The women's track & field team enjoyed a huge week filled with season-best performances in almost every event. The Cougars split the team this week with most of the athletes heading to Modesto for the two-day Jack Albiani Meet on Thursday and Friday, while the Harriers drove South to Los Angeles and competed in the Occidental Distance Carnival on Saturday. Pole Vaulter Elen Zhu, Multi-event Star Eva Kessler, Harrier Jessica Schroeder and Thrower Makaylie Howell each won an event to lead the Cougars' Modesto contingent.  Zhu continued to edge closer to the Cougars' Top 10 in the pole vault by winning her event with a career-best leap of 11-3.75, while also adding 6th place in the 100-meters.  Zhu is just four inches away from Cuesta's elite Top 10, which boasts eight all-State vaulters (Top 4), including four State Champions. Kessler won the high jump (4-11) yet remains just one inch away from the school record, but also added a 6th place finish in the Long Jump. Schroeder eschewed the glitz of the City of Angels and the Oxy Distance Carnival for the modesty of Modesto.  The move worked and she claimed victory in the 800-meters, while Howell continued to impress in the throwing events with a win in the discus. However, the best performance may belong to Heptathlete Savannah Shoemaker, who finished second in the competition. Shoemaker scored 3679 points in her first performance of the season and moved into  5th all time at Cuesta for the event.  The Cougars did not win any races in Los Angeles, as the races were open to all levels of competition, including NCAA Division I, but the Cougars did receive one elite race from Returning Freshman Julia Voss and plenty of strong performances.  Voss posted a time of 18:48.92 to moved 6th all time at Cuesta in the event, however she remains just under a minute behind Catherine Hennelly's former school record time of 17:53.80, set in 1988, for 5th place (17:53.80) and nearly a full two-minutes off Miranda Daschian's current Cuesta standard (16:50.95) set in 2017.  Fellow Returning Freshman Dulce Esquivel also enjoyed the competition in Los Angeles.  She posted career-best times in both the 1,500 and 5,000-meter races.  Her time of 4:48.13 only shaved a half-second off previous best in the event, but she also dropped nearly two minutes off her 5K with a time of 19:18.47.   

The Cougars take this week off to train and prepare for the 2022 Western State Conference Ocean Meet on March 25 in SLO.