The Sacramento State track and field team visited UC Davis for the 12th annual Causeway Classic dual meet Friday where the men took the win, but the women left in defeat.
Sac State saw personal bests at Toomey Field in nearly every event, including junior Darius Armstead’s record-breaking triple jump of 53-01.50 feet to beat the 51-07 school record set by Ray Price in 1970. Armstead’s performance, which places him fifth in the NCAA in the triple jump, helped lead the men to a 102-89 overall win.
The first win for the Hornets came after the 4×100 team of sophomore Andre Lindsey, senior Michael Turner, sophomore Chris Ilio and senior Eric Adorno reached the finish line with a 41.22 time against the Aggies’ 41.51.
Adorno went on to win the 100-meter dash and finish second in the 200 meter by just .06 seconds to UC Davis’ Brian Thomas.
“I was trying to eat them up,” Adorno said. “I didn’t care who was in front of me. I felt animalistic.”
The men continued this success into the field events as sophomore thrower Kyle Peterson took first place in both hammer (186-00 feet) and discus (169-03 feet), which were both personal bests.
“The throws team came out today and performed the way we needed to,” Peterson said. “This meet is amazing because it’s not a (personal record) meet — it’s a ‘beat the other team’ meet.”
This was the first Causeway Classic dual meet for Sac State freshmen throwers Kyle Carrillo and Anthony Santiago. The pair both said they enjoyed the rivalry between the Hornets and Aggies.
“There’s something special about going one-versus-one and just facing yourself and the guy across from you,” Carrillo said. “Most meets you go out and there are a lot of teams but here it’s green versus blue and you’re gunning for anyone in blue.”
The women’s team was unable to keep up with the “blue” rival as UC Davis held the lead the entire meet and finished with a 110-81 victory.
Sac State senior Haley Heinemann battled in the 1,500 meter race down to the final straight against Megan MacGregor but was unable to close the gap as she finished with a second-place time of 4:41:87 to MacGregor’s 4:41:41.
“I had to be confident in every move I made,” Heinemann said. “All I was thinking down the final straight was, ‘I need to win this for my team — it’s not about you, it’s all about the team.’ ”
After UC Davis took first through sixth place in the 200 meter dash, the Hornets secured only three wins in shot put, javelin and long jump.
Senior Tyhana Cooper and sophomore Jelaia Jones took first and second in shot put with throws of 45-10.50 and 44-08.75, respectively. Junior Julia Grimm took first (146-00 feet) and sophomore Selena Cisneros-Haefke placed second (138-06 feet) in the javelin, while senior Elizabeth Venzon finished first in the long jump with a distance of 18-09.75 feet.
“I wanted to see them compete for the pride of the name that’s on the front of that jersey today,” Sac State Director of Track and Field Jeff Magley said. “This is the second most important meet — the first being the Big Sky Championship — because it’s our rival and everybody knows this is the match to watch.”
The Hornets will next compete at the Brutus Hamilton Open from April 28-29 in Berkeley, California.
