Bears Ready For National Championships

Nick Godbehere will compete in both the shot put and discus at the USATF U20 Championships.

T&F7/5/2023 1:41 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Four Cal-Affiliated Athletes Seek Major Titles This Weekend

EUGENE, Ore. – California track & field will send four representatives to compete at their respective national championships this weekend as the heart of summer competition gets underway. The Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships and USATF U20 Outdoor Championships will once again be held this year at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., from July 6-9, and will feature three Cal-affiliated athletes, while one standout alumnus will head overseas to Manchester, England, to challenge for her own country’s title.
 
Dual shot putters and discus throwers Nick Godbehere and Nik Iwankiw both redshirted last season and are among the top entries at this year’s USATF U20 Championships. Godbehere, who set both of his season’s top marks at the Golden West Invitational in early June, is the No. 2-ranked entry in the shot put (19.35m/63-6) and No. 7 in the discus (55.08m/180-8) while Iwankiw is ranked fifth of all entries in the shot put (18.47m/60-7.25) and sixth in the discus (56.24m/184-6). On the track will be Caden Carney in the 1500m contest; his Stanford Invitational-winning time of 3:46.35 puts him at third-best in the field at the U20 Championships. Should any of them finish in the top two in their respective events, they will be eligible to compete in the upcoming Pan American U20 Athletics Championships (Aug. 4-6; Mayaguez, Puerto Rico)
 

At the senior level of the competition is volunteer assistant coach Elena Bruckner, who has continued to compete on the track & field circuit in addition to fulfilling her staff duties. She has broken the 60-meter barrier four times in the discus this season, including her career-best 61.51m (201-9) mark from the Mt. SAC Relays in April. This will be her first career appearance at the main USATF Championships, having twice competed at the U20 iteration of the meet. Now, Bruckner will go up against the best discus throwers in the nation in hopes of clinching a coveted spot at the World Championships, which will take place in Budapest, Hungary from Aug. 18-27.
 
Alumna Anna Purchase, who finished third in the hammer throw at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor…