SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Following a conference sweep, the Cal Poly track and field program received plenty of accolades when the end-of-season Big West awards were released Friday. The Mustang women dominated the yearly awards, winning three of the four as junior Melody Nwagwu was crowned Big West Women's Field Athlete of the Year, sophom*ore Tatiana Cornejo was selected as the Big West Women's Track Athlete of the Year and Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Ryan Vanhoy was named Women's Coach of the Year. On the men's side, Vanhoy was also tabbed as the Men's Coach of the Year while Chris Caudillo earned Men's Freshman of the Year honors. Overall, Cal Poly won five of the eight year-end Big West awards, the most in program history.
Vanhoy rightfully swept the Big West Men's and Women's Coach of the Year awards after helping guide the men's team to its first Big West title in program history and the women to their second ever and first since 2021. The men beat out second-place Cal State Fullerton by 17 points, while the women finished 10.75 points in front of second-place UC Irvine.
Cal Poly became the first school since CSUN in 2010 to sweep the Big West men's and women's track & field team titles. The Mustangs also swept the men's and women's cross country team titles in the fall, allowing Cal Poly to become the only school across all of Division I to sweep conference titles in all four sports this academic year. Additionally, the Mustangs are the only team in Big West history to win all four titles in a single academic year.
Vanhoy is the first Big West coach to sweep the Men's and Women's Coach of the Year awards since Pete Dolan of UC Santa Barbara won the men's award outright and shared the women's award in 2012. Vanhoy is the first coach to earn both outright since Don Strametz of CSUN in 2009.
Cornejo is the first Cal Poly athlete ever to win the Big West Women's Track Athlete of the Year award. Prior to 2003, the Big West only named a Men's and Women's Athlete of the Year and Cal Poly sprinter Tamatha Jackson earned that award in 1998.
The praise for Cornejo comes as no surprise after she put on a show at the Big West Championships last week at the Miller & Capriotti Athletics Complex. Cornejo became the first athlete in Mustang history to sweep the Big West titles in the women's 800-meter and 1,500-meter. She was just the second Mustang to claim a Big West title in the 1,500 and the third ever to win a Big West crown in the 800. Cornejo's performance allowed her to score 20 team points and be named Big West Women's Track Athlete of the Meet.
The Elk Grove, Calif. native will compete in the women's 5,000 semifinals at the NCAA West Preliminaries in Arkansas next week. She punched her ticket to her first West Prelims by running the fourth-fastest women's 5,000 time in school history (15:56.19) at the Bryan Clay Invitational and is seeded 31st entering the West Prelims.
Nwagwu is the fourth Mustang in program history to be named the Big West Women's Field Athlete of the Year and the first since Brooke Tjerrild in 2021. Nwagwu earned every bit of the honor after a remarkable showing at the Big West Championships.
At the conference meet, Nwagwu swept the Big West titles in the women's long jump and triple jump becoming the first Big West athlete since 1991 to accomplish the feat and the third overall. The junior leaped a lifetime best of 20 feet, 3.75 inches on her final attempt in the long jump to become Cal Poly's third Big West champion in the event. The mark is the second best in school history. Nwagwu had a similar dramatic ending in her victory in the triple jump, recording a lifetime best of 42-0 on her final attempt to become the sixth Mustang to win a Big West title in the event. The Aurora, Colo. native will compete at the NCAA West Prelims in both the triple jump and long jump, and is seeded 36th and 44th respectively in each event entering the meet.
Caudillo is the fourth Mustang to be crowned the Big West Men's Freshman of the Year and the first since 2010. During the cross country season, Caudillo was also named the Big West Men's Freshman of the Year. The Clovis, Calif. native is the first athlete in conference history to win Big West Men's Freshman of the Year in both track and field and cross country.
At the Big West Track & Field Championships, Caudillo garnered All-Big West honors in the men's 1,500 by placing third and also took fifth in the 5,000 to score a total of 10 team points.
Caudillo ran the sixth-fastest men's 1,500 time in school history (3:41.69) at the Oxy Invite on May 4 to earn his first trip to the NCAA West Prelims. He is seeded 28th entering the meet.
Cornejo, Nwagwu, Caudillo and the rest of the 11 Mustangs that earned berths to regionals will take part in the NCAA West Preliminaries on May 22-25 at the University of Arkansas.
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