Cougars See Eight Student-Athletes Qualify for 3C2A SoCal Regional Finals

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director  

MISSION VIEJO — College of the Canyons competed at the 3C2A Southern California Regional Prelims on Saturday, with a combined eight Cougars student-athletes qualifying to continue at next weekend's regional championship finals meet.

Canyons was led by its women's team which extended its season across eight events, including both relays.

COC freshman Hazel Rhodes continued her spectacular freshman campaign, winning her heat in the 400m (57.41) while slotting third on the day. Rhodes also finished 12th in the javelin (25.83m) to qualify in that event.

Monique Fulling also continues to make headlines after bringing home a pair of individual Western State Conference (WSC) champions in the 100h and 400h events. Fulling will move on to the SoCal Regional finals after finishing sixth in both the 100h (15.69) and 400h (1:07.08) on Saturday.

Freshman Victoria Jamison rounds out the trio of individual competitors for Canyons after qualifying for the finals in both the 1,500m (7th/4:51.56) and 5,000m events. Jamison's fourth-place time of 19:35.28 in the 5,000m at the WSC Championships allowed her to advance.

Fulling and Rhodes will also compete on both Canyons relay teams at the regional finals.

Fulling, Amara Shields, Syrai Piper and Rhodes ran a time of 49.99 in the 4x100 to place ninth in the field. Later, the combination of Fulling, Shields, Katelyn Catu and Rhodes were clocked at 4:07.10 to finish eighth in the 4x400.

On the men's side it was Antonio Moore, the WSC individual champion, moving on in the 110h at a time of 15.28, good for eighth place. Moore also finished 10th in the 400h at a time of 56.14 and is currently the first alternate for that event ahead of the regional meet's upcoming scratch deadline.

Gavin Dion was the only other men's team student-athlete to move forward after placing eighth at a time of 4:03.87 in the 1,500m. COC sophomore Nathaniel Wilkinson is also the first alternate in the 1,500m event after placing 13th at a pace of 4:05.82.

The Cougars return to action at the 3C2A Southern California Regional Championships beginning at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 10.

The 3C2A State Championship meet will then be held May 16-17, at College of San Mateo.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. 

—Photo by Mari Kneisel/COC Sports Information