The UC Irvine Women’s Indoor Track & Field team has added two freshmen to their roster in an attempt to repeat as conference champions.
The Anteaters won their first ever indoor track & field championship at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships on March 2. UCI had a total of 132.5 points at the end of the championship while the University of Hawai’i at Manoa placed second with 87 points.
Prior to the signings, the conference membership had changed. While Hawai’i had departed the MPSF for the Mountain West, the Pac-12’s Boise State University, Colorado State University, Utah State University, San Diego State University, Fresno State and Texas State University joined the conference in 2026. The Big West’s Sacramento State, Utah Valley University and UC Santa Barbara also joined the conference.
The 2026 MPSF Women’s Indoor Track coach of the year, Jeff Perkins, has signed a new athlete to the team — freshman Isabella Salsamendi. Salsamendi joins the ‘Eaters from Santa Margarita Catholic High School where she had a season best in 2026 of 12.40 seconds in the 100 meter event at the Asics Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational.
Salsamendi will help UCI in the sprinting events as they lost senior Jazzmine Davis who won the MPSF 60 Meter Hurdles title with a time of 8.41 seconds in 2026.
Another athlete UC Irvine has signed is freshman Alison Abercromby who comes to Irvine from San Luis Obispo High School. She competed in a variety of events in high school including the 4×400 relay. One notable finish was at the 106th California Interscholastic Federation State T&F Champs where her team finished sixth in the state. UC Irvine placed seventh at the MPSF championships with a time of 3:46.83 in 2026.
Abercromby’s addition could assist in catching up to the reigning conference champion California State University, Fullerton in the 4×400 relay. In the distance medley relay the ‘Eaters finished second in the conference with a time of 11:36.58 only behind Washington State University.
Abercromby’s official position is a pentathlete as in high school she competed in the 200 meter, 800 meter, 100 meter hurdles, 300 meter hurdles, and 400 meter hurdles, as well as the high jump, long jump and triple jump events. Abercromby placed 12th at the state championship for the long jump in 2026.
The two top scorers for UC Irvine at the MPSF Championships in the Indoor Pentathlon were senior Jolie Robinson,who is no longer competing collegiately, and freshman Joy Anderson who transferred to the University of Illinois of the Big Ten.
As much as Salsamendi and Abercromby are going to be helpful in contributing to another campaign for the ‘Eaters, a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship event appearance is a goal on top of the repeat conference championship. Despite winning the conference, UCI did not have a single athlete represented at the NCAA championship event where the University of Georgia of the Southeastern Conference won the national championship.
Jack Fedor is a Sports Staff Writer. He can be reached at jfedor@uci.edu.
Edited by Melissa Hernandez and Riley Schnittger
