Fresno State begins home portion of its schedule with Fresno State Invitational

Saturday, April 24

Clovis, Calif.

Fresno State

Fresno State Invitational

Fresno State begins home portion of its schedule with Fresno State Invitational

4/22/2021 7:26:00 PM | Track & Field

By: Josh Mitchell / Assistant Director of Strategic Communications

FRESNO, Calif. – After more than a month competing away from its home track, Fresno State will host its first of three scheduled meets at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Fresno State Invitational will kick-off the Bulldogs' home slate on Saturday. It will be the Bulldogs' first home meet in 23 months.

Fresno State's home schedule will continue with the return of the West Coast Relays on April 30. An event that began in the 1920's, and was later renamed to the Fresno Relays, the West Coast Relays was the premier track and field event in the West.

The Bulldogs' will conclude their home slate by hosting the Mountain West Championships on May 13-15.

Fresno State Invitational
Host: Fresno State
Date: April 24
Time: 10 a.m. PT
Location: Clovis, Calif. (Veterans Memorial Stadium)
Live Results | Meet Information (PDF) | Meet Program (PDF)

Fresno State entries - Men
Ahmed Kirkland, Joey Turner, Raphael Adedigba, Michael McCabe, Austin Henschen, Nathan Burd, Mohamed Saleh, Matthew Founds, Juanathan Reyes, Kelly Brewer, Sam Hawley, Garrett Ostrinski, Stephan Gelpi, Cameron Haynes, Isaiah Calvin, Andrew Remlinger,

Fresno State entries - Women
Queen Okoh, Nakyia Buckner, Daveion Robinson, Victoria Nardella, Brianna Sproles, Ceonna Pipion, Mia Jauregui, Hailey Fernandez, Kaitlynn Perez, De'ja Hudson, Kaja Bins, Taylor Hohenbrink, Haley Barham, Jodeci Weems, Tijana Antic, Breanna Covington, Haley Abirached, Trinity Williams, Morgan Johnson, Amelia DiPaola, Margaret Vaughan, Samantha Chasteler, Tahj'nee Thurston, Hannah Chappell, Vanja Spaic

Final go around
June 2018. NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene. That was the last time Vanja Spaic had competed for Fresno State prior March 2021. Following the championships, the javelin thrower injured her elbow during the summer which required surgery and subsequently knocked her out of the 2019 season. She has competed twice this spring, winning both competitions with throws over 50 meters.
- Spaic's throw of 51.85m/170-1 at the UNLV Invitational tops the Mountain West, is seventh in the West and 19^th nationally.
- Since 2017, Spaic has competed at 18 meets, finishing first 11 times and twice coming in second. Since the start of her sophomore year, she has only finished outside the top two at one non-NCAA meet.
- The Bosnian holds the program record in javelin with a mark of 52.93m/173-8 which she set in early 2018.

Throwing toward the top
After nearly two years since her last hammer throw competition for Fresno State following last year's shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, Hannah Chappell made the most of that time away. Since returning to the cage, the senior has won the event in all three meets she has competed in this spring. During her second meet she launched a personal best throw of 59.82m/196-3 on her final throw to win the event at the UNLV Invitational and move to fifth on the all-time list at Fresno State.
- That throw in Las Vegas was more than 45 feet further than what she had thrown in 2019.
- Chappell's mark ranks second in the Mountain West, 26^th in the region and 62^nd nationally.

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