Cal Track & Field: Camryn Rogers and Mykolas Alekna Each Earn No. 2 World Rankings

Track and Field News has put the two Golden Bears near the top of their annual rankings.

Earning a spot in the yearly world rankings of Track and Field News, the venerable chronicle of the sport, is akin to a rock and roller landing on the cover the Rolling Stone.

It means you’ve arrived.

Camryn Rogers and Mykolas Alekna had breakthrough years in 2022 and the two Cal throwers were rewarded by being ranked No. 2 in the world in their respective events by T&FN.

"Obviously, ecstatic," Cal throws coach Mo Saatara says in the video above. "It was a big year. We did a lot of amazing things. For both of those young people to get recognized is huge. Especially (because) they're both in college . . . Very, very excited and happy for them."

Their rankings are the highest ever by a Cal track and field athlete.

As a senior, Rogers won her third NCAA championship in the women’s hammer throw, eclipsed her own collegiate record and closed her Cal outdoor career with the 11 longest throws in college history.

She was one of three national finalists for the Bowerman Award, given annually to the nation’s top male and female college track and field athlete. No Cal athlete, male or female, had previous achieved that.

Rogers then earned a silver medal at the World Championships and a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Her best mark of 254 feet, 9 inches (77.67 meters) ranked fourth on the 2022 world list, is a Canadian national record and is No. 9 on the all-time global chart.

American Brooke Andersen, who won the World Championships and climbed to No. 4 on the all-time world list, was tabbed No. 1 on the 2022 chart by T&FN.

Rogers will complete in indoor eligibility this season with the Bears, competing in the weight throw, and plans to continue training in Berkeley with Cal throws coach Mo Saatara.

Saatara talks in the video above about both athletes' plans for this season, leading to the 2023 World Championships late this summer at Budapest, Hungary.

Alekna arrived as a freshman at Cal last season and immediately rewrote the collegiate record book for the men’s discus. He repeatedly broke the all-time collegiate record, and his personal-best throw of 229-0 (69.81 meters) at the Diamond League meet in Stockholm, Sweden beat reigning Olympic champion Daniel Stahl of Sweden and was the longest in history by a teen-ager.

He added nearly 15 feet to the existing world U20 record and now resides at No. 32 on the all-time world list. His f

Alekna, whose father Virgilius is a two-time Olympic champion and a two-time world champ, was undefeated through his Cal season until suffering an upset loss at the NCAA meet.

He more than made up for that by winning the Lithuanian national title, then matching Rogers’ silver-medal finish at the World Championships.

Alekna wound up fourth on the 2022 world list but his other achievements vaulted him to No. 2 in the T&FN final rankings. He also was named European Athletics’ Male Rising Star of 2022.

Slovenia's Kristjan Ceh, who won the World Championship, was voted No. 1 for 2022 by T&FN.

Cover photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

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


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Jeff Faraudo
JEFF FARAUDO

Jeff Faraudo was a sports writer for Bay Area daily newspapers since he was 17 years old, and was the Oakland Tribune's Cal beat writer for 24 years. He covered eight Final Fours, four NBA Finals and four Summer Olympics.