Posted: May 19, 2015 | Updated: June 1, 2015 | Written by: Laura Tapia
Riverside City College men’s and women’s track and field team concluded its season at the CCCAA State Championships on May 15 and 16 held at the College of San Mateo.
The men’s team ended its three year state championship winning streak by coming in fifth. Although the team didn’t have the another championship finish Men’s coach Jim McCarron looks forward to next season.
“The streak of six state championships in seven years was a fantastic feat by all involved, and keeping it going is a goal we have each year, McCarron said. “The reality is that we got beat this year by teams that were better than us. We will learn from this season, which was a very good one, and rebuild for next year.”
RCC placed behind Modesto Junior College, American River College, College of the Sequoias, and Mount San Antonio College who won the title with 101 points. San Antonio College finished just one point ahead of College of the Sequoias.
The women’s team finished third with 65 points, coming behind Mount San Antonio College who had 67 points and Cerritos College who had 68 points. The competition was decided in the 4×400-meter relay, where the women placed third in 3:53.45 and the men in sixth at 3:16.72.
Sophomore Crystal Tejeda was the anchor for the teams 4×400-meter relay. She caught up to Cerritos and finished third, unfortunately it was not enough to help her team secure the title. Sophomore Kayla Wilson came close to first in the women’s 200-meter dash finishing second in 24.59 seconds, which was only 1.19 seconds behind first place Deajah Stevens of College of the Sequoias. Tejeda also came in second in the 800-meter run behind Sarah Brandt of Butte College by 1.6 seconds, who finished in 2:12.07.
“Those young ladies are awesome. They really stepped up and performed well for the lady Tigers, they have bright futures in this sport and in life,” McCarron said of the women’s individual performances.
“Crystal will be back because she is a freshman. We never know how many student-athletes will return for next season because so much can happen from one season to the next,” McCarron said when asked how many athletes were going to return.
Previously the Riverside City College Track and Field men’s team finished in second place at the Southern California Championships, While the women’s team finished in first place, according to Finishedresults.com
The men’s team finished with 114.83 points coming in right behind Mt. San Antonio College, while the women’s team finished with 123.5 points and came in ahead of Cerritos College.
The team qualified 32 athletes to the upcoming State Championships, 18 athletes from the men’s team and 14 athletes from the women’s team. The Tigers had several athletes winning individual titles such as Maria Morales in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:12.99 who came in about a second ahead of her teammate Crystal Tejeda.
Other individual title winners were Michelle Campa in the Discus throw with a mark of 42.51 meters and Frank Clarke in the men’s shot put with a mark of 16.04 meters. The women look for their first title since 1994, according to Jim McCarron, the men’s track and field coach.
In Orange Empire Conference finals the men’s team won its ninth consecutive title. Both the men and women teams scored over 300 points in the event.
Track and field exit interviews are what come next for the team, while most recruits and returners enroll in out of season track and field events classes.
