The UCSB track and field team showcased some of its talent this weekend in San Diego against a deep field of 36 university/junior college teams including Big West squads from Hawaii and UC Davis.

Daily Nexus File Photo

Daily Nexus File Photo

The Gauchos had athletes entered in both the invite and open events which were held at San Diego State University and UC San Diego on Friday and Saturday respectively.

The weekend ended with many Santa Barbara names up on the leaderboard, including four event wins on the women’s side and three event wins on the men’s side.

One of those event wins for the women was taken by senior Tori Tsolis, who placed first in the invite section of the 1500m with a time of 4:23.67. Tsolis also placed third in the invite section of the 800m with a time of 2:10.63.

The open section of the 800m for the women featured a couple Gauchos near the top as sophomore Jenna Hinkle finished second at 2:14.18 and junior Kaitlin Large finished at 2:16.56.

Fellow junior, Maxine Goyette, took home the women’s other racing win with a 4:36.77 finish in the open section of the 1500m. She was followed by freshman Miranda Ross, who ran a 4:39.70 to place third.

UCSB’s other two wins on the women’s side came in the high jump, with senior Jessica Emde leading the way in the invite section with a leap of 1.76m and freshman Taylor Eddleman taking the open section victory with a jump of 1.70m.

The hammer throw in the open section was also a strong event in the field for the Gauchos, with sophomore Kayla O’Brine and junior Valerie Nestor placing second and third respectively with throws of 51.94m and 51.66m.

On the men’s side, Gaucho distance runners overshadowed the field in both sections of the 1500m, coming up with two of the three UCSB men’s victories and sweeping the 1-4 spots in the invite section.

Senior Shyan Vaziri continued his long distance dominance with a run of 3:47.54 that gave him the win in the invite section.

Junior George Baier, senior Anthony Ortolan, and senior Brad Littooy followed him in the 2-4 spots. They finished with times of 3:48.06, 3:50.46, and 3:51.11, respectively.

Meanwhile Patrick Bourke, a junior from San Diego, CA, came out on top in the open section with a time of 3:49. 78.

In the shorter 800m, senior Andrew Farkas posted a 1:53.01 time that was good enough for second place in just his second competition since returning from illness and injury a couple weeks ago.

Junior Myles McDonald participated in both the invite and open sections of the 400m hurdles, and impressively placed in the top three in each section. His 51.55 time in the invite section was good enough for third, and his 51.94 run in the open section earned him second.

UCSB men’s third and final victory for the weekend belonged to a member of the field team, with junior Matthew Kuskey heaving his javelin 66.61m for the win.

Another junior thrower, Stephen Leach, had an impressive day as well. He had a toss of 15.61m in the shot put that awarded him second place, and then came back in the hammer to throw 55.08m for third place.

Also notable was the performance of freshman triple jumper Joshua Rennick, whose jump of 13.98m sent him home with a second place finish.

The Gauchos next action will be this Friday and Saturday at the Sam Adams Multi-Events at Westmont College and the Bruin Legends Invite at UCLA.

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