LONG BEACH, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's track & field team concluded the Beach Opener on a rainy Saturday at Jack Rose Track.
 
Senior Justin Willingham claimed runner-up honors in the shot put with a personal-record 17.69 meters (58-0.5). He moved up two spots to No. 5 on UCI's all-time charts. Junior Jacob Hawkins was also fifth with a lifetime-best 16.52m (54-2.5).
 
Hawkins added a top-10 showing in the discus as he was ninth overall, and fifth among collegiate athletes, with a toss of 52.46m (172-1).
 
Freshman Alan Vuong cleared 2.01 meters (6-7) to place fifth in the high jump, while graduate transfer Anthony Victa had a sixth-place performance in the triple jump with a mark of 13.76m (45-1.75). In the long jump, junior Garren Haynes was sixth (7.03m/23-0.75).
 
On the track, senior AJ Sager won the steeplechase in 9:41.34, and freshman Jimmy Markowicz took third (9:57.67).
 
Freshman Alex Skalmowski had an impressive collegiate debut, taking second out of 64 in the 100m. Skalmowski crossed the finish line in 10.73 seconds. Junior Bryce Bushnell also came in ninth (10.82).
 
Junior Lukas Amare was the Anteaters' top performer in the 3000m, clocking in at 8:32.36 to finish third. Junior Joshua Schuld set a personal-best 8:38.61 to place 10th and senior Cameron Smith was 11th (8:39.51).
 
Schuld was also sixth in the 1500m with a time of 3:56.35. Junior Zeid Hussain wasn't far behind in eighth at 3:57.18. In addition, Amare (3:58.77) and Smith (3:59.99) came in under the four-minute mark.
 
The 'Eaters closed out the meet in the 4x400, combining for a time of 3:15.48 to place second overall.

UC Irvine returns to action next weekend at Cal State Fullerton's Ben Brown Invitational, March 8-9.