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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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).
 
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.
 
Justin Johnson notched a wind-aided personal-record 20.69 in the 200m prelims, which was fast enough to earn him a time qualifier.
 
AJ Taylor clocked a 110m hurdle season-best 14.37 to place second in his heat and advance to tomorrow's final.
 
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.
 
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.
 
UC Irvine is back in action for the final day of the Big West Championships at Jack Rose Track on Saturday, May 17.