SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's and women's track & field teams will begin their outdoor season at Long Beach State's Beach Opener on Friday and Saturday at Jack Rose Track in Long Beach. Friday's four throws events will begin at 11 a.m. while the rest of the meet on Saturday will start at 10 a.m.

LAST MEET

• The women's team concluded its indoor season by breaking three school records at the BU Last Chance on Sunday in Boston.
• Luz Mercado broke the nine-year-old school record in the mile with a time of 4:58.36 and shaved over seven seconds off her previous best time of 5:05.81. The previous school record of 4:58.56 was set by Kelly Thompson in 2014.
• In the 400-meter dash, Mia Salinas set a new school record with a time of 58.03, beating out the previous record of 58.88 set by teammate Rasha Badrani on Feb. 10. Before today, Salinas had the sixth-best time for the event at 1:01.71.
• Charlotte Allison broke her own school record in the high jump with an NCAA provisional height of 1.68 meters – .01 better than her previous record set on Feb. 10.
• At the Fastrack Last Chance Invitational in Staten Island, New York, on Friday, Ana Mercado earned an NCAA provisional with a time of 2:13.28 in the 800-meter run while finishing third.

BEACH OPENER

• This will be CSUSM's first time competing in the Beach Opener since 2006, when the meet was called the Long Beach Relays.
• The Long Beach Relays was the first-ever meet CSUSM competed in when the program was established in 2000.
• The Cougars will also be competing in LBSU's Beach Invitational on April 14-15.
• This year's Beach Opener will mainly feature teams from the Golden State, including Division I, II and community college athletes in addition to elite club and professional open athletes.

COUGAR OUTLOOK

• The women's track & field team will field a roster of 45 this season while the men's roster will be comprised of 35.
• The women's team returns 20 from last year's team while the men have 16.
• The women's squad will compete in four indoor meets while both teams will compete in 14 outdoor meets with the potential of competing in the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
• The men's team tallied eight All-CCAA selections and one individual CCAA Champion in Isaac Muanza (triple jump) in 2022. The team also earned four USTFCCCA All-Region honors.
• On the women's side, the Cougars tallied five All-CCAA selections and two individual champions in returner Devin Yarbrough (long jump) and outgoing senior Clarissa Garcia (800m). Yarbrough also earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors.
• Yarbrough and teammate Ana Mercado represented CSUSM at the 2022 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

THE OLSON FILE

• Head coach Torrey Olson begins his fifth season at the helm of the men's and women's track & field programs after taking over in the summer of 2018.
• In 2019, Olson's men's and women's squads tallied three individual CCAA Championships for outdoor competition while the men's team earned five USTFCCCA All-West Region selections.
• In 2022, Olson guided both teams to a combined three individual CCAA Championships, 13 All-CCAA selections and five USTFCCCA All-West Region honors.
• Olson came to CSUSM after spending three seasons as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the Academy of Art University where his teams earned 50-plus All-American honors.
• Olson served as the head cross country coach the previous three years at Academy of Art.
• In addition to the Academy of Art, Olson has also worked with the University of San Francisco and Pomona-Pitzer College.
• A graduate of Pomona College in 2009, Olson also holds an MFA from St. Mary's College (2012).