By Jesse Muñoz
COC Sports Information Director
FULLERTON — College of the Canyons track & field competed at two meets over the weekend of March 13-15, with those efforts highlighted by the establishment of three new school records during the annual Ben Brown Invitational hosted by California State. University, Fullerton.
The meet attracted a collection of mostly four-year schools, with COC, Riverside City and Mt. San Antonio College as the only three community college programs in the field of 18 schools and three running clubs.
Canyons sophomore Hazel Rhodes turned heads with her winning run in the 400m event.
Rhodes bested competitors from UNLV, UC Irvine, CSUN and UC San Diego to take the top spot with a school-record time of 53.99. That time also qualifies as the state-leading mark among 3C2A (California Community College Athletic Association) runners to this point of the season.
Rhodes was later part of the Cougars’ 4×400 relay team that narrowly missed setting a school record with its time of 3:54.52. That team consisted of Monique Fulling, Syrai Piper, and Amara Shields with Rhodes in the final position. That same lineup also placed seventh in the 4×100 relay at a pace of 48.15.
COC sophomore Antonio Moore put his name in the archives with a new school record time of 14.48 in the 100 hurdles to place fifth in the event. The four competitors ahead of Moore were all representing four-year programs.
Moore later ran anchor for a 4×400 relay team that included Josh Smith, Matthew Grinder and Alejandro Cueto. That combination finished seventh at a time of 3:24.51
Freshman Thurlee Bowers finished ninth in the 100m event and also ranked first among community college runners at a school-record time of 10.65.
Bowers, Moore and Rhodes were part of a Canyons contingent that combined for 16 Top-25 finishes across 12 events.
Cougars Compete at Annual Oxy Distance Carnival
The Cougars also competed at the Occidental College Distance Carnival held March 14, at Jack Kemp Stadium.
Once again, the field included a mix of four-year, community college and running club programs.
Top results at the meet included Cueto running seventh in the 3,000m steeplechase at a time of 10:09.64, and Nathan Parras finishing seventh in the 10,000m at 32:11.85. Cueto’s time was fourth among community college runners.
COC sophomore Victoria Jamison had the best performance on the women’s side, finishing 38th in the 5,000m at 18:16.06.
Canyons was set to return to conference competition on Friday, March 20, in a Western States Conference meet being held at Cougar Stadium.
