Rhodes & Fulling Win SoCal Regional Titles, Seven Cougars Qualify for State Meet
By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director
BAKERSFIELD — College of the Canyons sophomores Hazel Rhodes and Monique Fulling both won regional titles at the 3C2A Southern California Regional Championship meet, with the Cougars also featuring a pair of runner-up finishers on the men's side while seeing a combined seven student-athletes qualify to compete at the upcoming state championship meet.
Rhodes added another accolade to her Cougar career by winning a 3C2A Southern California Championship in the 400m with her time of 54.32. The talented sprinter, already the defending state champion in that event, will now have a chance to defend her own state title. The Saugus High School graduate also moves on to compete in the 200m after placing fifth at a time of 24.13.
Fulling takes home a SoCal Regional Championship in the 400h after winning that event at a pace of 1:02.40. Fulling, who has already won back-to-back conference titles in the same event, now has the opportunity to run for a state title. She also qualified to compete in the 110h after finishing fourth at a time of 14.76m.
Rhodes and Fulling both move on as members of the 4x400 relay team as well.
The combination of Fulling, Syrai Piper, Amara Shields and Rhodes ran a season-best time of 3:53.90 to finish third at the regional championships.
Victoria Jamison advances to the fourth state championship meet of her Cougar career after twice running at the 3C2A cross country state meet and qualifying to compete at the track & field state champions in the 5,000m as a freshman in 2025. Jamison ran her race in 18:30.69 to place fifth in the field and stamp her ticket to the state championships once again.
Ruby Salazar finished 13th in the 3K steeplechase (14:18.14) but will not compete past the regional championships.
Canyons was also well represented on the men's side, with Antonio Moore (110h) and Esaias Ellis (triple jump) both finishing as runner-up in their respective events.
Ellis posted a mark of 14.91m to finish second in the field of 12 competitors. He will now have a chance to win a state championship in the triple jump, which would be the program's first since 2013.
Moore was runner-up in the 110h at a time of 14.56 and will now look to build on his impressive resume in the hurdle events. The sophomore from Golden Valley High School finished second in the 110h at the 2025 state championships. Moore is also the back-to-back Western State Conference (WSC) champion in both the 110h and 400h.
Sophomore Josh Smith narrowly misses out on a trip to the state meet despite finishing fifth in the 400m (48.62). Elsewhere, Josue Lopez competed in the 5,000m (16:07.36) and finished 25th overall.
The 2026 3C2A Track & Field State Championship meet will take place May 15-16, at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, with the Cougars competing in day two action on Saturday.
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.
—Photos by Robert Hanashiro/COC Sports Information
