Alekna, Joyner Earn First Team All-American Honors

EUGENE, OREGON – California track & field finished up competition on the men's side at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Friday evening, competing in the last of its four scheduled contests in an effort to add more points to its total. At the end of the night, Florida won the men's team title with a total of 54 points, followed by Texas (38 points) and Tennessee (34 points). The Bears finished in a tie for 18th with 13 points – their highest total since 1993.

In Cal's lone event of the evening, the men's discus, freshman Mykolas Alekna and senior Iffy Joyner both battled hard – but the crown went to 21-year-old Claudio Romero of Virginia, who finished third at last year's NCAA Championships.

Alekna, who finished second and earned his first collegiate All-American honor, threw farther than Romero on every throw except for one, which was just two centimeters – a little under one inch – past Alekna's best of the night (66.15m/217-0). Friday was not the last time that Alekna will compete at Hayward Field again this year – in one month's time, he will return to represent his native Lithuania at the 2022 IAAF World Athletics Championships.

Joyner's third trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships saw him put together one of his best performances of the season, taking fourth place with a top throw of 60.75m (199-3) and winning his first First Team All-American honor, adding to his Second-Team award from the 2021 Championships. He ends his career at Cal with the No. 4 discus and No. 7 indoor shot put marks in program history.

Saturday will mark the final day of the NCAA Championships, which will feature one more Golden Bear: sophomore Busola Akinduro, who qualified for the triple jump finals with a leap of 13.22mw (43-4.5). She will take to the runway at 2:50 p.m. PT in hopes of scoring more points for Cal's women, who currently stand in fifth place with 12 total points.
 
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