Posted: May 12, 2020

2020 Season Interrupted: Highlights From South Coast Conference Men's Track and Field

Mt. SAC never got a chance to compete on its brand new track at the new/improved Hilmer Lodge Stadium. It was supposed to be the host of the CCCAA State Championships but the shutdown due to Covid-19 ended the season abruptly.

After missing out on a state title as the runner-up in 2019 (won by Riverside City College), the Mt. San Antonio College men's track and field team marked 2020 as a hopeful return to the throne. The Mounties were ready to showcase a brand new stadium and track, starting first with the Mt. SAC Relays and then culminating with hosting the CCCAA State Championship Meet.

After five meets, Mt. SAC had the state's best times in five events, including both relays, and also had the #1-ranked high jumper and pole vaulter. But in March, the worldwide health crisis emerged, canceling the rest of the '20 season. No South Coast Conference team title or individual champions, no SoCal Championships title run, and no chance to possibly earn a state team title on the Mounties' own home track, which was originally scheduled for this week--May 15-16.

Cerritos College, the 2019 SCC team champion, also had no opportunity to defend its title.

At the time of the shutdown, Mt. SAC had dominated with the top conference marks/times in 15 out of 21 events while Cerritos tallied five top competitors. El Camino had one.

The following were the SCC's top performers in every event and if applicable those that also were in the state's top 5:

100m--Ilias Garcia, Mt. SAC, 10.24 (state #1), Robert Thompson, Mt. SAC, 10.61 (#2), Joey Fox, Mt. SAC, 10.68

200m--Garcia, Mt. SAC, 21.18 (#1), Fox, Mt. SAC, 21.23 (#2), Thompson, Mt. SAC, 21.42 (#3)

400m--Keeshonne Robinson, Mt. SAC, 48.56 (#2), Max Petrosian, Mt. SAC, 49.37, Severin Ramirez, Mt. SAC, 49.66

800m--Petrosian, Mt. SAC, 1:57.82, Cory Ricketts, El Camino, 1:57.94, Joshua Potts, Mt. SAC, 1:58.45

1,500m--Isaiah Wilson, Mt. SAC, 4:01.03 (#2), Daniel Abdala, Mt. SAC, 4:01.87 (#3), Potts, Mt. SAC, 4:05.20

Mile--Abdalah, Mt. SAC, 4:26.23 (#2), Zackary Alexander, Mt. SAC, 4:26.56, Antonio Calderon, Cerritos, 4:38.71

3,000m--Abdalah, Mt. SAC, 8:32.60 (#3), Wilson, Mt. SAC, 8:44.36 (#4), Alexander, Mt. SAC, 8:48.79

5,000 and 10,000 meters, no SCC athletes competed or reached top 50 in state in meet events to that point

110 Hurdles--Matthew Uballe, Mt. SAC, 14.43, Aaron Mahlow, Mt. SAC, 15.24 (#4), Kai Roth, Long Beach, 15.32 (#5)

400 Hurdles--Christopher Pitts, El Camino, 55.45 (#4), Mahlow, Mt. SAC, 56.80, Giovany Cuevas, Mt. SAC, 56.85

3,000 Steeplechase--Jaime Quinones, Cerritos, 9:52.90, Donovan Zavala, Long Beach, 10:17.64, Anthony Cano, Cerritos, 11:12.15

4x100 Relay--Mt. San Antonio, 40.54 (#1), Cerritos, 42.40, El Camino, 43.45

4x400 Relay--Mt. San Antonio, 3:15.86 (#1), El Camino, 3:22.98, Cerritos, 3:34.14

High Jump--Shallamar Poole, Mt. SAC, 6-feet-9 inches (#1), Alan Tabalas-Ruiz, Cerritos, 6-4, Armando Tabalas-Ruiz, Cerritos, 6-2.75

Pole Vault--Jacob Camarena, Mt. SAC, 15-3, Nathaniel Carranza, Mt. SAC, 15-3 (Tied #1), Justin Beltran, Mt. SAC, 14-10.25, Calvin Oury, Mt. SAC, 14-10.25 (Tied #5)

Long Jump--Marquis Turner, Cerritos, 22-2.5, Travion Phillips, Mt. SAC, 21-9, Nygel Probherbs, El Camino, 21-8.75

Triple Jump--Isaiah Mitchell, Mt. SAC, 45-7, Jarrod Sanchez, Mt. SAC, 43-1, Nathan Wong, Mt. SAC, 42-11.75

Shot Put--Joshua Tan, Mt. SAC, 45-11.25, Derrick Hawthorne, El Camino, 45-3, Silas Hurst, Cerritos, 44-2.5, Wasim Nasrallah, Cerritos, 44-2.5

Discus--Hurst, Cerritos, 136-4, Nasrallah, Cerritos, 130-3, Casanova Ah-Fook, Cerritos, 129-7

Hammer Throw--Tan, Mt. SAC, 168-6 (#4), Hurst, Cerritos, 163-5, Javier Sandoval Guzman, Mt. SAC, 134-4

Javelin--Niko Mancini, Cerritos, 161-2, Jacob Haley, Cerritos, 148-6, Venture O'Neal, Cerritos, 142-1

Heptathlon--Haley, Cerritos, 5,636 points, Mancini, Cerritos, 5,428, Andrew Aguilar, Mt. SAC, 5,345