Both teams will be an exciting watch this spring as they hope to continue the progress made a year ago. Last season saw the Beavers earn sixth place at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships, scoring 41 points across the two days, while the men scored a total of 17. 

In the throwing events, the women will be looking to score big marks from junior Meg Robertson, the all-conference returner who has proved herself as one of the best throwers in program history. In last year's conference championships, the Nashville native placed sixth in hammer throw(38.87m), ninth in shot put (10.56m) and 14th (28.31m) in the discus event. In the all-time record books, Robertson sits at second in the hammer throw and third in the shot put and discus. 

Not far behind her is fellow thrower Rucheng Pan, a sophomore who was 12th in shot put at the SCIAC Championships last year and holds the fifth best spot on the program leader board. 

One of the most significant returners on the men's throwing side is sophomore thrower Daniel Amelinez-Robles, who scored major points for the squad at the 2022 conference championships after he also competed in three of the four throwing events. A freshman at the time, his best result came in the discus throw, where he placed third overall after throwing a personal best 41.48m. The Wisconsin native also placed sixth in the hammer throw (9.46m), and he showed his multi-event prowess yet again in the shot put, where he squeezed out ninth place with a 12.14m throw.  

Amelinez-Robles currently sits at seventh and tenth all-time in hammer throw and discus, respectively, in the Caltech record books. 

Head Coach Kelli Blake believes that the arrival of throwing coach Wyatt Meyring will help boost the team's performance in those events, as the throwing group looks to build off their first collegiate season. 

"Meg and Daniel are very impressive," said Blake. "We have a pretty good throwers group and they've made a lot of progress with Wyatt on board. I anticipate them setting a lot of new personal records." 

On the distance side, the women's team will unfortunately lose the distance phenom Margaret Trautner, who placed eighth in the mile at the NCAA Indoor National Championships last winter before placing ninth (800m) and 15th (1500m) in the Outdoor Championships. The star won the 800m and 1500m at the conference championships last spring and smashed the school record in both events (2:08.43 and 4:27.35, respectively). 

Even without their record-breaker, there is still much to be excited about in the distance events. The Beavers will return key sophomore Sophie Dalfonzo this spring, who finished third in the conference in the 10000m race a year ago with a time of 38:10.84 -- her first time racing the event the entire season. The finish earned Dalfonzo all-conference honors and put her at second all-time on the Caltech leaderboard. The stud finished in 18th out of 106 runners at the SCIAC cross-country champs. 

Also returning to the track this year is senior Lauren Garriques, who placed ninth in the 1500m at the SCIAC championships and currently holds the seventh-best (3000m) and eighth-best (1500m) times in school history, notching 11:08.16 and 5:00.02 finishes, respectively, last spring. 

The men will see a plethora of mid-distance and distance athletes returning in 2023 -- among them, junior Joey Litvin, who has already cemented his name in Caltech track & field history. In the school records, Litvin has already earned third all-time in the 10000m (32:17.11), third in the 5000m (15:01.49), sixth in the 3000m (8:51.16), and tenth in the 1500m (4:02.00). At last year's conference championship, Litvin's 32:17.11 earned him seventh, and in this past fall's cross country championships he placed 16th out of 115 runners. 

Joining Litvin in the distance events among a strong crew of others are sophomore Rohun Agrawal and junior Kyle Piper, who have the seventh and eighth best 1500m times in program history (4:00.83 and 4:00.86, respectively). The duo finished 14th and 17th in the event in the SCIAC Champs this past season. 

Coach Blake anticipates the existing records in the 5K and 10K will be broken this year for both men and women. 

"We have multiple runners in position to do it," she said. 

In women's sprints, Blake pointed out that there is a plethora of first-years who will be contributing this spring. She is particularly looking forward to how the 4x100m relay performs throughout the year. 

On the men's side, a big focus will be on the men's 4x400m, who will look to top their 3:31.28 time earned at conference championships last season. 

In hurdles, men's sophomore Cason Shepard will look to be a major contributor after he registered a scorching season last spring. Shepard finished 8th in the SCIAC 400m hurdles finals last year after finishing 6th in the preliminary round a day prior. His time of 56.30 achieved earlier in the season was the fourth-best 400m hurdles time in school history, and the fastest since 1995. The Vancouver, Washington native was also a part of Caltech's 4x400m relay team at the conference champs. 

"Cason was in first at SCIACs before falling on the last hurdle," said Blake. "Watch him for highlights and big wins this year." 

In total, both the women and the men's teams will be hungry to build on 2022's strong results as the program looks to cement itself as a threat in the conference and the region. 

The teams' first SCIAC multi-dual meet will be held here at Caltech's Fox Stanton Track on Saturday, Mar. 4, with events beginning at 10 a.m. The SCIAC Championships will be held Apr. 29-30 at the University of La Verne.