LOS ANGELES – Competing in the conference championships Thursday for the first time as a Bronco,
Connor Birtwhistle of the Cal Poly Pomona men's track and field team holds third place after day one of the decathlon.
A junior from Lodi, Calif., Birtwhistle put together his best performance Thursday in the high jump as he leapt to a career-best height of 6-1.25 to place second in the event and gain 679 points.
Birtwhistle's other marks Thursday included a personal-best 11.56 in the 100 (740 points), a personal-best 20-10.5 in the long jump (666 points), 33-1.75 in the shot put (492 points) and 52.41 in the 400 (707 points). Teammate
Jesse Guthrie also competed, collecting 2,969 points and taking third in the 400-meter event.
The overall leader after day one is Cal State Stanislaus' Sulayman Diomande, who has 3,475 points. The defending champion in the event, Michael Beeman of Chico State, holds fifth place at 3,247. In the 2011 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships, Birtwhistle finished fifth while competing for the Warriors of CSUS. He totaled 6,007 points through the two days before improving on that total earlier this season at Cerritos with a 6,010 mark.
This year's CCAA Championships, hosted by Cal State L.A., will continue Friday and Saturday. Field events will start at 9 a.m. on Friday with the men's hammer throw. The hammer and discus events will be held at North Field, which is located on the north end of campus by housing.
The running events on Friday will begin with the women's 1,500 meters at 3 p.m. at Jesse Owens Track. The prelims for the men's and women's steeplechase, women's 4x100 relay and men's 1,500 meters will not be run because the number of entries enabled the events to be run strictly as finals on Saturday.
The field events on Saturday will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the running events will begin at 1 p.m. All events on Saturday will be finals. Daily tickets are available for $6 for general admission and $3 for students, seniors and children.
