NCAA

Alekna Dominates, Magula Earns First Pac-12 Title

Alekna Dominates, Magula Earns First Pac-12 Title




Jimmy Su

Mykolas Alekna broke his own meet record and earned his second straight Pac-12 title.


Women’s Relay Sets School Record On Final Day Of Pac-12 Championships

WALNUT – The morning dawned warm and muggy at Hilmer Lodge Stadium, but California track & field sophomore Mykolas Alekna had no issues whatsoever with the weather.
 
“I feel good,” he said after a few warm-up throws.
 
With a statement like that, one has to perform come competition time, and Alekna did so in brilliant fashion as he earned his second straight Pac-12 discus title. Instantly breaking his own meet record with the first attempt, which soared 69.03m (226-5), the 20-year-old Lithuanian then saved his best effort for the final, unleashing a monster throw of 70.40m (230-11) – his second-farthest throw ever, just two feet shy of his world-leading mark of 71.00m (232-11). He became just the second Cal athlete in history, man or woman, to earn multiple conference discus titles (Ramón Jiménez-Gaona, 1991-92).
 
Senior Iffy Joyner also scored for the Golden Bears in the event, reaching a season-best mark of 60.43m/198-3 to take fourth place.
 
One other athlete experienced the moment of a lifetime to earn an additional Pac-12 championship title for Cal. Senior Skyler Magula, who had never reached a Pac-12 title meet in his collegiate career, continued his incredible final year with a win in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 5.47m (17-11.25) to beat out a stacked field. His teammate, sophomore Tyler Burns, also earned his first career podium finish with a third-place vault of 5.37m (17-7.25).
 
The women’s 4x100m relay of Jada Hicks, Jordyn Grady, Makhaila Mills and Aysha Shaheed – just one senior to three sophomores – posted arguably Cal’s standout track performance of the weekend by combining for a school-record 4x100m relay time of 43.81 that earned them second place and a first career trip to the conference podium for all four athletes. It was the highest finish by Cal’s women in the event at any conference championships, dating back to the early 80s when they competed in the Pacific Coast Conference, and surpassed the previous program record by .18 seconds.
 
Cal’s men finished fourth with 82 points, while the women came in sixth with 60 points.
 
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