As a sophomore with the Cerritos College women's track and field team, Zharia Taylor was a two-time All-American, as she placed second in the heptathlon and high jump in 2024. This past weekend in the NCAA West First Round at Texas A&M University, Taylor a junior at UC Irvine, qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships after tying for ninth place in the high jump.

Taylor, who was seeded 33rd in her NCAA regional debut, did not miss at her first three heights to tie for ninth in the field of 48. Her third and final clearance of the day was a personal-record 1.81 meters (5-11.25), which ranks second in UC Irvine history. The top-12 finishers in each event earned a trip to Eugene, Oregon for the national championships, June 11-14.

She is also the Anteaters' first NCAA Championship qualifier on the women's side since 2009. She was the Big West runner-up in the high jump two weeks ago.

While with the Falcons in 2024, Taylor compiled 4528 points in the seven-event heptathlon to fight her way into second place at the 3C2A State Championships. Taylor recorded the most points in the high jump by clearing 1.63 meters (771 points), and earned the second most points in the long jump (663) by leaping 5.37 meters. Taylor also had the second best time in the 100-meter HH at 15.11, which netted her 827 points. Additionally, Taylor also competed in the high jump and finished in second place after clearing 1.65 meters. Both Taylor and Orange Coast College's Esmeray Demirbas cleared the height and advanced to 1.70 meters. Once both of them were unable to clear it after three tries, they reverted back to when they cleared 1.65 meters, where Demirbas did so on her second attempt, while Taylor needed all three tries, which put her in second place overall.

Another former Falcon All-American, Jazzmine Davis, closed out a standout senior campaign at UC Irvine with a 24th-place showing in the 400m hurdle quarterfinal. Davis was the Big West champion in the 400H and earned all-conference honors in the 100H (3rd). She was named the Big West Women's Track Athlete of the Meet after scoring 20 individual points and contributing to 11 relay points to lead UC Irvine to its first conference team title. Davis ranks third in program history in the 100H, 400H and heptathlon.

As a sophomore with Cerritos in 2023, Davis won the state title in the 100-meter HH with a state-best time of 13.72, which moved her into second place on the school's all-time top five list. In the heptathlon at the state championships, Davis amassed 4704 points, which was over 400 points ahead of her closest competition and moved her into a tie for fourth place on the school's all-time top five list. It was also the highest point total in the state that season. At the South Coast Conference Championships, Davis recorded a first place time of 1:02.71 in the 400-meter IH, which was the second fastest time in the state.

That same season at the SoCal Championships, Davis won three individual events, while running the first leg of the championship 4x100-meter relay and led off the 4x400-meter relay that came in second place. She also earned 48 team points in helping the Falcons win their 14th South Coast Conference championship in school history.