PASADENA, Calif. — The Caltech men's track & field team posted a plethora of high marks and quick times throughout 2023 in a season that saw broken records across multiple events.

With head coach Kelli Blake at the helm, the squad would begin the year with several impressive achievements before making significant strides in the final few meets of the season. By the end of the spring, the squad posted 11 new times/marks on the all-time Caltech top-ten record lists.

The 2023 campaign began with a school record in the very first competition of the season as the Beavers took on the NAU Ronn Mann Classic in Flagstaff on Feb. 3-4. There, sophomore Daniel Amelinez-Robles took on the weight throw, where the Wisconsin native produced a 14.26m throw to set a new Caltech program record.

The team competed at the Pomona-Pitzer All Comers Meet later in the month, where multiple Beavers put up monumental performances to beat out the majority of their competition.

Highlighting the day again was Amelinez-Robles, who earned himself a top-ten spot in the hammer throw (37.25m, seventh) and in discus (34.56m, tenth).

On the track, junior Joey Litvin ran a personal-best 8:38.31 in the men's 3000-meters to finish ninth among 82 total competitors. Litvin's time puts him second all time in the Caltech record books in the event; the distance specialist was just 1.78 seconds off from topping the program's best-ever time.

From there, the group revved up for the team's first and only home meet of the season on Mar. 4, where the Beavers hosted Cal Lutheran University, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and the University of Redlands in a multi-dual in-conference clash.

Sophomore Josh Saha put in an excellent race in the 400-meters, crossing the line in first place with a time of 51.05 seconds. The New York native beat out eight other runners to nab the victory. It was a significant time for the second-year, who crushed his previous personal record set (51.48) set in 2022.

Litvin would depart from his usual selection of longer distances as he took on the 1500-meter distance at the meet. The standout ran an outstanding race in just his third 1500m ever, finishing with a time of 4:00.61 to earn fifth place among 22 total runners. With his time, Litvin currently sits at eighth all-time in the Caltech record sheets for the distance.

In the 400m hurdles, sophomore Cason Shepard grabbed second after crossing the line at 59.66.

The next time to compete again came one week later at the Oxy Distance Carnival and Spring Break Classic, where Caltech competed against athletes throughout Divisions I, II and III in addition to competitors from collegiate clubs and community colleges, among other teams. There, Amelinez-Robles notched a personal-best in hammer, posting a 41.47m throw to earn third place among 21. The sophomore put his name fifth all-time in the Caltech history books with the distance. 

Litvin would run at the Mangrum Invitational in San Marcos on Mar. 24, competing as the sole Beaver at the meet. It was a monumental day for the star, who registered the then-second-fastest 10,000-meter time in school history and beat his own record after crossing the line at 31:16.27.

Caltech tackled their second multi-dual meet of the season on Apr. 1 as they took on Chapman University, Pomona-Pitzer and host Occidental College.

It was a banner day for Saha, who grabbed the victory in the 400m hurdles with a scorching time of 52.92 seconds. The result earned the stud second all-time in Caltech 400m hurdle history; his time was just .09 off from nabbing the record. Regardless, the time put him 11th on the Div. III Nationals qualifying list at the time. The standout would go on to place in the top-ten of the 100-meter dash with a personal-best time of 11.42 before running a leg of the 4x400-meter relay later in the final event of the afternoon.

The Pomona-Pitzer Invite one week later was a massive meet for junior Ezra Johnson, who reached a personal best in discus (36.56m; seventh among 26) and a then-personal best in shot put (12.23m; 12th among 25). On the track, Saha logged a PR in the 200m (23.03) and Shepard earned his best in the 100m (11.73).

The Apr. 12-14 Bryan Clay Invitational would serve as a historic day for the program as Litvin broke Caltech's all-time 5,000m record with a time of 14:37.51, besting the previous record of 14:46.66 set eight years prior. He finished 21st among the event's 107 competitors, which included elite athletes from Div. I as well as a number of Div. II and III athletes.

The group competed in their final SCIAC Multi-Dual contest of the season on Apr. 15, which also served as the team's final tuneup before the conference championship meet later in the month. The Beavers faced off against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, La Verne and Whittier in the four-team matchup.

Sophomore Rohun Agrawal ran a Caltech top-ten time in the 5,000m (15.25.26) en route to a second place finish over four CMS competitors. The Cupertino native closed in a scorching 65 seconds for his final lap. In the field, Johnson earned a personal best in the hammer throw (38.10), placing fifth in the meet and putting himself fifth in the school record book.

In the head-to-head matchup score, Caltech defeated the Whittier men, 63.00 to 53.00.

Two weeks later, it was finally time for the pivotal SCIAC Championships, which would serve as a prime opportunity for the Beavers to perform their best. After training to reach peak technique and fitness at this point in the season, the team took on the meet with determination and intensity in what was a high-level track meet across all events.

Saturday was another day in the history books for Litvin, who ran a scorching 31:06.83 in the 10,000-meters to set a new program record. Litvin smashed the existing record by nearly 8 seconds, a time which had stood for the past 49 years. The junior's time was good for the bronze medal at the championships; he received All-SCIAC honors for finishing in the top-three.

Litvin would compete in the 5000m the next day, a distance in which he set the program record earlier in the season. The star notched an 11th place finish with a time of 15:12.95 behind Agrawal, who destroyed his existing personal record by over 32 seconds and earned a seventh-place finish (14:52.41). Agrawal's time earned him the no. 4 all-time spot in the event in Caltech history.

Shepard went home with a sixth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles finals after achieving a personal-record 56.20 time in the preliminaries – the all-time no. 5 spot. Saha finished sixth in the preliminaries, running a 56.31.

First-year Aaban Syed set an incredible personal record in the pole vault as he cleared a height of 4.41 meters to place sixth. The newcomer's record was just 1/100th of a meter shy of topping the school record.

For the majority of the team, the meet served as a successful cap to an already-historic season, though a number of Beavers would compete in one final competition as they took on the May 6 Oxy Invitational. There, Agrawal shot up the all-time 1500m leaderboard, crossing the line at 4:00.12 to put his name sixth in program history.

The team will return a significant number of its roster in 2024 and will welcome a number of new Beavers to the squad. Stay tuned for an official newcomer and schedule release later this summer.

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