Track & Field Season Openers

Mt. SAC Season Opener

By Tadzio Garcia 

The 2014 CCCAA Track and Field season kicked off with four meets in Southern California last Friday including five South Coast Conference teams competing at the Mt. SAC Season Opener.

Highlighting the men's competition were two freshmen making their collegiate debuts.

Adam Aguirre of Cerritos College won the high jump in 2.14-meters, a result that bested last year's state champion jump of 2.08 from Southwestern College's then freshman Branden Greene.

Reed Scale of Mt. SAC won the pole vault for the Mounties in 15 feet and six inches, a height good enough for All-American status at last year's state finals.

"I just missed a personal record and have a goal of over 16' 0" this season. I am happy to be at Mt. SAC and to work with (poled vault) coach Giovanni Lanaro," said Scale.

Mt. SAC dominated the men's competition in the non-scoring meet over Cerritos, El Camino, Long Beach City and East Los Angeles colleges winning on depth in the short and long distance events, the hurdles, relays and field events.

"It is depth, fourth through eighth places, that can help us win state titles. We are definitely a better team this year," said Doug Todd, Director of Mt. SAC Track and Field since 1995. Mt. SAC was runner-up to 2013 state champion Riverside City College.

Mt. SAC won 13 men's events at the Season Opener. Cerritos and El Camino won three each, and ELAC won one.

"I'm very pleased with how our team opened up the season. We showed great readiness for the start of our year. Everyone was fit and looking very capable of having a wonderful season this year. We're excited about it," said Mt. SAC men's Head Track and Field Coach Ron Kamaka.

In the short distance dashes first place winners were all from Mt. SAC.  Freshmen Michael Torres won the 100-meters in 11.47 seconds and Malcolm Ballard won the 200 (22.07); sophomore Kyree King won the 400 (50.61).

The middle and long distances first place winners were also from Mt. SAC. Freshman Alejandro Hueza was a double winner in the 800 run (1.59.78) and the 1,500 (4:07.54) while sophomore Nicolas Jauregui won the 3,000 (9:04.05).

Freshmen won the hurdle events. Thomas Cheval of Cerritos edged teammate Aaron Martin in the 110-meter hurdles by the slimmest of margins, 15.43 to 15.44. Mohamed Isse of Mt. SAC won the 400 hurdles (56.67) while Cristian Flores of ELAC took first the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:57.9).

Mt. SAC took both relays. The 4 x 100-meter relay team of sophomore King and freshmen Malcolm Ballard, Michael Graves and Isaiah Kennedy ran unopposed. King ran on the Mt. SAC 2013 4 x 100 state champion team. The 4 x 400 winners were sophomores Torres and King as well as freshmen Pedro Herrera and Gustavo Lopez-Romero.

Other first place winners in the jumps included freshmen Raphael Lawson-Gayle of El Camino in the long jump (6.97 meters), and Gustavo Caballero of Mt. SAC in the triple jump (13.71).

Sophomores won the first place throws. Mt. SAC won the discus and the hammer in Hector Alarcon (48.27 meters) and Johnny Garcia (47.87), respectively. El Camino won the javelin and shot put with Matt Larson (51.99) and Christopher Street (14.26), respectively.

"I beat Adam (Aguirre) of Cerritos and am looking forward to our next meet at Orange Coast College. I am hoping to improve on my PR (personal record) from last year," said Larson.

Cerritos and Mt. SAC women battle it out

Defending state champion Cerritos and also Mt. SAC, who finished fourth in the 2013 state finals, battled about even at the Mt. SAC Season Opener.

Cerritos won seven events to Mt. SAC's six. El Camino took four first places and ELAC added one.

Freshman Destiny Mack-Talalmotu of Cerritos took center stage winning all four throw events. She won the discus in 43.83 meters, a mark better than then freshman Victoria Dickerson's 43.22 meters, which won second place at the state finals last year.

Mack-Talalmotu also won the hammer (44.91), javelin (35.52) and shot put (13.18). Teammate Dorienne Ordaz took second place in these three events.

Freshman Marielle Owens of Cerritos College was a double-winner in the long jump (5.05 meters) and the triple jump (11.39).

Kellie King of Cerritos and Aliyah Monsalvatge of Long Beach won their heats, 26.36 to 26.74 respectively, with Kellie King winning first.

Other Mt. SAC first place winners included freshman Carla Rivera in the 100 dash (13.23) and All-American sophomore Robyn Brown in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:08.29. Last year Brown was a freshman with a trio of Mt. SAC sophomores who won state title in the 4 x 400.

More Mt. SAC first place winners included sophomores Deborah Dornisch in the 3,000 run (10:55.76), Rebecca Carey in the high jump (1.43 meters) and Tiziana Ruiz in the pole vault (11' 0"). Ruiz was state runner-up last year in the pole vault.

The Mounties also won the 4 x 100 last Friday with freshman Jazmine Robinson and Carla Rivera and sophomores Brown and Darian Puckett, who edged Cerritos at the finish line. 

Sophomore Jaylynn Branch of El Camino College won the 100 dash (59.88). She has the fastest time in the state in 2014. The Warriors also won the 4 x 400 with freshmen Aqeelah Muhammad, Branch, Alysha Johnson and sophomore Raven Nunez (4:06.94).

El Camino sophomore Crystal Lizaola was a double-winner. She won the 100 hurdles (15.65) and the 800 run (2:21.50).

Finishing 1-2-3 in the women's 800 with the fastest times in the state were Lizaola, teammate Nunez (2:22.07) and ELAC All-American freshman Laura Aceves (2:25.30). Aceves won the 2013 CCCAA Cross Country individual state title.

Aceves won the 1,500 run (4:56.75). She is the only woman in the state in 2014 to finish the 1,500 in under five minutes.

"This was my first-ever track meet. It was fun. I came with an open mind to learn and have a lot of hard work ahead of me," Aceves said.

The meet drew 500 including about 150 kindergarten and first grade students from Downtown Value School who were "on a field trip to learn physical fitness," said teacher Taylor Wheeldin.

"The meet was small compared to most, but no less important than the large meets we run here (at Mt. SAC)," said Todd.

Mt. SAC will host the CCCAA Track and Field State Championships in May.

Previous Mt. SAC Track and Field Head Coach Mike Goff joined the team of volunteers at the Mt. SAC Season Opener. He retired after "honoring 40 years of dedication to students and student-athletes," according to the Mt. SAC website.

Complete Results http://www.directathletics.com/results/track/31385.html 

Photo Gallery https://plus.google.com/photos/117601207049095449631/albums/5978123969543243713?banner=pwa