Competition for the Sam Adams Multi-Event Invitational began on Friday at Westmont College. UCSB sent multiple athletes to compete against some of the world’s best in the two-day meet that features the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon.

Senior decathlete Mike Powers was the top scoring Gaucho, ending the weekend in third place overall and in first place among collegiate competitors. Powers placed second in the discus throw with a distance of 39.73 meters, his best finish in an individual event. Powers finished with a score of 6806, 140 points ahead of Rice University’s Chris Sanders and 720 points behind unaffiliated meet champion Gray Horn.

The former Florida Gator and U.S. Olympic Team Trial member Horn came away with a decisive victory after winning the 100-meter dash (10.91s), long jump (7.17m), shot put (13.72m), high jump (1.98m), 110-meter hurdles (14.73s), discus throw (41.03m) and pole vault (4.85m).

Gaucho senior Derek Masterson was impressive on day one, sitting in third going into Saturday’s competition. However, Masterson suffered an injury during the pole vault competition and had to sit out the final two events of the weekend. It was a disappointing setback but Masterson was in good company on the Did Not Finish List. World Champion decathlete and former Oregon Duck Ashton Eaton competed in only four of the weekend’s ten events.

Junior Billy Britt (6289) and freshman Ike Okapara (5839) were also in the running for UCSB. They finished sixth and seventh, respectively, out of the ten qualifying finishers. It was a successful weekend overall for UCSB, with Gauchos finishing with three of the top five spots among student-athletes.

Freshman Tori Usgaard was the lone competitor for UCSB in the women’s heptathlon. Usgaard finished in fifth place on the day with a final score of 4740. She placed fourth in the high jump (1.64m) and fifth in the long jump (5.29m).

Kiani Profit took first place with a score of 5909. Representing the United States Olympic team, the former Maryland Terrapin consistently finished in the top two throughout the weekend. A big win in the 800-meter run gave her a 100 point boost to secure the victory over Aisha Adams.

UCSB track and field resumes competition on April 12 with the Big West Challenge Cup in Fullerton, California.

This article is an online exclusive and did not appear in the print edition of the Daily Nexus.