Visca Breaks Record Again, Moisander Third On Day One

Carolina Visca, left, has broken the program javelin record in two straight meets.

T&F5/12/2023 10:20 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Cal Throwers Shine To Kick Off Pac-12 Championships

 WALNUT – A warm-day-turned-chilly at Hilmer Lodge Stadium marked the start of California track & field’s biggest weekend yet as many of the nation’s best congregated at Mt. San Antonio College for the first day of the Pac-12 Championships. Although it is still too early to tell which teams will come out on top at the end of three days of competition, the Golden Bears acquitted themselves well on Day One with two podium finishers and two additional qualifiers.
 
Just under two weeks after breaking the program women’s javelin record, freshman Carolina Visca did it again – this time on a much bigger stage. Her third throw sailed 53.22m (174-7) looked to reset her best collegiate mark, but Visca was not done yet, unleashing a heave of 53.91m (176-10) on her final throw to cement herself in second place and claim the best conference finish ever by any Cal woman in the event.
 
Visca was not the Bears’ only scorer of the day. For the second year in a row, junior Ivar Moisander earned himself a spot on the Pac-12 podium, unleashing a third-place throw of 69.32m (227-5) with a massive yell to conclude his series of six attempts. His mark, a personal best, improves his program No. 3 mark to just one foot and seven inches behind Jari Matinolli’s No. 2 entry of 69.79m (229-0) that was set in 1986.
 
“Carolina and Ivar are excellent competitors, and they have been building up toward the Pac-12 Championships to produce the best results possible for the team,” said assistant coach Mohamad Saatara, who leads the throwers. “Training has been going very well for them even through this academically rigorous time of year. We’re looking at these championships as a stepping stone toward the upcoming NCAA Championships.”
 
Junior Michael Gupta also made the Pac-12 hammer final with his own personal best, a ninth-place toss of 63.78m (209-3) that improved his own program No. 10 mark.
 
Two of Cal’s men qualified for Saturday’s track event finals. Junior Garrett MacQuiddy finished third in his head and fifth overall with a 1500m time of 3:43.39 to earn automatic qualification, while classmate Will Sornberger…