In a down to the wire contest at the 2012 Big West Track and Field Championships, colors lined the outside of the track as teams cheered on contenders in the men’s and women’s 4x400 relay, the deciding race at Anteater Stadium on the campus of UC Irvine to end the afternoon.
The UC Davis women and UC Santa Barbara men proved to be the toughest competitors as both captured the first team titles in their program histories.
The Gauchos recorded a total 179 points for the men’s championship, outscoring defending title winner Long Beach State, who finished with 150 points. Cal State Northridge came in third with a total of 117, with Cal Poly collecting fourth tallying 111 points. Taking the fifth spot was UC Riverside with 102, followed by UC Davis in sixth with 70. Host UC Irvine (69) and Cal State Fullerton (16) closed out the men’s standings.
The Aggie women came out on top after the final day of competition with 170 points, a half-point ahead over runner-up UC Santa Barbara with 169.50 points overall. Long Beach State came in third with 113, with the defending women's champs Cal State Northridge collecting 109 points. UC Riverside marked 82 points for fifth, with Cal State Fullerton calculating 63 in sixth. Closing out the women’s competition was UC Irvine (59) and Cal Poly (52.50).
In the final day of field events, the women competed in the hammer throw, shot put, high jump and triple jump. Leading the Aggies with the discus title on day one, senior Ashley Hearn continued in day two with a pair of second place finishes in shot put and hammer throw. Gauchos junior Irene Kujore kept competition close taking first place in the shot put and hammer throw after coming in second to Hearn in day one in the discus competition.
The men competed in the final field events of javelin, discus, triple jump and pole vault. Long Beach took three of the four top marks in competition with defending champ, Ben Woodruff dominating the javelin with a 70.49-meter mark.
Competition on the track reigned supreme for the Davis women with four top finishes led by junior Melanise Chapman, who took top honors in the 100 and 200-meter dash.
Sarah Sumpter set her second meet record of the championships in the 5000-meter competition with an impressive 16:35.07 finish, beating previous mark set by Beth McGrann in 1989 finishing in at 16:38.19.
The crowd was thick during the men’s 800-meter with rivals Charles Jock of UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara’s Ryan Martin taking their marks for their final race against each other. Martin came into the race with a 2-1 lead over Jock in the 800 men's final. In respectable fashion, it was a silent finish as the crowd waited to see who crossed the line first in a neck-and-neck race. Jock came out on top with a two one-hundredths of a second finish over Martin, leveling the competition as both seniors found each other after the race to congratulate.
The meet finished strong for host UC Irvine, with the 'Eater men posting a thrilling 4x400 relay victory for their fourth consecutive Big West title in 3:11.17. Long Beach State was right on UCI's tail, finishing at 3:11.41.
