Track and field world descends on Saddleback College for 3C2A Championships
3C2A Track and Field Info Page (Courtesy Saddleback College)
MISSION VIEJO - The spectacular new stadium at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo is the host site for the 2024 3C2A track and field championship, May 17-18. It is an all-finals competition, with fields determined following region finals May 3-4 in the North at American River College and May 10 in the South at Cerritos College
Mt. San Antonio College is looking for a 3-peat of men’s and women’s team titles after taking crowns again at the Southern California regional championships
FRIDAY SCHEDULE: The start of combined event competition and 10,000-meter finals are featured on Friday.
The first five events of the men’s decathlon begin with the 100 meters at 12:30 p.m. The first three events of the women’s heptathlon start with the 100-meter hurdles at 1 p.m. The only Friday scoring finals are the 10K races, the women starting at 7 p.m. and the men at 8 p.m.
SATURDAY competition gets underway with the first field event finals at 10 a.m., featuring the men’s hammer throw and high jump and the women’s javelin throw. The women’s long jump is scheduled for 11 a.m.
Second-day decathlon competition starts at 12 noon with the 110-meter hurdles. Heptathlon competition resumes at 3 p.m. with the long jump. The all-finals track competition begins at 3:30 p.m. with the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase, followed by the men’s steeple.
REGIONAL CHAMPIONS
NOR CAL WOMEN:
Modesto JC won the NorCal women’s title, tallying 152 points to outdistance Monterey Peninsula (107) and De Anza (77). Butte and Clovis tied for fourth place with 61 points, followed by College of the Sequoias (49), Santa Rosa JC (40 1/2), Diablo Valley (40), Hartnell (37), and College of the Redwoods (22) – with 23 colleges scoring.
NORCAL MEN:
De Anza won the 102nd year NorCal men’s title with 112 points, followed by 2023 champ Modesto JC (104) and Chabot (57). Diablo Valley (56) and American River (53) completed the top five. Others in the top ten: Hartnell (52), San Joaquin Delta (51), Fresno CC and Santa Rosa JC (47), Sacramento CC (42) -– among 22 scoring teams.
SOCAL WOMEN:
Mt. San Antonio repeated as SoCal women’s team champions with 147 points, ahead of Cerritos (116) and Riverside (104). Orange Coast and San Diego Mesa tied for fourth with 63 points. Others in the top ten: Bakersfield (45), Long Beach CC (44), El Camino (40), with Cuesta and West Long Angeles deadlocked for ninth (34) – as 22 teams scored.
SOCAL MEN:
Mt. SAC completed a third straight sweep of titles with 260 points in the men’s competition.
Riverside CC placed second with 151 and San Diego Mesa was third with 103, followed by Moorpark (56) and Orange Coast (33). Completing the top ten: Cuesta (25), Cerritos and Long Beach CC (22), Santa Barbara CC and West Los Angeles (21) – with 21 teams scoring.
NATIONAL LEADER TAYLOR SNAER IN SPRINT SPOTLIGHT:
A spotlight will be on Modesto JC freshman Taylor Snaer, who keys the Pirates hopes for a women’s team title, with pacesetting sprint marks, along with competing on a pair of relays. She leads U.S. community colleges with a 100-meter bests of 11.25 seconds (wind-aided) and 11.30 (wind legal). She ranks No. 4 among all college freshmen and is No. 35 overall among USA women. Snaer also leads USA CC ranks with a wind-legal 200-meter time of 22.97 (and has a wind-assisted best of 22.95). She ranks No. 5 among all college freshmen in the 200 and is No. 30 overall in the USA.
Snare has the top Califorrnia 400-meter time of 54.56 -- but will only run that distance on the concluding MJC 4 x 400 relay team. She usually runs the second leg on Modesto’s top ranked 47.01 sprint relay and anchors the 4 x 4 team that ranks No. 4 at 3:59.52. Riverside is the state leader in the long relay at 3:55.83.
Only a pair 2023 champions will be defending their state titles this weekend at Saddleback.
Discus thrower Edward Ta’amilo of Riverside is the lone returning men’s champion and will try to double this year in the shot put, where he placed sixth in 2023. He is the current state leader in both events.
For the women, Neshara Smith of Bakersfield hopes to defend her high jump title – and a lot more.
She is also the top qualifier in the heptathlon with 4,671 points, in the 100-meter hurdles (13.73 seconds), and in the long jump, at 19 feet, 6 3/4 inches. She’ll contest the three individual events twice over two days, first in the heptathlon -- and then in the individual finals on Saturday.
There are several 2023 runners-up hoping to move up a notch.
For the women:
Grace Gutierrez of Cuesta in the high jump;
Bailie Horton of Mt. SAC in the pole vault;
Summer Stevenson of Mt. SAC in the triple jump;
Kais Kimuli of San Diego Mesa in the shot put;
Sarah Peters of Shasta in the javelin throw.
For the men:
Jake Jensen of Mt. SAC in the 200 meters (followed by Lamar Smith of San Diego Mesa, third in 2023);
Anthony Taylor of El Camino in the 110 hurdles (followed by Christian Baker of Mt. SAC, third in 2023);
Ethan Dierke of Santa Rosa JC in the 400 hurdles;
Terrence Sweetman of Mt. SAC in the triple jump.
Mt. SAC hopes to defend its titles in both men’s relays, with 2024 state pacesetting times of 40.36 in the 4 x 1 and 3:10.62 in the 4 x 4.
(Fred Baer, CCCSIA)