Cal Track & Field: Program-Record 16 Athletes Headed to NCAA Nationals

Mykolas Alekna and Anna Purchase secure victories at the NCAA West Preliminary meet.

Cal will be represented by a program-record 16 athletes at the NCAA Track and Field Championships next month at the University of Texas after a strong showing this week at the NCAA West preliminary meet in Sacramento.

Sophomore Mykolas Alekna and senior Anna Purchase scored victories for the Bears at the West prelims but the Bears also got a noteworthy performance from their 4x100 relay women, who set a school record of 43.75 seconds while qualifying third out of their heat.

The Bears’ 16 athletes (plus an alternate) who qualified to compete June 7-10 at Austin is the most the program has sent to the NCAA nationals.

“I am really excited for all these kids – I’m so proud of them,” Cal coach Robyne Johnson said. “They really showed up this week. It’s going to be so much fun to go to Austin with a big group. I can’t wait to see how they do at that next level.”

Alekna defended his title in the men’s discus with a throw of 222 feet, 3 inches (67.75 meters) that set facility and meet records. The national collegiate record-holder in the event, he will be favored at Austin and likely eager to avenge a defeat he sustained at last year’s nationals.

Mykolas Alekna / Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

Claudio Romero, who beat Alekna by 1 inch for the 2022 NCAA title while at Virginia, now is at LSU and finished second at the East prelims with a throw of 196-10 (60.01).

Purchase, who competed in the shadow of former Cal star Camryn Rogers through last season, won the women’s hammer throw by a margin of seven feet with a mark of 230-5 (70.25).

She will face a serious challenge at the nationals from Harvard senior Stephanie Ratcliffe, who threw a personal best of 239-10 (73.11) to win the East region. In the process, Ratcliffe took the NCAA lead from Purchase, whose best of 239-7 is No. 2 in the country.

Cal freshman Audrey Jacobs of the Netherlands also advanced to the NCAA nationals in the hammer by finishing eighth with a personal-best throw of 211-10 (64.57). Jacobs, who climbed to No. 4 on Cal’s career list, had a previous best of 200-5 (61.10).

"I don't really have words yet, to be honest," Jacobs told CalBears.com. "I'm just very, very happy. Of course, you dream about it beforehand – becoming an NCAA finalist – but I never expected to actually do it.”

Purchase, who competed at the NCAAs alongside three-time champion Rogers a year ago, said she welcomes having Jacobs with her this time. "Audrey and I are trying to keep the prestige of the Cal name going – we'll try and defend the California title in two weeks,” said Purchase, a senior from Nottingham, England.

Cal's 4x100 relay team / Twitter

The 4x100 relay foursome of Jada Hicks, Jordyn Grady, Makhaila Mills and Aysha Shaheed eclipsed the two-week-old record the same four women set. Their time was the ninth-best among 12 relay teams that qualified for the nationals.

Hicks returned to run a lifetime-best 13.04 in the 100 hurdles, finishing fourth in her heat and ninth overall. Her time is the second-fastest in program history, the best since Kimyon Broom set the school record of 13.02 in 2009.

Jada Hicks / Twitter

Other Cal qualifiers to the NCAA meet:

— Freshman Carolina Visca of Rome, Italy exceeded her own school record twice and finished ninth to advance in the women’s javelin. Seeded 14th, she wound up with a best of 180-1 (54.11) that would have placed her in a tie for second place in the East preliminary meet. Her previous Cal record was 176-10 (53.91).

— Senior Asha Fletcher finished 11th in the triple jump with a personal best with a leap of 43-8 3/4 (13.33) that boosted her to No. 4 on Cal’s career list with the program’s best mark in 12 years.

— Senior Skyler Magula finished in a tie for second in the men’s pole vault with a clearance of 17-8 1/2 (5.40).

— Junior Jeff Duensing was seventh in the men’s shot put with a personal-best throw of 64-11 1/2 (19.80) boosts him to a tie for No. 3 on the all-time Cal list.

— Junior Garrett McQuiddy will compete at the nationals for the first time in the men’s 1,500 after earning an automatic qualifying bid by finishing fifth in his heat with a time of 3:50.08. "I'm just looking forward to the meet – I haven't been there before and I don't know the atmosphere, but I'm really looking forward to the experience,” said MacQuiddy, who ran 3:41.87 in his opening-round race.

— Senior Ivar Moisander just missed his personal best while finishing seventh in the men’s hammer with a toss of 226-10 (69.15).

— Senior Amari Turner placed fourth in the women’s pole vault with a clearance of 13-10 (5.33), just off her best of school-record mark of 14-1 1/4.

— Senior Ijeoma Uche was eighth in the women’s long jump at 20-4 1/2 (6.21), three-quarters of an inch off her best.

— Already qualified to the NCAA meet for the Bears is senior decathlete Hakim McMorris, whose 2022 best score of 7941 points in the 10-event competition is fourth on Cal’s all-time list.

Cover photo of Anna Purchase, left, and Audrey Jacobs courtesy of Cal Athletics

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo