The UC Irvine Women’s Track & Field team won its first conference championship at the Big West Championship at Jack Rose Track in Long Beach on May 17.
This was the team’s first time placing atop the podium at the Big West Championship following a second-place finish last year with 342 teams at the Division I level nationally.
UC Irvine scored early on May 10, as senior Jolie Robinson finished second in the heptathlon with 5,524 points. Senior Jazzmine Davis came in fifth with 5,368 points.
Following the first weekend of the conference championship, the Anteaters were second to Long Beach State in the championship standings. They eventually entered first place on the first day of the second weekend after a strong showing.
On May 16, UCI started off with the long jump, in which sophomore Kailah McKenzie finished in a tie for fifth with 6.02 meters, while senior Reyna Johnson finished seventh with 5.97 meters.
In the hammer throw, junior DeAna Davis finished second with a mark of 57.50 meters.
In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, top Anteater performances came from sophomore Kaia Schmidt, who finished second with a time of 10:43.51, and senior Montgomery Allison, who finished eighth in 11:00.23.
In the high jump, UCI’s junior Zharia Taylor finished second with a mark of 1.78 meters. Behind her was junior Esmeray Demirbas who had a jump of 1.73 meters. In fourth was Anteater McKenzie with a mark of 1.68 meters.
In the shot put, freshman Pinkie Schnayer placed fourth with a mark of 14.65 meters, while junior Nyla Baker placed sixth at 14.55 meters.
To close out the day in the 10,000 meter run, senior Anna Vogtmann finished seventh with a time of 35:56.57.
On May 17, Robinson finished third in the javelin throw with a mark of 43.81 meters.
In the discus throw, Baker finished fourth with a throw of 48.48 meters.
In the 4×100 relay, the Anteaters finished second with a time of 44.87 seconds.
In the 1,500-meter run, senior Malia Gay finished second with a time of 4:38.11.
In the 100-meter hurdles, Jazzmine finished third in 13.42 seconds, and Johnson finished just behind in 13.57.
In the 100-meter dash, sophomore Halle Sutherland finished fourth in 11.62 seconds and junior Samantha Bartz finished sixth in 11.66.
Anteater domination continued in the next two events. In the 800-meter run, graduate student Luz Mercado won the event in 2:08.12 seconds, while Gay came in second at 2:08.65.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Jazzmine won the event in 58.14 seconds, and Demirbas came in third with a time of 58.23.
In the 200-meter dash, Sutherland placed seventh with a time of 23.84 seconds.
Irvine secured the conference championship following a fifth-place finish by Schmidt in the 5,000-meter run, with a time of 16:53.31 seconds.
UC Irvine added to its lead with a sixth-place finish in the 4×400 relay, clocking in at 3:43.67 seconds.
Strong-performing Anteaters will head to the NCAA West First Round in College Station, Texas, on May 29 in a meet streamed on ESPN+. These ‘Eaters include DeAna in the hammer throw; Jazzmine in the 100-meter hurdles; Demirbas and Jazzmine in the 400-meter hurdles; Gay and Mercaso in the 800-meter; Johnson, McKenzie and Robinson in the long jump; and Baker in the shot put.
Although no athletes are projected to make it to the national championship meet, the Anteaters are still mathematically in contention for a national championship.
Jack Fedor is a 2024-25 Assistant Sports Editor. He can be reached at jfedor@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores and Jaheem Conley.