Camryn Rogers keeps stacking up milestones, and this time the Cal graduate did it on a big stage in Glasgow.
The reigning Olympic champion and world’s top female hammer thrower won the hammer at the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday, uncorking a Commonwealth-record throw of 245 feet, 9 inches (74.91 meters). Rogers, 27, beat the runner-up by more than 16 feet.
Her latest win comes right after another dominant showing at home. In late June, Rogers captured her sixth Canadian national title - and fifth in a row - with a throw of 249-11 (76.16), winning that meet by 22 feet.
Rogers, a three-time NCAA champion at Cal, also pushed herself to second on the all-time world list this spring with a throw of 266-2 (81.13).
The Commonwealth Games also featured another Cal-connected hammer thrower. Rowan Hamilton, who won the NCAA men’s hammer for Cal in 2025, finished third with a toss of 247-3 (75.36). At the Canadian nationals, Hamilton took second with a mark of 247-6 (75.45).
In the discus, world record-holder and Cal graduate Mykolas Alekna delivered a season-best 238-4 (72.65m) to win the Lithuanian championships on Saturday.
Alekna, 23, had not been expected to compete this season after tearing a pectoral muscle while lifting weights in February. Instead, he’s returned in force, going over 70 meters in all three meets he’s entered since recovering.
His winning throw at the Lithuanian nationals was the longest in the world in nearly 20 years outside Ramona, Okla., where throwers get significant but legal wind assistance. Alekna’s world records in both 2024 and ’25 were set there, and the two longest throws in the world this year - by Australia’s Matthew Denny and Germany’s Steven Richter - also came at Ramona.
Elsewhere, Cal graduate Anna Purchase, 26, won her third straight British national title in the women’s hammer last week with a throw of 235-10 (71.88).
Georgia Hunter Bell, 32, who ran at Cal a decade ago, added another British title too, taking the 800 in a meet-record and season-best 1:55.93. It was her second straight national title in the two-lap race. Bell also owns the British record in the 1,500 meters and won bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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There is at least a little movement in the right direction after last years preseason projection, when Cal was pegged even lower before finishing tied for seventh in the standings. The conferences recent history also shows how little preseason respect has meant once the games begin, with several eventual champions not starting anywhere near the top of the poll. For Cal, the challenge is the same as it was in its first ACC season: turn a modest forecast into something better once the schedule starts asking real questions. [Read more 🡒]
Cals 2026 Schedule Is Already Fueling One Familiar Debate
Cals place in the 2026 ACC preseason media poll was always going to color the conversation around its schedule, and the rankings of its opponents only sharpen that debate. The Bears were slotted 12th, while the slate around them includes teams from the ACC, Big Ten, Mountain West and Northeast Conference, giving a clearer picture of just how much week-to-week variance they could face once conference play begins.
What makes the schedule feel especially tricky is not just who Cal will see, but who it will not. The Bears avoid a couple of the ACCs headline programs, yet still draw several teams projected to land in the leagues top nine, which leaves little room for a soft landing. Syracuse, Clemson and Virginia Tech all sit in different places in the preseason conversation, and even the nonconference pieces bring their own questions, so the early read on this schedule is already familiar territory for anyone around the program: the numbers may say one thing, but the path to proving otherwise looks demanding. [Read more 🡒]
