Cuesta Track & Field returns to Cerritos College this Friday for the 2024 CCCAA Regional Finals. Neither Cuesta team scored in the 10,000-meter run, which was the only timed final at the CCCAA Regional Preliminary Meet, but the Cougars are in position to send a large contingent to the 2024 CCCAA State Championships, if they can repeat their performances this week.
The men are led by All State Harrier Anthony Erikson, who finished 4th in the 1,500-meters at the 2023 State Meet. Last week, Erikson was only three seconds off his career-best time at 3:38.69. He also took 6th in the 800-meters (1:56.98) and, last year, he also competed in the 5,000-meter run. That event is a timed final this weekend, however his longest race this year was a 3,000-meter run in February's season opener. In the Pole Vault, Owen Arreguy and Kevin Sweeney both cleared 13' 5.25", but finished 8th and 12th due to misses at lower heights Fellow Leaper Cal Corn also cracked the Top 10 with 8th place in the High Jump after clearing 5' 10.75" in his event.
The women appear to, once again, be loaded with returning all-State competitors Madeline Scovil, Grace Gutierrez, andElle Casselman all back in the fold. Scovil was Cuesta College's 2023 Female Athlete of the Year, after setting the school record in the Triple Jump, and is also title threat in the Long Jump. Gutierrez was the 2023 CCCAA State Runner-up in the High Jump and finally broke Cuesta's 36-year-old High Jump record, which was set in 1978 by Ella Baston. Baston's mark of 5'4" was tied six-times, including last year by Gutierrez, but never broken, until this year. Gutierrez and Scovil give the Cougars a brace of experienced record holders going into the post-season. On the track, Casselman was a CCCAA State Finalist in the 800-meters last year and earned all-State honors for cross country last Fall. Casselman and fellow Harriers Summer Gelman and Brinley Ewen each own Cuesta All Time Top 10 marks in, at least, one event. Casselman in the 800-meters, Gelman in the Steeplechase and Ewen in three events- 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000-meters. Heptathlete Savannah Shoemaker has already qualified for the CCCAA State Meet as a multi-event athlete, but is also a legitimate contender in the Javelin, where she ranks among Cuesta's all-time Top 10. She will also join Casselman, Ewen and Taylor Jones on the Cougars' 4x400 Relay.
