After a spring season of breaking records, setting personal bests and hitting national provision marks, the Golden Eagles are soaring into the PacWest Championship weekend in Santa Barbara. Competing at 10 a.m. today and 8 a.m. tomorrow, our all-star athletes will be fighting to come out on top of conference and pushing points to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor National Championship in Kansas this May.

As coach Keegan Bloomfield’s sixth season as the head coach of men’s and women’s track and field and cross country, he will continue leading this team toward success beside his nine assistant coaches who help cover the spread of events.

“I believe our coaching staff is one of our strong suits as a team. They encourage us, feed us and laugh with us before, during and outside of track so the relationship is what keeps this team going and getting ready for track meets,” said junior Chris Victoria.

Earlier this season, Victoria helped drive the men’s 4x100m relay group within .10 seconds from their previous record set the year before. “There's never a moment where we are not encouraging each other, whether it's on the track or in the weight room,” said Victoria. “Specifically, the men's sprint group is filled with talent and straight rawness, the season for us has been filled with aches and pains but this weekend everyone will be one hundred percent and we will show how good our relay squads are.”

Last year at PacWest, graduate student Karyn Best finished fourth in the 400m and fifth in the 100m and is looking to finish her last season strong. Best said, “My main focus going into PacWest this weekend will be to execute the race plans I have laid out for myself. Since this is my last season after doing 11 years of track and field, my mindset is to just enjoy this time that I have with my team and soak it all in!”

Freshman Trey Vergenz is part of men’s throws and will be competing this weekend in the shot put, hammer and discus. “My goal is to get at least second in every event to contribute to the team,” said Vergenz, “I am excited to possibly take a shot at nationals as a freshman.” Currently ranked 30 in the nation, if Vergenz climbs his way to the top 20 he will be heading to Kansas in May.

As the track and field team rounds the corner toward the end of their season, they will look forward to their last meet on May 10 and 11 before the NCAA Championship starting May 23.

To support your Golden Eagles this weekend, visit cuigoldeneagles.com to learn more about the PacWest Championship and see how our athletes are doing. Follow @cuitfxc and @cuigoldeneagles on Instagram to see these stellar athletes pop up on your feed and catch their real-time meet updates.

Tags: Track and Field

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