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LONG BEACH, Calif. – UC Irvine women's track & field made history, winning the program's first Big West Championship. The Anteaters built a decent lead before holding off a late Cal Poly push to claim the team title Saturday at Jack Rose Track.
 
The 'Eaters finished with 150.5 points to edge the Mustangs, who took second with 149 points.

"It was a collective team effort for us from the coaching staff to the student-athletes to our administration," head coach Jeff Perkins said. "This was our goal from the beginning of the year and it came to fruition so we're obviously super excited."
 
It came down to the final event of the meet with UCI needing to place ahead of Cal Poly in the 4x400. After falling behind early, Jazzmine Davis and Luz Mercado, who were coming off event wins in the 400m hurdles and 800m, respectively, brought the Anteaters in front as they took sixth (3:43.67), beating out the Mustangs by .35 seconds to secure the team victory.

In the 800m, Mercado made her move on the outside with less than 100 meters to go to win the title at 2:08.12. Malia Gay, who took the lead in the final lap was second at 2:08.65. It was Gay's second podium finish of the afternoon as she was also the runner-up in the 1500m (4:38.11).
 
Davis had a huge PR in the 400m hurdles for the second day in a row. She won the event at 58.14 to move up to No. 3 in school history. Esmeray Demirbas also made her way onto the podium with a third-place showing (58.23).
 
Davis, Halle Sutherland, Reyna Johnson and Samantha Bartz kicked off the track events with a second-place finish in the 4x100 relay. They combined for a season-best 44.87 to rank second among UCI's all-time leaders.
 
Davis closed out the meet with three podium finishes as she also took third in the 100m hurdles, running a wind-aided lifetime-best 13.42. Johnson wasn't far behind in fourth with a wind-aided personal-record 13.57.
 
The 'Eaters added eight points in the 100m where Sutherland took fourth (11.62) and Bartz was sixth (11.66). Bartz's time was a personal best and moved her up one spot to No. 4 in program history. Sutherland also scored in the 200m where she placed seventh overall (23.84).
 
Jolie Robinson started the day with her second podium finish of the championships, taking third in the javelin. She opened at 39.05 meters (128-1) to earn a spot in the final where she got three more attempts. Robinson saved her best for last, climbing from sixth place into the top three with a clutch toss of 43.81m (143-8). Robinson was also the Big West runner-up in the heptathlon last weekend.
 
Nyla Baker just missed the podium as she came in fourth in the discus with a best of 48.48m (159-0).
 
Kaia Schmidt scored in the 5000m with a fifth-place finish. Schmidt clocked a PR 16:53.31, which puts her 10th on UC Irvine's all-time charts.


Big West Women's Team Standings
1. UC Irvine - 150.5
2. Cal Poly - 149
3. Long Beach State - 109.5
4. Hawai'i - 76.5
5. UC San Diego - 75.5
6. Cal State Fullerton - 58
7. UC Davis - 52
8. UC Riverside - 47
9. CSUN - 44
10. UC Santa Barbara - 38
11. Cal State Bakersfield - 18