championships will be held in Austin, Texas.
• UC Irvine has a good mix of experience and youth with 21 returners and 18 newcomers.
 
UCI AT THE BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS
• Since 1984, the UC Irvine women have produced 69 individual Big West titles and three championship relay teams.
• Last year, the Anteaters finished sixth at the conference meet and had five All-Big West performers (top-three).
• Barbara Coward is the reigning discus champion and was the 2018 runner-up in the hammer throw.
• Hope Bushnell and Elizabeth Akindele placed third overall in the 200m and shot put, respectively.
• UCI is still in search of its first Big West Women's Track & Field team title.
• The 'Eaters have placed second at the conference meet six times with the last coming in 1996.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• UC Irvine hosted the Steve Scott Invitational in its regular-season finale, April 26-27.
• Barbara Coward won the hammer with a school-record 196-07, beating her previous standard by five inches.
• Brianna Villanueva added a PR 186-01, which moved her up three spots to No. 2 in program history.
• Villanueva also notched a lifetime-best 163-10 in the discus, putting her fourth on UCI's all-time charts.
• Coward was the top collegiate finisher, and third overall, at 173-03.
• Elizabeth Akindele took fourth in the shot put (43-09.75), while Tayla Crenshaw was sixth with a season-best 41-10.5.
• Crenshaw cracked UC Irvine's top-10 as her mark is tied for ninth in school history.
• Mariah Theologidy registered the Anteaters' 10th-fastest steeplechase time at 11:19.43.
 
DOUBLE THREAT
• Barbara Coward has continued to rewrite the record books, bettering her own standards in the hammer and discus.
• On April 26, she broke her own hammer record for the second time in 2019 with a toss of 196-07.
• That topped her previous best of 196-02, which she established at the Beach Opener on March 2.
• She has held the No. 1 spot in the Big West all season and currently sits at No. 29 in the West Region.
• At the Triton Invitational, Coward crushed her UCI discus record by nearly six feet with a lifetime-best 186-04.
• That mark ranks first in the Big West, ninth in the West Region and 13th in all of NCAA Division I.
• Coward has earned a conference-record tying four Big West Field Athlete of the Week awards this season.
• Her seven career citations are also tied for the most in league history.
• The Atwater, Calif., native has combined for five individual victories in nine hammer and discus competitions.
 
MORE FROM THE THROWERS
• Junior Brianna Villanueva has provided a solid 1-2 punch behind Coward in the discus and hammer.
• She has established multiple PRs in both events and owns 12 top-five finishes this year.
• Villanueva ranks second in school history in the hammer throw (186-01) and fourth in the discus (163-10).
• Freshman Tayla Crenshaw added a lifetime-best 158-02 in the hammer to come in at No. 9 on UCI's all-time charts.
• She also established the ninth-best shot put mark in school history at the Steve Scott Invitational (41-10.5).
• Senior Elizabeth Akindele won the shot put at the Ben Brown Invitational and Big West Challenge.
• Akindele is fourth among the Anteaters' all-time leaders with a PR 47-01 that was established in 2018.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
• UC Irvine's freshmen have established five of the Anteaters' 12 top-10 marks this year.
• In her first collegiate outdoor meet, Zani Meaders etched her name among UCI's elite 400m runners.
• Meaders won the 400 by over a second at the UC Irvine Spring Break Collegiate Classic with a time of 55.74.
• She saw an improvement in her next outing at the Jim Bush Legends Invitational, running 55.68 to finish second.
• That mark puts the Chino Hills native at No. 8 in school history.
• Meaders is only the third 'Eater in the last six years to crack the program's all-time top-10 in the 400m.
• During the indoor campaign, she broke the 400m school record (55.78), while ranking sixth in the 200m (25.36).
• At the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 17, Hannah Chau ran UCI's sixth-fastest time in her first career 10K (35:50.29).
• Lorraine Nance also posted a top-10 mark in the triple jump at the Beach Invitational with a PR 38-08.75.
• Tayla Crenshaw is ninth in both the hammer (158-02) and shot put (41-10.5).
 
LAST HURRAH
• Senior Hope Bushnell is looking to improve on a pair of top-three marks in school history in her final campaign.
• Last year, she ran the Anteaters' second-fastest 200m (24.03) and third-fastest 100m (11.76).
• In her 2019 outdoor debut, Bushnell swept the short sprints with impressive early season marks of 11.88 and 24.37.
• She added another event win in the 100m at the UC Riverside Spring Track Classic.
• The Upland, Calif., native is a two-time All-Big West performer.
 
BIG WEST DISTANCE QUALIFIERS
• UC Irvine has nearly doubled its number of Big West entries in the long distance events from last year.
• Anastasia Karnaze and Mariah Theologidy will compete in the 3000m steeplechase, the first scored event on the track.
• Karnaze is seeded fifth with a personal-record 10:58.72 which she established at the Big West Challenge.
• Theologidy comes into the weekend with a season-best 11:19.43.
• She is also scheduled to run the 5000m on Saturday after clocking a qualifying time of 17:46.58.
• Hannah Chau will be a dual threat in the 5000m and 10000m.
• She joined the group of 5K qualifiers in her outdoor debut, running a season-best 17:30.70 at UCLA.
• In addition, Chau ranks second in the Big West in the 10K with her time of 35:50.29.
 
UP NEXT
• The NCAA West Preliminary Round is scheduled for May 23-25 in Sacramento.