UCSB’s Breanne Strenkowski brought home a huge win and conference title in the 10,000 meters at the Big West track and field chmpionships at UC Irvine on Friday.
The Gauchos captured three titles on the first day.
Strenkowski’s first place time of 34:57.59 was 12 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. Danielle Moreno ran 35:55.84, Ari Selix ran 37.04.23 and Christine Cooperstein ran 37:37.40.
For the men, Bhavik Kanzaria ran 30:46.03 in the 10,000 meters and earned seventh place. Michael Wysocki finished in 31:25.92 and Jeremy Acosta finished in 32:16.35.
Anthony Masci, fighting hard until the end, won the 3,000 steeplechase, beating his personal best by 12 seconds. Julian deRuibra earned second place in the steeple with a time of 9:08.70 after not running for nearly six weeks due to injury.
The women’s race was just as spectacular as Andrea Jacobs crushed her previous best time by 20 seconds to finish second overall in 10:28.32. Ari Selix also had a strong performance, running 10:43.82 and setting a new personal record by 14 seconds and earning fourth overall.
The Gaucho’s had another spectacular performance in the men’s high jump with Mitchell Haag winning the Big West title with his mark of 6-9. Both Max Villalba and Mike Larocca finished second by clearing his highest mark at 6-8.75.
In the long jump, John Walsh earned fourth place by jumping 22-6.25 while Derek Masterson followed closely behind with his best mark measuring 22-1.
