Rhodes Wins Back-to-Back State Titles (400m), Fulling is Runner-Up (400h), Cougs Feature Eight Top-10 Finishes

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

WALNUT — College of the Canyons sophomore Hazel Rhodes added the crowning achievement to her historic Cougar career on Saturday, successfully defending her state title to win a second straight 3C2A Track & Field Individual State Championship in the 400m event.

Rhodes' performance highlighted a day in which sophomore Monique Fulling finished runner-up in the 400 hurdles to lead a Canyons team that claimed top-10 finishes in all eight of its entered events during the 3C2A Track & Field State Championship meet hosted by Mt. San Antonio College over the weekend.

The back-to-back state titles claimed by Rhodes are the first in COC women's track & field program history, and only the second in school history. Rhodes joins COC Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Chris Low in the 800m (2010 & 2011) as the only back-to-back track & field state champions in program history.

Her most recent state championship is the fourth in women's program history, all coming under longtime head coach Lindie Kane. 

Rhodes followed COC Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee Corey Honeycut (800m/2010), Díani Ellis (3K Steeplechase/2017) before winning her first state title (400m/2025) as a freshman. 

Already the Western State Conference (WSC), and 3C2A Southern California Regional Champion in the 400m, Rhodes entered Saturday's race as the favorite and quickly showed why.

The Saugus High School alumnae ran a time of 54.78 to easily top the field, finishing nearly two full seconds ahead of runner-up Alonna Bush of Cuyamaca College (56.51).

After taking the podium to receive her medal, Rhodes returned to action. She went on to finish third in the 200m (24.08) and also ran the final leg of the 4x400 relay, which also placed third (3:53.47).

The time turned in by the team of Fulling, Syrai Piper, Amara Shields and Rhodes represented a season-best after having also placed third at the 3C2A SoCal Regional Championships a week ago.

Fulling narrowly missed out on a state title in the 400 hurdles with her time of 1:03.10 trailing only Ashonti Brown (1:02.53) of San Joaquin Delta College. 

The sophomore from Granada Hills Charter also had a busy day, also competing in the 100 hurdles where she finished fifth (14.63) before her run in the 4x400. Fulling, the 3C2A SoCal Regional Champ in the 400h, also won a trio of WSC championships in the hurdles events across her two seasons as a Cougar.

Sophomore Victoria Jamison ended her Canyons career with another race at a 3C2A State Championship event. Jamison posted a time of 18:52.69 to place ninth in the 5,000m. The Saugus High School grad also competed at two cross country state championship meets and the 2025 track & field state meet.

Those results helped the COC women's team place seventh in the team standings with 34 event points. Meet host Mt. SAC won both men's and women's team state titles. COC's men's team was 25th in the team standings.

The Cougars were led by sophomore Antonio Moore and freshman Esaias Ellis on the men's side.

Ellis marked a distance of 14.62m/47' 11 ¾" to place sixth in the triple jump, representing the only field event competitor for the Cougars. He had previously finished runner-up at both the WSC and SoCal Championship meets.

Moore was clocked at 14.57 to place fifth in the 400 hurdles. His run at the state championship meet caps a COC career in which the Golden Valley High School alum swept WSC championships in the hurdles events (110h/400h) in both years of competition. Moore also finished state runner-up in 110h as a freshman in 2025.

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.