Trio Of Bears Take Pac-12 Honors
BERKELEY – After yet another stellar performance over the weekend at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational, California track & field took home three of four weekly Pac-12 awards announced each Tuesday by the conference. Camryn Rogers, Ezinne Abba and Mykolas Alekna earned the Pac-12 Women's Field Athlete of the Week, Women's Track Athlete of the Week and Men's Field Athlete of the Week, respectively, adding onto the two such honors already won by Alekna and last week's win by Rogers.
"What a great weekend we had. These kids performed so well," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Robyne Johnson. "Just a phenomenal effort overall."
Rogers threw a season-best mark of 74.80m (245-5) in the women's hammer on Saturday, setting a new Edwards Stadium and Brutus Hamilton Invitational record. It was her third straight meet passing the 74m mark, something that no other woman in NCAA history has done more than twice. All of Rogers' throws this season lead the NCAA, the largest by 11 feet; she also ranks No. 2 in the world this year.
"Camryn's consistency and her work ethic are unmatchable," Johnson said. "She's a true student of the event."
Abba contributed to the school-record 4x100m relay effort of 44.25 as the second leg of the race, which gave her a fourth entry on Cal's all-time top 10 list in the event. Later, she blazed to a finish of 22.99 in the 200m dash, second in program history and first at standard elevation.
"Ezinne is really dialed in this year," said Johnson. "The fruits of her labor are really starting to emerge. It's amazing what we're seeing from her."
Alekna won the men's discus with a heave of 64.97m (213-2), which would have taken the NCAA lead had he not already owned it with his best throw of 66.70m (218-10) two weeks ago. He currently stands at No. 3 in the world this season, and has won the Pac-12 award after each week in which he has compete.
"What can you even say about Mykolas?" Johnson said. "He's incredible. We'll see a lot of great things from him as we progress this season."
Cal (No. 13 women, No. 22 men) will split up for the upcoming weekend, sending athletes to the Mt. SAC Relays, the Bryan Clay Invitational and the Long Beach Invitational on April 15-16.
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