Canyons Wins Women's Meet, Sees High Marks from Men's Squad at Cuyamaca Invite
By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director
EL CAJON — College of the Canyons track & field teams combined for nearly 40 personal best times and marks during the annual Cuyamaca College Invitational on Saturday, with the women's squad claiming its first team victory of the season.
Canyons won the women's meet with 146 event points, outpacing host Cuyamaca (107) and third place Southwestern College (95) in the top three positions of the six-team field.
COC posted a well-rounded victory with top marks coming in the sprints, distance and field events.
Sophomore Hazel Rhodes was included among the Cougars' top performers with three top-five finishes, including a win the 400m event (55.38). Rhodes also placed second in the 200m (24.95) and fourth in the javelin (24.27m).
Other individual wins for the Cougars included sophomore Victoria Jamison taking the top spot in the 3,000m (10:37.85) and freshman Kayla Hargrove doing likewise in the shot put (9.29m). Hargrove also earned points with top finishes in the discus (4th/25.91m), and hammer throw (5th/26.85m) events.
Elsewhere, sophomore Amara Shields ran in the 400m (3rd/1:00.67) and 200m (5th/26.51) and also competed in the javelin (6th/17.47m).
COC freshman Raquel Revilla placed second in the 1500m (5:37.65) with freshman Gabriella Nickels faring well in the hammer throw (2nd/31.36m), javelin (2nd/26.85) and discus (5th/25.49m).
On the men's side, Canyons (169) finished runner-up behind Cuyamaca (206) in the four-team field.
The Cougars claimed seven individual event victories with Elijah Reid, Antonio Moore, Gio Nelson and Jonathan Kanaley all winning events.
Reid took the top spot in both the 100m (10.61) and 200m (21.55) events. Moore continued his prowess in the hurdle events by winning the 110h (14.83). Gio Nelson won the 400h race (58.12) to add additional points for the Cougars.
Both men's relay teams also took the top spot. The 4x100 grouping of Josh Smith, Matthew Grider, Thurlee Bowers and Reid clocked a time of 42.33 in running to victory.
In the 4x400 it was Smith, Grinder, Alejandro Cueto and Moore finishing in 3:25.11.
Cueto was also runner-up in the 3K steeplechase (10:32.67). Bowers took third in the high jump (1.72m).
Jonathan Kanaley was the top performer in the men's field events, with the freshman winning the shot put (12.60m) and placing second in both the javelin (35.77m) and hammer throw (35.20m). He also placed fourth in the discus (25.27m).
Canyons is next slated to compete at the Ben Brown Invitational hosted by California State University, Fullerton on Friday, March 13.
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.
