State track and field championships feature strong showings on first day
By Fred Baer
College of San Mateo
SACRAMENTO , Calif. - Jordyn Zorn of College of the Sequoias and Danny Dominguez of Orange Coast College won respective women’s and men’s 10,000 meter races to cap the first day of running competition at the 2017 California Community College Athletic Association Track & Field Championships at American River College Friday night.
Zorn, the Northern California champion, ran away from runner-up Tiffany Costello of Santa Barbara over the final laps to finish in 36 minutes, 33.68 seconds, just of her state leading season best of 36:33.14 – which ranks No. 2 in the U.S. among community college marks this year. Costello took the silver medal in 37:19.31, followed by Toni Lopez (38:21.12) of Santa Ana.
The men’s race much closer, in contrast. Dominguez had the best kick, hitting the tape after 25 laps in 32:10.89 to just nip Luis Ortega of San Bernardino Valley, a second back in 32:11.84. Bronze medalist Paulino Sanchez of Santa Ana was just five seconds behind in 32:16.42.
All of Friday’s remaining finals were in the field. Competition resumes on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Juanita Webster of Cerritos took just two jumps in the long jump – while also competing in the first day of the women’s heptathlon – and won easily with a 6.00 meter (19-foot-8 1/4 inches) jump.
The Falcons sophomore finished the first four events of the heptathlon with a total of 3,338 points, exactly 200 ahead of runnerup Jasmine Hall of Canyons. Michaela Banyi of Cerritos is in third place with 2,765 points.
Webster ran the 100 meter hurdles in 13.96 seconds, high jumped 5-8 3/4, put the shot 34-0, and ran the 200 meters in 25.02 to complete the first day of hep competition. She then went over to the javelin finals and threw 140-2 on her first attempt before retiring for the day. That was good enough for the silver medal. Her Cerritos teammate Mystasia Alexander won with a first round toss of 149-8. Nicole Clark of El Camino was third at 134-5.
Elisha Edwards of Moorpark took the first day lead in the men’s decathlon with 3,597 points, ahead of College of San Mateo’s Nick Pallas (3,247) and Cuesta’s Aaron Cheek (3,221).
Brian Burg of Shasta College threw the men’s javelin 182-7 on his first attempt and that won the competition easily ahead of Damien Bernard of El Camino, who hit 175-11 on his last throw for the silver medal. Craig Perkins of San Joaquin Delta finished third at 168-11.
Matthew Gallego of Modesto JC took the men’s hammer throw at 181-11, edging Eric McArthur of Saddleback (180-6) and third place Joseph Ilaoa of De Anza (175-6).
The women’s hammer was won by Kori Sprague of Riverside at 174-6. Anya Tonga of De Anza and Crystal Rodriguez of Cerritos each threw 158-11 but Tonga got the silver medal since her metric measurement of 48.45 was better than the 48.43 mark of Rodriguez.
Bryce Huggins of Sequoias repeated as men’s long jump champion at 25-9 1/2, followed by Justin Walker of Fullerton, 25-2, and Isahia Huchins of Sequoias, 24-3 3/4.
--The other medalists in the women’s long jump were Nia Vance of Laney, with the silver at 18-10, and bronze medalist BreAnn Scally of Monterey Peninsula, at 18-5 3/4.
Team Leaders: Thanks in large part to Webster’s 18 points, Cerritos leads the women’s team scoring with 37 points, followed by Sequoias (13) and co-third Laney, De Anza, and El Camino with 12 each.
Sequoias has the first day men’s team lead with 16 points, just one point ahead of co-second Shasta and Saddleback, followed by El Camino (13) and co-fifth Modesto and Orange Coast (10).
WEBCAST: A replay of Friday’s 10K races will air on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., preceding the 4 p.m. live stream of Sautrday’s events on baosn.tv.