Handful of Cougars Qualify For Southern California Finals Meet
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The College of the Canyons track and field team saw eight individuals and four relays teams earns spots at next week's Southern California Finals Track and Field Meet after competing in the Southern California Prelims on Saturday and Sunday at Riverside City College.
COC will compete in 19 events next weekend at the same venue, for the Southern California Finals, with a trip to the state championship meet on the line.
Freshman and Southern California Heptathlon champion Jasmine Hall competed in eight events (100m, 200m, 100h, high jump, long jump, javelin, 4x100, 4x400) and qualified for the finals next weekend in every event she participated in. Hall broke two of her own school records in the long and high jump. She came in first place in the long jump with a mark of 5.68 meters (18-7¾) and cleared 1.55 meters (5-1) to finished in a six-way tie for first in the high jump.
Sophomore Laurie Henigan ran the fifth-fastest time of the prelims in the 100-meter dash with her time of 12.16 and freshman Dominique Dowell ran a 4:54.18 to qualify for next weekend's events in the 1500-meter run.
The women's 4x100 (Jessica Gill, Qimmah Russo, Hall and Henigan) and the 4x400 (Gill, Henigan, Dowell and Hall) will also move to the Southern California Finals after posting times of 48.40 and 4:01.81, respectively.
Tim White turned in the best marks of the weekend in the long jump (7.28 meters) and the triple jump (14.84 meters) and came in sixth place in the high jump after clearing 2.01 meters (6-7¼). He will compete in all three events at the finals and will look to repeat as the Southern California Champion in the triple jump.
Freshman Marvin Magg qualified for the finals meet in the shot put and the javelin. Magg, who won the conference title in the shot put, turned in a distance of 12.99 meters (42-7½) to come in 12th place. In the javelin, he came in 11th place with a mark of 49.01 meters (160-9).
Sophomore Anthony Fowler turned in a season-best 47.91 in the 400-meter dash to notch the fastest time of the afternoon. Freshman Joel Estrada came across the finish line in third place in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:57.16 and sophomore Chase Wheeler recorded a personal-best 9:49.80 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, to advance to the finals.
Freshman Rodrigo Ornelas ran the 10,000-meter race, which acted as a final, where he came in fifth place with a time of 32:28.28 and will move on to the state championship in the same event. Ornelas will compete in the 5,000-meter final at the Southern California Finals next weekend.
The 4x100 (Fowler, Jeremy Gatewood, Tymon Jones, Matt Ringgold) and the 4x400 (Gatewood, Randle Williams, Andrew Sanchez and Fowler) will also compete in the weekend's Southern California Finals next weekend.
The Cougars will travel back to Riverside City College for the two-day Southern California Finals on May 9-10.