For the first time in school history, the Mustangs swept both the Men’s and Women’s Big West Championships, becoming the first school to do so in 14 years.  

The Mustang men won their first Big West championship in program history as the competitions lasted from May 3-4 and May 10-11. For the women, it was their second-ever title and first since 2021. 

It was also the first time in Cal Poly’s history the Mustangs hosted the Big West Championships at the Miller & Capriotti Athletics Complex. 

Overall, 25 Mustangs and two relays earned All-Big West honors by placing in the top three in their respective events.

Men’s Team

The Cal Poly men finished with 185 team points, their most ever at a Big West Championship meet, to beat second-place Cal State Fullerton by 17 points. 

In the distance events, the Mustangs dominated, sweeping the podium in the 1,500-meter, 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races. 

Graduate student Will Fallini-Haas stole the competition, winning the five- and ten-thousand-meter races. Fallini-Haas outstrode teammate junior Colton Swinth to win the 5,000 with a 30:18.71 time. Just behind the two, freshman Aidan Dimick, who crossed at 30:24.89, also earned All-Big West honors. 

In the race of the day, Fallini-Haas’ (14:26.15) right leg crossed 22 microseconds ahead of fellow graduate student teammate Davis Bove (14:26.37) to take home the 10,000 title. Junior Spencer Pickren crossed four seconds behind the leaders (14:30.38) to take third. 

Fallini-Haas became the fourth Mustang to win the 5,000 and 10,00 since Swarnjit Boyal in 2018. He ran a PR (30:18.71) to win the 10,000 Friday night and scored 20 team points with his two victories.

Bove didn’t go home without a title in his first Big West Championship race, winning the tortuous 1,500-meter (3:43.40) and scoring 18 total team points for the men. To complete the three-event sweep, sophomore Carson Smith (3:44.42) and freshman Chris Caudillo (3:45.23) ran away from the rest of the field. 

Between the three events, the Mustangs scored an outstanding 91 team points. 

On the field, sophomore Rory Devaney and junior Travis Martin earned All-Big West honors. 

Devaney’s, who attended San Luis Obispo High School, 179-7 foot discuss mark placed second, and his 204-1 foot hammer throw landed him right behind Devaney’s 221-3 second-place toss. The duo earned 14 points toward the Mustangs’ total. 

Fellow stand-out thrower junior Corban Payne placed fifth in the shot put (55-6.25). 

Back on the track, senior Chase Walter placed third in the men’s 400 with the ninth-fastest time in school history, 46.99 seconds.

In the sprints, sophomore MacGregor TeSelle became the only solo Mustang sprinter to earn All-Big honors, finishing third in the 200-meter dash (20.81) and tenth in the 100-meter dash (10.57). TeSelle also earned two more podium finishes by running legs on Cal Poly’s 4×100 and 4×400 relays, contributing to 20 team points. 

As the meet ended, the Men sealed the victory when the 4×100 relay team, anchored by freshman Ryan Teeple and run by senior Joey Souto, junior Noah Bustos and TeSelle, finished in second place (40.59). A third-place podium finish from the 4×400 relay team anchored by fellow freshman  Levi Romero, accompanied by Walter, Souto and TeSelle (3:08.96). 

The Mustang Men led after day one and never relinquished throughout Saturday’s dominant performance en route to the team victory. 

Women’s Team

Down by five team points after Friday’s events, the Cal Poly women climbed to victory from incredible performances by sophomore Tatiana Cornejo, junior Melody Nwagwu and sophomore Lexi Evans to run away with the title by 11.75 points, 130.75 overall. 

Cornejo became the first athlete in Mustang history to sweep the Big West titles in the women’s 800 and 1,500. She is also the third Mustang in school history to earn a Big West championship in the women’s 800. 

Her performance scored 20 team points, and she was named Big West Women’s Track Athlete of the Meet.

In two extremely close races, Cornejo (2:10.52) leaned past UC Irvine’s Malia Gay (2:10.58) by six microseconds to win the 800 and edged out UC Davis’ Maddie Kackley (4:28.53) by 28 microseconds (4:28.25) en route to her 1,500-meter win. 

Nwagwu won the long jump and triple jump, becoming the third woman to win both events in Cal Poly history. 

In the long jump, she posted a personal best of 20 feet, 3.75 inches, good for No. 2 all-time in school history, and a PR of 42 feet in the triple jump, moving her to No. 4 on Cal Poly’s all-time list. 

Nwagwu’s winning marks won a crucial 20 team points in the meet. 

After placing runner-up a year ago, Evans cleared a collegiate-best (13-10) to win the women’s pole vault championship, becoming the fifth Mustang in school history. The mark is two inches from the school record and ranks No. 2 in program history.  

Staying with jumpers, freshman Melanie Castelli placed second in the women’s high jump, matching her collegiate best (5-7.25). Right behind her, the local San Luis Obispo native sophomore Chase Kubinski won her first All-Big West honors, placing third (5-5.25). 

Kubinski also placed fourth in the javelin with a mark of 140 inches. 

Junior Hana Catsimanes’ eight points and second-place finish in the 10,000-meter run was crucial to closing the gap during the last event on Friday, before the domination that started on Saturday. 

On the track, graduate student Shelby Daniele finished her incredible Big West career as a five-time All-Big West individual honoree with a wind-aided PR (+2.3 m/s) of 23.51 seconds in the women’s 200 to finish second. She also placed fourth in the 100, crossing the line at 11.58. 

The team leader’s 13 points helped further the Mustang’s lead on Saturday afternoon. 

Another second-place podium finish came from freshman Kalia Estes, who ran a 1:00.79 second time in the women’s 400 hurdles, just over a second behind the winning time. Fellow freshman Jordan Jackson placed third in the women’s 400, running the sixth-fastest time in school history (54.89) and the fastest in 21 years. 

In the end, 16 Mustangs finished within the top five of their event, with ten finishes coming on Saturday as the Mustangs scored 66.75 team points. 

What’s next

The Mustangs will now wait until Thursday, May 16, to learn which athletes have qualified for the NCAA West Preliminaries, hosted by the University of Arkansas from May 22-25 in Fayetteville.