Beach Track and Field Sweeps Challenge Cup

Friday, April 7

Santa Barbara, Calif.

All Day

Long Beach State University

Challenge Cup

4/7/2023 9:26:00 PM | Track and Field

For the second consecutive season, Long Beach State won both men’s and women’s Challenge Cups.

By: Collin Robinson, Associate Director of Athletic Communications

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Both the men's and women's teams claimed the Challenge Cup on Friday afternoon, beating Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine, and UC Santa Barbara for the second consecutive season. In its 28 years of existence, the Beach has now won 22 men's cups and 10 women's cups.

The men's team won the cup with 206 total points while the women won with 186.5 points. For the men, the 206 is the highest total for the Beach since they won the cup in 2015 with 222 points.

Full Results

Kaitlyn Williams headlined the domination by the Beach, setting a new Challenge Cup record in the women's 100m. Claiming the title, she crossed the line in 11.49 seconds. It also marks a PR improvement of three-tenths of a second and ranks fourth on LBSU's all-time list. The senior also finished second in Long Jump with a season best 5.80m (19-2.75).

Hailey Fune had a lifetime best run in the 100m Hurdles. Already ranking tenth on the program leaderboards, she ran a 13.79 for her new PR and moved up a spot into tenth in Long Beach history.

In total, the women's team had seven individual champions including Williams, Fune, and the 4x100m Relay team. The sprinters nearly swept all of the sprint events with Jaelyn Predium winning the 200m (24.48) and Alex Heerink-van Breda in the 400m (55.67), giving the Beach four of the five champions among the sprints and relays.

Ryley Fick notched the other individual title on the track, winning the 800m race. Posting a time of 2:10.73, she finished four-tenths of a second quicker than the runner-up.

The lone field title came in women's Pole Vault. Natasha Tehrani cleared the bar at 3.85m (12-7.5) to claim the top spot, just shy of her lifetime best. Her mark was a full six inches higher than second place.

The men's team saw eight individual titles propel them to the team championships with an even split of four on the track and four in the field events.

Sebastian Coleman collected the first of the day in the Hammer Throw. The captain posted a mark of 61.75m (202-7), seven inches ahead of the runner-up. He also finished second in Discus (171-10) and third in Shot Put (54-0.5).

Just edging out Coleman in Discus was teammate TJ Wiggins winning the title. With a throw three inches further than his captain, Wiggins claimed the top spot with a mark of 53.29m (174-10).

The third and final field champion came in Pole Vault to complete the Beach sweep of the event. Cyprus Rice cleared 5.06m (16-7.25) to claim the title and post a new lifetime best by just over three inches. Also in the jumps was Elijah Harris winning the Triple Jump competition. He cruised to the win with a mark of 14.51m (47-7.25), four feet better than the runner-up.

On the track, it was the distance crew claiming two event victories starting with Cristian Martinez in the 1500m. His time of 3:51.68 beat out his teammate Quinn Garity (3:52.91) as the duo finished one-two for 16 team points. Cameron Gill claimed the other distance title, winning the 800m by just under a second. Running a time of 1:54.42, the freshman beat out teammate Daniel Erickson (1:55.30) for first place.

The final individual champion was Leon Jett in the 400m Hurdles. Running a 53.16, the transfer finished a full second ahead of second place as he cruised to the victory.

Long Beach State will split up and head both north and south tomorrow as they compete in both the Triton Invitational and the Ron and Sharlene Allice Trojan Invitational.