Cerritos Women, Mt. SAC Men Narrowly Win State T&F Titles
The Cerritos College women and the Mt. San Antonio College men each pulled out victories by 1-point margins in the California Community College Athletic Association Track & Field Championships Saturday at College of San Mateo.
Both competitions were decided in the concluding 4 x 400 meter relays.
CERRITOS WOMEN EDGE DEFENDING CHAMP MT.SAC: In the women's relay, Cerritos finished fourth for five points to win the team title with 68 points. Defending team champion Mt. San Antonio, which won the final race in 3 minutes, 49.83 seconds for ten points, tallied 67. Riverside anchor Crystal Tejeda caught the last Cerritos runner, Shukura Tyler, at the end to finish third in the race but it wasn't enough. The Tigers wound-up third in the team scoring with 65 points, followed by College of the Sequoias (54), and Fresno City College (52).
MT.SAC MEN END RIVERSIDE'S 3-YEAR RUN: The men's relay had a similar situation. Mt. San Antonio led Sequoias by three points, 93-90, entering the finale – where national community college leader COS (3:07.10) was the favorite. A second place finish would guarantee the championship for the Mounties. Sequoias won in 3:11.89 to total 100 points. Mt. SAC, in second at 3:13.79, received eight points and a final tally of 101. American River (64) was third, followed by Modesto JC (49), and three-time defending champion Riverside (43). Riverside had won six of the last seven state championships.
Women's Track & Decathlon – Olowora triples:
Aminat Olowora of Southwestern added the 1,500 meter championship in 4:33.09 to the 10K title she had won on Friday and then finished an outstanding triple by taking the 5,000 meters in 17:13.87. The freshman from Nigeria is the National JC/CC leader in all three distance races from the 1,500 (4:24.67) through the 10,000.
Mikala Fairchild had a strong finishing kick to take second in the 1,500 in 4:37.15 with Yesenia Silva (4:38.98) of Sequoias taking the silver medal. They reversed places in the 5K, with Silva (17:40.56) taking the silver and Fairchild (17:52.61) the bronze. Olowora was the female track athlete of the meet.
Jasmine Williams of Fullerton maintained her first day lead in the heptathlon to win the title handily with 4,620 points. Breanna Curry of Cerritos scored 4,375 point to hold off Katie Baxter of De Anza (4,347) for the silver medal.
Laura Aceves of East Los Angeles repeated as champion in Saturday's first running final, the 3,000 meter steeplechase, in 10:54.87, lowering her seasonal national community college lead by .09 hundreds of a second. Jessica Betancourt (11.16.29) of Palomar finished second.
Mt. San Antonio College anchor Jhaylen Ball overcame Sequoias anchor Trudy McCalla to win the 4 x 100 meter relay in 47.08. The first three runners for the Mounties were Sarah Dunmore, Jazmine Robertson, and Khadifa Imara. Lauryn Ballard anchored Cerritos to second place (47.46). NorCal champion Laney failed to complete the second handoff and did not finish.
Kortni Smyers-Jones of Laney successfully defended her state title in the 100 meter hurdles in 13.61, holding off fast-closing Deshaunda Morrison (13.66) of Sequoias – who had scored an upset win the previous week at the Northern California Championships. Moesha Davidson (14.08) of Fresno finished third.
Deajah Stevens led wire to wire in the 400 meters, taking a convincing victory in CSM stadium record 53.88, ahead of Doshawn Franks (55.88) of West Los Angeles and Fanny Giron (56.15) of Fullerton.
Stevens also won the 200 meters by more than a second in 23.40. Kayla Wilson (24.59) of Riverside was second and defending champion Sarah Dunmore (24.75) of Mt. SAC placed third.
Moesha Davidson of Fresno City College blasted out of the blocks in the 100 meters and won in 11.48, improving her state-leading time and No. 4 ranking U.S. mark. Returning champion Dunmore was second in 11.67 and Wilson (11.78) placed third.
Sarah Brandt took the lead in the 800 meters from Glendale's Glindyll Mancia on the final backstretch and took the gold medal in 2:12.07. Crystal Tejeda of Riverside (2:13.13) had a strong finish to place second, with Kandace Compton (2:14.80) of American River third.
Jeyla Spencer of Southwestern finished first in the 400 meter hurdles in 61.87 but Katie Baxter of De Anza was awarded a share of the title after initially placing second in the race. It was determined that one of the hurdles in Baxter's lane was set too high, impeding her progress. Instead of staging a rerun dual at a neutral site (Santa Barbara) next week, the two athletes agreed to share the title and split the team points (9 for each team).
Top Women's Field Athlete, Sac CC's Akauola:
Lovina Akauola of Sacramento CC won the shot put at 47-feet, 1 1/2 inches and the discus throw (138-8) to earn women's field athlete of the meet honors. Imani Bierly of Yuba placed second in the discus (138-3) and third in the shot (43-9).
Augusta Thomason of Cuesta, the national leader in the pole vault, won that event easily at 12-4, although a foot shy of her best.
Chantel Dunson of Long Beach CC was the triple jump winner at 38-0 1/4. Defending champion Kortni Smyer-Jones of Laney placed fifth.
Men's Track Events and Decathlon – Distance Triple By Hartnell's Leon:
Diego Leon of Hartnell pulled off an impressive gold medal triple. The winner of the 10,000 meters on Friday, Leon took the lead after one lap of the 1,500 meters on Saturday and raced to the tape in 3:53.58, ahead of David Aguilar (3:54.20) of De Anza and Brandon Messerly (3:55.61) of Cuesta. The Panthers sophomore concluded the day with an impressive 5,000 meter run, the event in which he is the national community college leader this year at 14:26.55 – just three seconds better than No. 2 Connor Fisher of Cuesta
The pair dueled after the first kilometer until Leon took off at the final bell. A 65-second last lap gave Leon the victory in 14:40.53, with Fisher second in 14:44.63 and Ethan Walker of Canyons (the 10K runner-up) third in 15:01.44. Leon was selected as the male track athlete of the meet.
Chase Pacheco of Hartnell led throughout the final day to win the decathlon with 6,706 points, the second highest point total in the USA this year by a community college athlete. Cade Lindsay of Mt. SAC held onto second place but missed the 6,000-point mark by a single point.
Ethan Walker of College of the Canyons took the lead on the final backstretch of the 3,000 meter steeplechase from pacesetter Sean Gregg of American River to win the race in a state season best 9:16.32. Gregg, the previous leader at 9:16.88, took the silver medal in 9:19.74, just holding off Teddy Kassa (9:19.78) of El Camino.
Mt. San Antonio won the 4x100 meter relay impressively in a state season best and CSM stadium record 40.00 with a team of Erik Cisneros, Armani Mcneal, Isaiah Kennedy, and Cravon Gillespie. Modesto was second in 40.79. American River finished third but was disqualified for passing out of the zone – sidetracking the Beavers' team title hopes.
Mackenzi Rickman of Cerritos got out fast in the 110 meter hurdles and won in 14.28 over teammate Dario Robinson (14.49), with Leroy Elliott of Chabot third (14.57).
Alexander McElwee of Pasadena has a strong finish to win the 400 meters in 46.61, slightly off his state-leading and No. 2 U.S. ranking mark of 46.19. Daniel York-Mouton (47.14) of El Camino finished second and Theon Lewis (47.67) of Sequoias was third.
Drelan Bramwell of Sequoias equaled his state-leading season best of 10.38 to win the 100 meters, beating Armani Mcneal (10.46) of Mt. SAC and Adeeb Nasir (10.53) of Merritt. Bramwell also took the 200 meters in 21.36, topping state leader Virjilio Griggs of Cerritos, who was second in 21.54, and Mcneal (21.59).
In the closest race of the day, Gabe Toscano of Mt. San Antonio won the 800 meters in 1:52.75 by .01 over Antwuin Prowes of Diablo Valley, with Eamon Smyth of Orange Coast third in 1:52.95. Defending state champion Logan Stahl of American River finished sixth.
Bas VanLeersum of Santa Barbara CC improved his own California leading time in the 400 meter hurdles to 52.20 to win that event. Mohamed Isse of Mt. SAC closed well to place second in 52.67, followed by Marlon Dixon (53.17 of Sequoias.
Roberts of Modesto Triples In The Throws: Daniel Roberts of Modesto JC completed a triple in the throws. The Pirates' freshman took the shot put at 56-11 1/2 and discus throw, 180-1 on Saturday to add to the hammer throw title he won on Friday. Roberts was selected male field athlete of the meet.
Tacuma Anderson-Richards of Sequoias had the second best community college triple jump of the season, 52-2, to win that event and upset national leader Eric Sloan of San Joaquin Delta, who finished five inches back in second place.
Reed Scale of Mt. San Antonio, the national leader in the pole vault at 17-0 3/4, had no misses through 16-4 to get a narrow victory in that event. Alexander Law of Cuyamaca also cleared 16-4, but on his second try, and received the silver medal. He is now No. 3 on the season list.
Day 1 Recaps by Fred Baer
National community college record breaker Aminat Olowora of Southwestern College ran away with the opening finals race of the California Community College Athletic Association track and field championships at College of San Mateo on Friday, running away with the women's 10,000 meter title in 35 minutes, 31.92 seconds. That was a new state meet record -- but shy of the all-time JC/CC mark of 33:43.00 that the freshman from Nigeria set last month at the Arnie Robinson Invitational in San Diego.
The previous national record was 34:34.61 by Rose Tanui of Central Arizona Community College in 2008. The state meet record was 35:49. 24 by Michelle Icban of Orange coast in 2003.
Jenica Dodge of American River finished second in 37:11.39, followed by Brianna Jacklin (37:13.24) of Riverside.
Diego Leon of Hartnell took the lead in the men's 10K with 500 meters to go, winning in 31:20.63 -- ahead of fast closing Ethan Walker (31:23.75) of College of the Canyons. Abdul Hamid of American River, who led for most of the first 9,500 meters of the race finished third (31:27.57) with valuable team points for the title-hopeful Beavers.
In Friday's field event finals for women, Jacklyn Chasteler of Saddleback won the hammer throw at 186 feet, 11 inches, improving her national lead in the event by over a foot, followed by Malissa Garcia (164-2) of Modesto and Hannah Peterson (162-11) of Saddleback. Kelsey Shaw of Siskiyous won the javelin throw at 151-8. She is the national leader this season at 166-4. Melody Harris (141-8) of Fresno City College was second and Julia Grimm (131-3) of Santa Rosa JC placed third. Moesha Davidson of Fresno City College took the long jump at 18-6 1/2, with Deajah Stevens (18-1 3/4) of Sequoias second and Kaniya Bawlson (17-8) of East Los Angeles third. The high jump winner was heptathlete Breanna Curry of Cerritos with a first jump clearance at 5-5 1/4. Mohogany Stitt of Merced cleared the same height on her third attempt and took the silver medal.
In the men's jumps, Dwayne Lee of San Joaquin Delta long jumped 23-10 3/4 to win by a half inch over David Booker of Fresno. Xavier Howell of American River equaled his co-state-leading high jump mark of 6-11 1/2 to win that event over Jonathan Moore (6-9 1/2) of Sequoias.The hammer throw featured three of the top five throwers in the country. Daniel Roberts of Modesto got the win at 188-6, ahead of Mitch Dixon (185-0) of Saddleback and state leader James Hubbard of American River, who placed third (181-7). Elijah Marta of Siskiyous won the javelin throw at 214-5, just short of his state season-leading mark of 220-3. Daniel Hernandez of Golden West was the runner-up at 197-10.
Multi-event first day leaders:
After the first four events in the women's heptathlon, Jasmine Williams of Fullerton leads with 2,782 points, followed by open high jump winner Curry (2,636) and Katie Baxter (2,618) of De Anza.
Williams got off to a good start, winning the 100 meters hurdles in 15.14 for 823 points. She also had the best shot put, 34-6 1/4 (for 564 points). Baxter moved into contention in the day's final race, winning the 200 meters in 25.76 for 818 points. Curry won the hep high jump at 5-4 1/4 for 771 points, which proved to be a warm-up for her state title in that event later in the day. Competition in the final three events begin Saturday at 10 a.m. with the long jump.
In the men's decathlon, Chase Pacheco of Hartnell leads with 3,719 points after the first five events. His best mark was a 23-2 3/4 long jump for 833 points. Kendrick Murphy of Siskiyous is second (3,680), followed by Spencer Stockton of Butte at 3,537.
First Day Team Scores -- WOMEN: Fresno City College leads the women's team race with 26 points going into Saturday's final events. Trailing are Saddleback (17 1/2), Modesto JC (15), Riverside (13 1/2),
MEN: American River is the men's team leader after the first day with 28 points, ahead of Sequoias (19), Saddleback (17), Fresno 14 ½), Riverside (14) and co-sixth Modesto and Mt. San Antonio (13).
Saturday's State Running Events Will Archived by FloTrack
Archived broadcasts will be available by May 24
Message from the Event Manager and Meet Referee:
During the execution of the Women's 400 Meter hurdles race at the CCCAA Track and Field State Championships held at College of San Mateo, it was determined by Meet Referee, Doug Wells, that the second hurdle in Lane 5 was at an incorrect height. After fully investigating with testimony from Meet Management, he proposed to the affected athletes and Head Coaches, that the race be called a "tie" with both athletes recognized as State Champions. And with both athletes being awarded the time of the first athlete to cross the line. In a show of true sportmanship, all the affected parties agreed to this solution.