IRVINE, Calif. - The 2020 UC Irvine men's track & field team has a balanced and versatile group that will be looking to make some noise in the Big West and beyond.
 
The 'Eaters return 15 letterwinners, including all three of their 2019 NCAA qualifiers, while adding nine newcomers.
 
"Our men are really ready to make the next step in our goals of an improved team finish," UCI head coach Jeff Perkins said. "I expect us to have much more consistent success throughout the year and for our men to start asserting themselves as a dominant power in the Big West Conference."
 
The Anteaters open the campaign next weekend at LBSU's Beach Opener at Jack Rose Track, March 6-7. They will stay local again with the Ben Brown Invitational in Fullerton (March 13-14), before hosting the UC Irvine Collegiate Classic, March 20-21.
 
After competing at UCLA, the 'Eaters will make their only regular-season out-of-state trip as they head to Tempe, Ariz., for the Sun Angel Classic, April 3-4.
 
UC Irvine returns to Southern California for the remainder of April. May then starts with a three-week homestand where UCI hosts the Steve Scott Invitational (May 1-2), the Big West Decathlon/Heptathlon (May 8-9) and the Big West Championships (May 15-16). This is the first time the conference meet will be held at Anteater Stadium since 2012.
 
The NCAA West Preliminaries are set for May 28-30 in Lawrence, Kan., and the season will culminate at the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, June 10-13.
 
THROWS
UC Irvine will be led by two returning NCAA West Preliminary qualifiers in senior Jack Pickard and sophomore Kyle Tsu. Last year, Pickard established a school-record 221-00 in the javelin and earned All-Big West honors with a third-place finish at the conference championships.
 
Tsu advanced to the NCAA meet in the shot put with a collegiate personal-best of 57-11.25. He was an All-Big West performer as well, coming in third at the conference meet.
 
Sophomore Noah Holm also returns after competing in five meets as a true freshman, while junior transfer Richard Atthowe and freshman Jose Cisneros enter the mix.
 
JUMPS
Junior Seth Enochs will anchor the jumps squad. Enochs finished 15th in the long jump at the 2019 NCAA West Preliminaries and was the runner-up at the Big West Championships where he established a wind-aided personal-record 25-04. He won the event at the UCI Spring Break Collegiate Classic and UCR Spring Track Classic last year. Enochs' wind-legal lifetime-best of 25-00.75 ranks fourth in program history.
 
The Anteaters added depth in the jumps by bringing in a couple versatile newcomers. Sophomore Josh Farmer, who is a decathlete with broad ability in all events, comes to UCI from the University of Colorado where he had a podium finish (3rd) in the decathlon at the Pac-12 Championships. He also registered a wind-aided best of 23-05.5 in the long jump.
 
Freshman Tobi Adegoke is expected to contribute in the long jump in addition to the hurdles. He was the 2019 CIF-Southern Section Division I champion in the long jump with a lifetime-best 23-00.5.
 
SPRINTS/HURDLES
UC Irvine has a young but talented sprints/hurdles group in 2020. Freshman Jake Burns joins the 'Eaters as a CIF State Championship qualifier out of Trabuco Hills High School. He owns personal-bests of 10.56 in the 100m and 21.40 in the 200m.
 
Adegoke and freshman Drew Pickett will also look to make an immediate impact in the hurdles. Adegoke was a CIF State Championship qualifier in the 300m hurdles where he ran the fifth-best time in the state and 25th-best in the nation. Pickett claimed both the 110m and 300m hurdle titles at the 2019 San Gabriel Valley League Finals. He was also a CIF-SS finalist and CIF-SS Masters Meet qualifier in the 110H.
 
Seniors Evan Singletary and Andres Woodruff will provide leadership for the young crew. Singletary ranks seventh in school history in the 100m with a personal-record 10.61, while Woodruff is a three-time Big West finalist in the 400m hurdles. Woodruff established a lifetime-best 52.62 last year at the conference championships.
 
DISTANCE
After sitting out the 2019 cross country season recovering from an injury, senior Sam Ayala is ready to lead the distance squad on the track. Last year, Ayala ran the team's top times of the season in the 800m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m. He scored at the Big West Championships with a fifth-place showing in the 1500m.
 
Sophomores Sebastian Bautista and Christian Hernandez are also coming off impressive cross country campaigns in which they were the Anteaters' top-two finishers in every race.
 
In addition, senior Jhamani Long and freshmen Nick Krohn, Michael McCarthy and Jason Messner, are gearing up for the track season after competing in cross country during the fall.