IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine women's outdoor track & field team has a young and talented group that is ready to reach new heights in 2020.
 
The 'Eaters welcome back 20 letterwinners from last year, while bringing in 16 newcomers and one returning redshirt.
 
"Our women's team is young, but has loads of talent," UCI head coach Jeff Perkins said. "We are looking for some great individual finishes in the field and track events with a continued vision of depth and chemistry."
 
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
Despite graduating one of the most accomplished throwers in program history in Barbara Coward, the squad is in good hands with senior Brianna Villanueva leading the way. Villanueva earned All-Big West honors in both the discus and hammer in 2019. She established marks that rank among the top-four in school history with personal-records of 186-01 in the hammer and 163-10 in the discus.
 
Sophomore Tayla Crenshaw is coming off an impressive debut season. After one year, Crenshaw already ranks ninth in school history in the shot put (41-10.5) and hammer (158-02). She was also a Big West point scorer in the latter event.
 
JUMPS
The Anteaters return their top performers in both the long jump and triple jump. Junior Natalie Koppel has led the way in the long jump in each of the last two years. She owns a personal-record 19-05.5, which ranks third in school history.
 
Sophomore Lorraine Nance also broke onto the scene in the triple jump in 2019 where she was a conference scorer. Nance established a lifetime-best 38-08.75, putting her at No. 7 on UCI's all-time charts.
 
The 'Eaters have also added quite a bit of depth in both events with graduate transfer Je'Neal Ainsworth, junior transfer Crystal Washington, and freshmen Chaselyn Amos and Kayla Mixon. Ainsworth brings the most experience as a three-time NCAA West Preliminary qualifier and two-time All-Mountain West performer in the triple jump at San Diego State. She owns a personal-record 41-04.25.
 
SPRINTS/HURDLES
Sophomore Zani Meaders and redshirt junior Sha'Maya Flanagan are expected to lead the sprints group in 2020. As a freshman last year, Meaders earned All-Big West honors with a third-place finish in the 400m at the conference championships. She ran a lifetime-best 55.00 in the finals to move up to No. 3 in program history.
 
Flanagan sat out last year after transferring from Arizona State where she registered personal-bests of 12.16 in the 100m, 24.41 in the 200m and 55.52 in the 400m.
 
In the hurdles, senior Mychal Robinson highlights a strong crew. Robinson, who redshirted last year, was a 2018 Big West scorer in the 100m hurdles. She enters her final campaign with a personal-record 14.00, which is eighth among UC Irvine's all-time leaders.
 
Senior Cecily Montanez and sophomore Jaida Robinson also return in the 400m hurdles, while freshmen Amari Fraser, Kayla Rodriguez and Emily Ruff enter the mix.
 
DISTANCE
Sophomore Hannah Chau has high expectations for the 2020 outdoor track & field season. Last year, she was the first Anteater to score in both the 5000m and 10000m at the Big West Championships since 2013. Chau finished fifth in the 10K with a personal-record 35:43.62, which ranks fifth in school history.
 
Earlier this year, Chau also became UCI's first all-conference performer in women's cross country since 2008 with a fifth-place finish at the championship meet.
 
The 'Eaters have solid senior leadership in Anastasia Karnaze, Brenda Dorantes and Mariah Theologidy. In addition, UC Irvine brings in an influx of talent with eight newcomers.