Cal Bears at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships

Ashtyn Davis takes 3rd in the 60 meter Hurdles

The Cal Football and Track dual athlete was the best finisher for the 5 person strong Golden Bears contingent at College Station this past weekend. After advancing to the final with a 4th overall semifinal time, Cal senior Ashtyn Davis set a new personal and school record en route to a 3rd overall place finish in the country for the 60 meter Hurdles.

Davis had a time of 7.63 seconds. More importantly, Davis redeemed himself for last year when he did not get to set a new personal record (PR) at the national championships and finished 6th.

Check out what Davis felt about this performance. Davis had a little bit of trouble with the first hurdle, but was quite satisfied with the PR and the 3rd place finish.

Tuomas Kaukolahti finished 5th in the triple jump

Finnish sophomore Tuomas Kaukolahti took 5th in the triple jump in his Cal Track and Field debut season.

His distance of 53-7.00 was the 2nd best in Cal program history.

McKay Johnson took 8th in the shotput

Sophomore McKay Johnson finished 8th in the shotput on Friday. His best throw was a 63-5.50.

8th and better scores point for their respective team. Johnson’s 8th place scored 1 point. Johnson actually had to have a clutch final throw in the prelim to make the final round.

Check out what McKay Johnson has to say about his first NCAA experience. While he did not set a new PR at this meet, he was proud to score a point for the Cal Golden Bears in the team competition.

With all three male Golden Bears scoring points, the men’s track and field team scored a total of 11 points which was good for 20th place.

Lauren Martinez took 10th in the pole vault

On the women’s side, junior Lauren Martinez took 10th place in the pole vault.

Her best vault was for clearing 13-9.75. Good for 10th place and All-American 2nd team honor. Unfortunately, that is just short of making the podium (top 8).

Bethan Knights took 12th in the 5000m

Cal senior Bethan Knights placed 12th in the 5000m meter race.

The Cal Cross Country star finished with a time of 16:18.51.

All 5 of these Golden Bears will now rejoin the rest of their Cal Track and Field team as everyone had a week headstart in transitioning to the Outdoor Track and Field season. While I can see how running a different distance would be different, I don’t really understand how the field sports (shotput, triple jump, pole vault) is different at all between the indoor and outdoor seasons. By being ever so close to these NCAA individual titles, maybe these Cal athletes will do even better in the outdoor season to get to the top of the podium.

GO BEARS!