Canyons Track & Field Sweeps WSC Inland Meet

The College of the Canyons track & field program swept the Western State Conference (WSC) Inland meet hosted by Bakersfield College on Friday, with the men's and women's team both taking first place while combining to win 11 events. The Cougars also finished runner up in a combined 12 events.

Canyons has now swept back-to-back conference meets. The women's team has won all three WSC events this season.

On Friday, the women's team posted its most dominating victory of the season by winning eight events and scoring 193 points to lead a field that included Bakersfield (129), Glendale (72), Antelope Valley (57) and Santa Monica College (39).

COC sophomores Jasmine Hall and Samiyah Hawkins won two events each, with Hall also running anchor on two first place relay teams.

Hawkins threw for a mark of 11.46m in the shot put and 38.93m in the discus to top the standings in both events. Hall's toss of 10.35m in the shot put was good for third place. Hall also finished also first in the javelin with a distance of 39.15m.

Hall's leap of 1.57m in the high jump tied with teammate Kaitlyn Matthews, with Hall eventually being awarded first place based on her preliminary marks. Matthews settled for second place. 

Canyons won a two-team showdown with Bakersfield in the 4x100m relay with the team of Nameda Skarule, Keyana Session, Ariana Cooper and Hall clocking in at 49.83. 

Later is was Díani Ellis, Jessica Ruiz, Tayler Stiverson and Hall with a first place run of 4:11.36 in the 4x400m.

Cooper also bested the field in the 100h at 15.67 and finished second in the 400h at 1:06.03.

Ruiz was second in the 1500m at 4:51.64 and third in the 800m at 2:26.69. Celeste Gonzalez took second in the 400m at 1:03.30. 

Skarule won the triple jump at 10.09m and was second in the 100m at a time of 13.19. 

The COC men's team (157) was able to hold off second place Glendale College (147) along with Santa Monica (121), Bakersfield (81) and Antelope Valley (41).

Slade Cavallaro and Weston Lombardo were the two individual event winners for Canyons, with the team of Tochukwe Eze, Blake Beeler, Keion Broadus and Cavallaro also taking first in the 4x400m relay at a pace of 3:22.77.

Cavallaro's individual win came in the 400h at a time of 56.34. Lombardo was best in the pole vault after clearing a distance of 4.11m.

Lombardo was also second in the javelin with a distance of 44.70m. That distance placed him slightly ahead of teammates Eric Sachs (43.41m) and Zach Larson (40.46m) in third and fourth place.

Larson also finished second in the 100h after crossing the line in 16.25.

Delon Buncio was second in the triple jump at a distance of 12.60m and ranked fourth in the long jump at 6.07m.

Travis Larson ran to second place in the 800m with a time of 1:58.41. Leo Lambert III was second in the 400m at 48.90.

Canyons will next compete at the Vaquero Invite hosted by Glendale College April 7-8.