SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's and women's track & field teams will head to Long Beach State for the Beach Opener at Jack Rose Track on Friday and Saturday in Long Beach.
 
LAST WEEK

• Both teams began the outdoor season at Mt. San Antonio College's Kamaka Multi & Open last Thursday through Saturday.
• Kalathan Laiwa-McKay broke the CSUSM school record in the shot put with an NCAA provisional mark of 17.04 meters. His mark was .93 better than his previous best and surpassed Ndoto Strong's record of 16.85 meters set in 2019.
• For his performance, Laiwa-McKay was named the CCAA Men's Field Athlete of the Week for the very first time.
• The men's team also saw four other top-10 program marks with Juan Leyva (51.69m), Laiwa-McKay (50.10m) and Will Prouty (47.55m) setting marks in the hammer while Prouty also put up a discus mark (41.90m).
• On the women's side, Jordyn Brooks posted the fifth-best long jump mark in program history with a distance of 5.31 meters while Trinity Barr tied for the fifth-best high jump mark in team history at 1.55 meters.

BEACH OPENER

• CSUSM will compete in the Beach Opener for the second consecutive season and for the third time since 2006.
• Last season, the men's team posted three top-10 program marks while the women had six.
• The Cougars had 99 combined accepted entries for the men's and women's teams.
• The meet will mostly feature collegiate programs from all levels across the Golden State.
• Friday's portion of the meet will just be the men's and women's hammer and javelin throws beginning at 11 a.m. while the bulk of the meet happening on Saturday beginning at 9:35 a.m.

THE OLSON FILE

• Head coach Torrey Olson begins his sixth 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 outdoor and three indoor USTFCCCA All-West Region honors.
• In 2023, the Cougars earned a combined five individual CCAA Championships, 19 All-CCAA selections, six outdoor and three indoor USTFCCCA All-West Region honorees under Olson's leadership.
• 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).