Mt. San Antonio takes early lead at state track and field championships with meet starting to brew

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SAN MATEO -  Three-time defending double champion Mt. San Antonio College took the first day lead in both the men’s and women’s competition on the first day of the 3C2A state track and field championships Friday at College of San Mateo’s College Heights Stadium

The Mt. SAC men have 33.5 points, ahead of San Diego Mesa College (23), and Orange Coast College (17). Tied for fourth place, and pacing the North, are San Mateo and American River College (15).

The Mt. SAC women rang up 29.5 points, followed by Cerritos (24) and Riverside CC (15). De Anza College and Clovis Community College are the NorCal pacesetters with 13 points each.

WALKER &  WAY WIN OPENING RACES, AT 10,000 METERS
Rhiannon Walker of Clovis Community College broke away from a 4-pack of runners on the final lap of the 10,000 meters to win the first track final of the 3C2A championships in 38 minutes, 7.46 seconds. She is looking for a distance triple, being among Saturday favorites in both the 3,000 meter steeplechase and the 5,000 meters.

SoCal champion Sherlyn Gomez of West Los Angles College finished second in 38:17.10 and Nadia Munoz of Riverside City College took silver (38:18.47), both improving upon their bests. Walker remains the state leader with her 37:48.94 time earlier this season,

Ronald Way of San Diego Mesa broke out of the pack with a mile and a half to go in the men’s 10K and won handily in 31:30.82. He came in as the state leader at 31:08.81.

NorCal champion Stephan Chapdelaine of Butte College took the silver medal in 31:32.28, followed by James Estrella of De Anza (31:44.94).

FIRST DAY MEN’S FIELD EVENTS:
Aiydan Bague of host San Mateo won the men’s triple jump with a school record leap of 49 feet, 2 1/4 inches, extending his own state season lead in the event by more than a foot and a half. With his teammate Jaeden Vasquez placing fifth (45-7), the Bulldogs took the early men’s scoring lead with 14 points. Bague was in second place going into the final three jumps and needed to reach out over 49 feet on his sixth and final effort to beat Brandyn Wetherspoon of Mt. SAC, who settled for silver at 48-10 1/4.

Bague is also among the favorites in Saturday’s high jump and long jump finals.

Jake Todden of San Joaquin Delta took the hammer throw lead  with a 187-6 first throw and extended his margin and state season lead to 194-7 in the fifth round. Sean Artist of Orange Coast  finished second (170-0).

Lucas Scott of SD Mesa dominated the javelin throw, starting with a 184-7 first heave, and finished at 206-1. Gavin Wang of Long Beach CC took silver at 183-9.

State pole vault leader Shane Bagley of College of the Sequoias was a decisive victor at 16-6 1/2, with Quintin Dukes of Mt. SAC and Dylan Gschmeidler of American River tying for second place at 14-11. Defending champion Micah Krosby of Saddleback finished in a tie for fifth at 14-5 1/4.

WOMEN’S FIELD
Mackenzie Monson of Cerritos College had an opening hammer throw of 160-10 to take command and reached 169-8 on her only other fair throw. That was enough to outdistance silver medalist Addiison Hackett of Santa Rosa JC (148-0). Monson leads the state this year with a best of 172-2.

Ashlyn Reed of College of the Sequoias took the early triple jump lead at 36-11 3/4. But season state leader Mt. SAC’s Alessandra Jefferson jumped 37-0 1/2 in the fifth round to move into first, then extended that to 37-8 on her last jump (the penultimate jump of the competition). Reed, in the final position, met the pressure with a 37-10 1/2 effort for the win.

Chabot College freshman Shae Wright was the winner of a tight pole vault competition that saw a 4-way deadlock at 11-7 3/4 broken on the countback. Wright was the only athlete to clear that height on her first attempt. Kaylee Tan of San Diego Mesa finished second since her only miss was at the top height. Sofia Di Marco of Mt. SAC was third and Tilliana Wakefield-Carl of El Camino placed fourth.

Kyra Miedecke of Cerritos had a first round javelin throw of 138-8 to take the lead but Mt. SAC’s Maya Rush reached 142-4 in the fourth round to take the gold medal, ahead of Miedecke.

MODESTO’S NUNES LEADS HEPTATHLON
Kylie Nunes has the first day lead in the women’s heptathlon with 2,867 points, ahead of  her Modesto JC teammate Julia Pedretti 2,583). Nunes won the opening 100 meter hurdle race in 14.19 seconds the day-concluding 200 meters in 25.15 for the biggest individual event point totals of the day.

GROSS & GROSS PACE DECATHLON
Modesto’s Brock Gross leads his brother Blake by 29 points after the first day of the men’s decathlon with 3,470 points. Evan Johnson of Mt. SAC is in the silver medal position with 3,316 points, just ahead of Xavier Harvey of Rivers 3,308).

Blake Gross had the best time in the opening 100 meters, 11.21 seconds, just ahead of Brock (11.26). Brock, however had the best long jump, (21-9 1/2), and took the day concluding 400 meters in 49.70, just ahead of Blake (49.89) – where no other competitors bettered 51 seconds.

SATURDAY SCHEDULE
Remaining field events and running finals take place on Saturday at CSM, starting with the decathlon 110 hurdles at 9 a.m. --  and field events at 11 a.m. Opening ceremonies are at 12:05 p.m., followed by all remaining track finals – concluding with the 4 x 400 meter relays at 5:20 p.m.