Cal Track and Field: Gavin Schurr and Aysha Shaheed Sprint into Indoor Record Book

Both excel in the 200 meters at the season-opening New Mexico Team Open.

Cal opened the indoor track and field season with a series of strong performances at the New Mexico Team Open in Albuquerque, including school-record performances in both the men’s and women’s 200 meters.

Gavin Schurr, a sophomore transfer from USC, broke the program’s 20-year old record in the men’s 200. He clocked 21.21 seconds to finish seventh while eclipsing Tony Atari’s indoor standard of 21.27 set in 2003.

Schurr is a native of Boulder, Colorado, and as a high school senior in 2021 qualified to run at the U.S. Olympic trials, where he placed 21st in the 200 meters.

Aysha Shaheed, a sophomore from San Diego, finished second in the women’s 200 with a time of 23.81 that tied the school record set by Antonette Carter in 2006.

Camryn Rogers / Twitter

Olympian and world championship silver medalist Camryn Rogers has one more season of indoor eligibility and she began her schedule with a dominating victory in the women’s weight throw.

Rogers, who specializes in the hammer throw outdoors, won with a throw of 77 feet, 10 3/4 inches (23.74 meters) to beat the runner-up by more than 13 feet. All six of her throws exceeded the best mark by any other athlete in the field.

Her mark ranks third on the early-season 2023 collegiate list.

Rogers, a three-time NCAA champ and the collegiate recordholder in the outdoor hammer, is 11th on the all-time collegiate list in the weight throw with her 2022 mark of 78-11 3/4 (24.06). She is chasing the college record of 83-10 (25.56) held since 2007 by Brittany Riley of Southern Illinois.

Junior Jeff Duensing won the men’s shot put with a personal best of 63-7 1/2 (19.39) that elevates him to No. 3 on Cal’s all-time indoor list and places him 15th nationally this season

Makhaila Mills, a sophomore transfer from USC, ran 7.39 seconds in the preliminary round of the women’s 60 meters to move to No. 3 on the Cal list. She then clocked 7.42 in the final to collect the victory. Shaheed was third with a 7.47 mark that is seventh all-time at Cal.

Senior Henry Larkin ran 47.38 to finish second in the 400 meters and climb to No. 3 all-time.

Jai Williams / Twitter

Riley Knott and Jai Williams tied for first in the men’s high jump, each scaling 6-foot-9. Decathlete Hakim McMorris was second in the long jump with a leap of 24-7 3/4, his personal best and eighth on Cal’s career indoor list.

Cal had 12 top-3 finishes at the two-day meet and etched 11 new entries into its all-time indoor record book.

Cover photo of Cal sprinter Aysha Shaheed by Milton Lau

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