After two days of competition, the Long Beach State men’s track and field team won its second consecutive Big West Track and Field Championship last Saturday at UC Davis.
This is the 49ers’ eighth championship title ever, which ties with former Big West member San Jose State for the most in conference history.
The men’s team collected 218.5 points overall, which put them ahead of second place by a large margin of 74 points, earning gold in eight events. The 49ers were led by their strong field squad, which won all four events on Saturday and accumulated 75.5 of the team’s total points.
Senior Davon Wilson-Angel earned gold in the 110-meter hurdles (13.97s) and surpassed his 2013 winning time by one-tenth of a second. Sprinter Michael Perez-Rogers also captured gold in the 400-meter dash (47.33s) while junior Chris Low collected a gold medal in the 800-meter run (1:48.71s). Willie Alexander competed in long and triple jump, earning gold in the latter.
The 49ers’ quest began on day one, with senior Adam Bianchessi winning in the javelin throw (66.39m). Sophomore Conner Rouse followed with an impressive performance of his own in pole vault (5.2m), as did senior Garrett Demirjian by winning the decathlon.
Senior Jason Harrell hurled his way to a first place win in the discus throw (55.53m). This was the fourth straight gold in the discus throw by a 49er at the Big West conference championship meet.
In the final event of the conference championships, the 49ers posted a time of 3:11.31 in the 4×400 relay, punctuating their weekend with another gold medal victory. One of the sprinters on the relay squad was sophomore Dylan McCloskey.
“The key to winning today was determination, and I have to give it up to the competition,” McCloskey said. “This is what we love to do – compete and win.”
The team will move on to Fayetteville, Ark. to compete in the NCAA West preliminaries on May 29.
