By Lauren Jennings |Sports Editor|
Track and field is waiting to see if two of their Coyotes will advance to the NCAA championship, following the CCAA track and field Championships from May 5-7.
Laura Aceves is the only Coyote that has been to the Track and Field NCAA Championships in the team’s three short years.
“As a team, we did pretty well,” said Shanna Shernaman, a steeplechase runner. “We are still a new program, so we are always learning how to get better.”
At last year’s championship, Aceves represented the Coyotes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, earning a ninth place finish.
Aceves participated in a “Last Chance” race on May 13 where she competed in the 5k to see if her time would qualify for the NCAA standard. Updates will be available online.
Casie Johson is also waiting to see if her time in the heptathlon will take her to the championships.
Johnson played on the women’s basketball team this season and was a walk-on for track and field.
She placed third in the heptathlon in the CCAA Championship, the first she had ever competed in. This was also the first time a Coyote had participated in a heptathlon event.
Johnson also placed seventh in the finals of the 400m hurdles.
Aceves and Johnson both earned All-CCAA honors, becoming the only Coyotes to ever do so.
In addition to Aceves’ third place 5k finish, Rachel Gee placed seventh with a time of 18:09.55. Michelle Palacios Pineda finished in 18:36.98, Jessica Steinhoff in 18:42.07, Laura Romero in 18:49.66 and Cynthia Rivera in 18:53.04.
Steinhoff and Delaney Ellsworth participated in the 1500m, earning times of 5:08.25 (Steinhoff) and Ellsworth (5:12.55).
Alyssa Casillas participated in the 10000m, earning a time of 41:39.77.
Phillie Bacon and Shernaman ran in the 3000 steeplechase, recording times of 11:49.16 (Bacon) and 12:16.80 (Shernaman).
Sinclair Watson and Taylor Matthews participated in the 100m dash, earning times of 12.42 seconds (Watson) and 12.93 (Matthews). Watson (25.33) and Matthews (27.20) also competed in the 200m dash.
Simone Everett placed eighth in the hammer throw event with a distance of 40.16m. She also placed in the top 15 for shot put with a distance of 11.04m and top 20 in the discus event, throwing 32.94m.
Farrah Marones and Joanin Gazcon also competed in the discus throw, Marones threw 31.63 m and Gazcon threw 28.18m.
The javelin throw featured Lacey Slocumb throwing 30.19m and Johnson with 28.96m.
Stacey Vanderpool participated in the pole vault, reaching 3.10m.
Diana Sanchez jumped to 1.48m in the high jump.
“I think the goals for next year is just to keep improving as a program,” said Shernaman.
“We each have our own personal goals we want to achieve but as for team goals, we usually get together before our first and decide on a team goal to work towards,” she continued.
The track and field season may be over, but the team is already preparing for the upcoming cross country season which will start in September.
Update: Laura Aceves will compete in the 5000m at the NCAA Championship on May 27. This will be her third trip to the NCAA Championships, her second for track.
Aceves was named CSUSB’s Female Athlete of the Year.
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