Canyons Caps Season at CCCAA State Championships; Ellis Makes History with State Title Run

The College of the Canyons track & field team capped its season with a trip to the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) State Championships hosted by American River College in Sacramento, May 19-20.

The Canyons contingent included a combined 14 student-athletes competing in 13 events. 

Highlighting the weekend was the performance of sophomore Díani Ellis, who ran to an individual state championship in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 11:15.61. 

Ellis, who only competed in the steeplechase for the first time earlier this season, entered the championship meet with the top time in the state, and held true to that mark despite taking a hard fall about midway through the event.

In doing so, she becomes just the second individual state champion in COC women's track & field history, joining Corey Honeycutt who won a state title in the 800m back in 2010. 

Ellis, who has been named a JC All-American, also won the CCCAA Southern California Regional title the previous week at a time of 11:26.91.

COC track & field student-athletes have experienced tremendous success in the 3,000m steeplechase event in recent years. In 2015, freshman Ethan Walker won an individual state title in the same event. The following year, it was sophomore Jason Hillquist who ran to a state title in the steeplechase.

COC sophomore Jasmine Hall also had a successful run at the state championships, finishing second in the heptathlon with a combined 4,995 event points. 

Hall finished first in the javelin (37.10m), and second in the 100h (14.90), high jump (1.72m), 200m (25.34). She also managed a third place finish in the long jump (5.36m), a fourth place mark in the shot put (10.29m) and was eighth in the 800m (2:38.94). 

In the individual high jump event, Hall finished third with a leap of 1.65m. That leap tied with teammate Kaitlyn Matthews, who was awarded fourth place based on her preliminary marks. Both Hall and Matthews were named JC All-Americans.

Hall also placed sixth in the javelin with a throw of 37.14m, slightly better than her first place mark in the heptathlon version of the event.

Samiyah Hawkins took fifth place in the shot put with a toss of 12.03m. 

In the distance events, sophomore Jessica Ruiz was eighth in the 1,500m (4:59.09) and 5,000m events (18:40.39).

Shalyn Mabritto (40:07.62) and Stephanie Martinez (40:30.68) were ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 10,000m. 

As a team, the COC women's squad placed sixth in the field of 37 schools.

COC sophomore Zachary Larson finished eighth in the decathlon with 5,547 points after a pair of runner up finishes in the 100h (16.55) and pole vault (4.15m).

Elsewhere, Larson was fourth in the 400m (52.10), sixth in the 1,500m (4:56.20) and eighth in the 100m (12.08), high jump (1.64m) and discus (25.00m). Larson rounded out the weekend with ninth place marks in the long jump (5.98m) and javelin (36.32m). His throw of 9.33m in the shot put ranked 11th. 

Freshman Marcel Sylvester finished sixth in the high jump at 1.96m. 

The COC 4x400m relay team of Leo Lambert III, Blake Beeler, Keion Broadus and Tochukwe Eze ranked eighth at a time of 3:16.93.