LONG BEACH, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's track & field team had three conference scorers and five qualifiers out of the preliminary events on the first day of the Big West Championships Friday at Jack Rose Track.
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Joshua Schuld scored in the steeplechase with a personal-record 8:50.75. He placed fourth overall and improved on his No. 5 time in program history.
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Alan Vuong also scored in the high jump. With the bar at 2.06 meters (6-9), Vuong was down to his last try and came up clutch with a big clearance and personal record. He finished fourth in the standings based on attempts.
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Jacob Hawkins was sixth in the shot put for four points. Hawkins fouled on his first two throws before hitting 17.06 meters (55-11.75) in the final round of Flight 2 to advance to the final. With three more attempts, Hawkins bettered his mark in the sixth round with a toss of 17.78m (58-4).
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Angel Cordero had the second-fastest qualifying time in the 800m prelims at 1:50.54. He will be back on the track for the final on Saturday.
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Justin Johnson notched a wind-aided personal-record 20.69 in the 200m prelims, which was fast enough to earn him a time qualifier.
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AJ Taylor clocked a 110m hurdle season-best 14.37 to place second in his heat and advance to tomorrow's final.
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In the 400m hurdles, both
Roman Mendoza (53.37) and
Ashton Fegel (54.19) earned a spot in Saturday's final. Mendoza took second in his heat, while Fegel ran a personal record to claim the final time qualifier.
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Luke Stuckey notched a personal-record 51.37m (168-6) in the hammer throw, and
Juan Sanchez ran 31:16.18 in his first 10K on the track.
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UC Irvine is back in action for the final day of the Big West Championships at Jack Rose Track on Saturday, May 17.