Left to Right: David Foster, Skyler Magula, Rowan Hamilton, Busola Akinduro
Foster, Magula, Hamilton, Akinduro To Compete For NCAA Titles
California track & field will be sending four athletes – its most since 2018 – to the upcoming NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships next week (March 7-9) in Boston at The Track at New Balance. Seniors Skyler Magula, Rowan Hamilton and Busola Akinduro and junior David Foster qualified to their first indoor national contests, ranking among the top-16 athletes in their respective events after a standout season for the Golden Bears.
Foster set a new personal best in the 60m before Cal’s season even started, finishing with a time of 6.59 at the Leonard Hilton Memorial Invitational in January. He lowered that time to 6.56 at the New Mexico Team Open two weeks later, then ran 6.54 at both the Don Kirby Invitational and the Ken Shannon Invitational the next month to better his own program record. Foster is the first male sprinter in program history to reach the indoor championships; currently, he is in a tie for sixth on this year’s list of qualifying performances.
“David is the hardest working sprinter that I have coached since coming to Cal,” assistant coach Ronnye Harrison said. “He is very consistent in his efforts and his commitment to being better – he’s incredibly coachable. He just needs to continue to do what he does, and he doesn’t need to do anything special or extra to be worthy of being called one of the NCAA’s top sprinters this year.”
Magula started the year in a tie for the indoor pole vault record but claimed it outright in the season-opening New Mexico Team Open with a leap of 5.51m (18-1). He bettered that mark in his most recent outing at the Ken Shannon Invitational with a winning 5.53m (18-1.75) to rise into a tie for 10th in the nation and become Cal’s first male pole vaulter since Clarence Phelps (1997) to qualify indoors. Magula does have experience at the national stage, having reached the 2023 Outdoor Championships; this year, he hopes to claim a spot on the All-America First or Second Teams.
“The Indoor Championships is a world-class meet – it’s an honor just to qualify,” assistant coach Dan Lefever said. “We do have high expectations and big intentions at this competition. I think Skyler is in a…
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