Cuesta Women's Track & Field shall send a five-woman contingent to the 2024 CCCAA State Track & Field Championships this Friday and Saturday at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. The Cougars will be led by Cuesta Record Holders Madeline Scovil and Grace Gutierrez (pict), who both earned all-State honors from the 2023 State Meet, and Multi-talented Savannah Shoemaker, who returns to the State Meet after Redshirting in 2023. The Cougars shall also bring in new blood with Harrier Brinley Ewen and Leaper Rian Huffman, who are both advancing to the CCCAA State Meet in their rookie season.
Cuesta Record Holders Madeline Scovil and Grace Gutierrez both earned all-State Honors last year. Scovil finished 4th in the Triple Jump, while Gutierrez took the Silver in the High Jump. Scovil set the Cuesta Triple Jump record at last year's State Meet with a leap of 38-6.75, but, so far, her best mark of the 2024 season is, just, 37-6.75. Gutierrez expects to, once again, rise to the occasion as the CCCAA's 2023 State Runner-up in the High Jump. She enters this year's meet as the Cougars' record holder, after breaking Ella Baston's 1978 Cuesta record back in March with a leap of 5'4.5". Gutierrez shall be joined in competition by Freshman Rian Huffman, who finished 8th at the Regionals, but got a break with a weak NorCal showing in the event. Huffman was also expected to join Scovil in the Triple Jump, where she ranks 5th all time at Cuesta, but will instead join Gutierrez in the High Jump, where she sits just one inch from Cuesta's Top 10.
The Cougars boast only one runner on the oval this year with Freshman Brinley Ewen carrying the Cougars' hopes. Ewen is a versatile Harrier and posted Cuesta Top 10 marks in three events this season. She ranks 6th all time at Cuesta in the 5,000 (18:15.83) and 10th in the 10,000-meters (42:17.21) but, at the CCCAA State Meet, she will focus on the metric mile. Ewen ranks 8th all time at Cuesta in the 1,500-meters with a time of 4:46.72
Heptathlete Savannah Shoemaker is back at the CCCAA State Championships, after sitting out the 2023 campaign, following an early season injury. In the 2022 CCCAA Meet, Shoemaker took 7th in the Heptathlon with 3,750 points, while trailing only former State Champions Riley Cooks (5,110) and Julia Turing (4,232) on the Cougars' Top 10. Shoemaker will also break out of the Heptathlon and compete in the Javelin as an individual event. Her best mark of 2024 is just 111-4.5, but she ranks 4th all time on Cuesta's Top 10 with a toss of 126-8 from back in 2022. Shoemaker's versatility is astounding, as she also holds Cuesta Top 10 Marks in Shot Put (36-1.25) and Long Jump (16-11.25).
