at The Battle in the OC
Date: Thursday, April 20
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Location: Titan Track Complex - Fullerton, Calif.
Meet Schedule

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine will make the short trip to Cal State Fullerton for The Battle in the OC on Thursday, April 20. Twenty-seven Anteaters are entered in 14 events at Titan Track Complex. The women's field events get underway with the hammer throw at 3 p.m., while action on the track is slated for a 5 p.m. start.
 
STARTING LINE
• Fourteen current 'Eaters hold 23 marks that rank among the top-10 in program history with 17 being set in 2023.
• Hannah Chau broke her own school record in the steeplechase with a time of 10:20.11 at the UCSB Invitational.
• Sameen Andar ran the second-fastest 10K (33:34.13) last week at the Bryan Clay Invitational.
• Earlier in the season at the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival, Andar notched the third-best 5K time at 16:36.87.
• Deandra Tyler also established top-10 marks in the shot put (3rd) and hammer (7th) this year.
• Tyler was named the Big West Women's Field Athlete of the Week on March 7 and March 28.
• Reyna Johnson became the third Anteater to reach the 20-foot mark in the long jump at the Beach Invite (20-01).
 
LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine had a split squad at several local meets last week. Reyna Johnson highlighted action at the Beach Invitational with a big personal best in the long jump. After fouling on her first attempt, Johnson recorded a leap of 20 feet, 1 inch on her second jump, which moved her up to No. 3 among UCI's all-time leaders. Deandra Tyler also improved on her top-10 mark in the hammer, unleashing a lifetime-best 175-04. On the track, Amari Fraser, Mia Marquez, Lauren Aquino and Alexis Alexander combined for the program's fourth-fastest 4x400, clocking in at 3:43.21. Over at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, Sameen Andar won Section 2 of the 10,000 meter Invite in a personal-record 33:34.13. She shaved 1:28.71 off her previous best to move up three spots to No. 2 in school history. Evelin Meza also placed eighth overall with a three-minute PR of 34:07.28 to rank fifth among UC Irvine's leaders. In the 800m, both Alexis Alexander (2:09.28) and Malia Gay (2:09.37) cracked the program's top-10. Gay won the 800m Open, finishing first in a field of 144 athletes, while she came back the following day with the ninth-best 1500m time in school history at 4:25.10. At the Mt. SAC Relays, Jolie Robinson registered a PR 5,074 points in the heptathlon.
 
ELITE COMPANY
Sophomore Reyna Johnson had a big personal record in the long jump at the Beach Invitational. After fouling on her first attempt, Johnson registered a leap of 20-01 (6.12m), which stood as the fourth-best of the meet and third among collegiate athletes. Her Big West-leading mark also moved her up three spots to No. 3 on UCI's all-time charts. Johnson is the third Anteater in program history, and first since Marieke Veltman's school-record 21-00.5 in 1992, to reach the 20-foot mark. Johnson, a Big West scorer in two events a year ago, also won the long jump at the Challenge Cup on April 7 (19-02.75).
 
GOING THE DISTANCE
Graduate student Hannah Chau picked up right where she left off in 2022 after closing out last season with a school record and runner-up finish in her second career steeplechase at the Big West Championships. In her 2023 steeple debut at the UCSB Invitational on March 11, Chau shattered her own record with a personal-best 10:20.11. She won the event by a 40-second margin and had the fastest time in The Big West since 2016. Sophomore Sameen Andar has added a pair of top-three marks in program history. Most recently, she won the 10,000 meter at the Bryan Clay Invitational (Section 2) in 33:34.13 to climb to No. 2 on UCI's all-time charts. Andar also ran the Anteaters' third-fastest 5K with a PR 16:36.87 at UCLA on March 24. The distance crew is solid across the board as it returned all of its team-high 31 points from last year's conference meet. Chau (Steeple, 10K) and sophomore Anna Vogtmann (1500m) were 2022 All-Big West performers, while Andar, Montgomery Allison and Olivia Liuson were also conference scorers.
 
800 SPEED
Junior Alexis Alexander and sophomore Malia Gay have joined graduate student Emma McCarthy among UC Irvine's all-time leaders in the 800m. At the Bryan Clay Invitational, Alexander clocked a personal-best 2:09.28 to rank eighth in program history, while Gay, who finished first out of 144 athletes in the Open section, is ninth at 2:09.37. McCarthy was the Big West runner-up in 2022 when she ran UCI's sixth-fastest 800m at 2:09.17. In 2023, the 'Eaters own four of the top-10 marks in the conference with Alexander and Gay ranking first and second, respectively. McCarthy (2:11.03) is also sixth, while Cathy Salazar-Gasca (2:11.06) is seventh.
 
TWICE AS NICE
Junior Deandra Tyler won two of the first four Big West Women's Field Athlete of the Week awards. On March 28, she was recognized for a pair of top-five finishes at UCLA's Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational, highlighted by a runner-up performance in the shot put with a then personal-record 49-02.25. The Atascadero, California, native earned her first career weekly honor on March 7 after taking first in the hammer throw and second in the shot put at the Beach Opener. Tyler also owns three shot put victories on the season, winning the event at the Challenge Cup, UCSB Invitational and at the Vince O'Boyle Classic where she established a PR 49-03.5, which ranks third in program history and is second in The Big West this season. Last week at the Beach Invite, she unleashed a lifetime-best 175-04 in the hammer to move up one spot to No. 6 among UCI's all-time top-10.

MAKING A MARK
Sophomore transfer Jolie Robinson has made an immediate impact, producing top-10 marks in the long jump, javelin and heptathlon. In her 'Eater debut, she registered a personal-best 19-01.25 in the LJ to tie for eighth all-time at UCI. The following weekend at the UCSB Invitational, she topped that performance with a leap of 19-02.5 to take over sole possession of No. 8 in the record book. Last Thursday at the Mt. SAC Relays, she saw another slight improvement at 19-02.75. The Mission Viejo native also notched a personal-best 134-10 in the javelin at Mt. SAC, which puts her at No. 9. She went on to finish the Mt. SAC Heptathlon Elite with 5,074 points to rank eighth in program history and second in the Big West this year. During the indoor season, Robinson set a school-record 19-02 in the long jump. Prior to her arrival at UC Irvine, she was the 2022 California Community College Athletic Association state champion in the heptathlon at Saddleback College.
 
ON THE RISE
The 'Eaters are coming off their first top-three finish at the Big West Championships since 2014. Last year they had eight podium finishes and compiled 101 points. In 2023, they bring back over 75% of their scoring including six all-conference performers.
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine will host the Steve Scott Invitational at Anteater Stadium, April 28-29. It will be the team's final tune-up before the Big West Championships get underway with the heptathlon at Cal State Fullerton, May 5-6. The main events are slated for the following weekend (May 12-13).