Returning Freshman Gabriel Katches performed at his best against the best and dominated at the 2022 CCCAA State Track & Field Championship last weekend at Mt San Antonio College.  Katches, the only repreentative of Cuesta Men's Track & Field, opened his weekend on Friday with a 9th place finish in the Shot Put, which was just shy of scoring.  He made up for that the next day in the Discus, his signature event.  Gabriel Katches threw the discus 193-9, the longest JC/CC mark in the nation this year and the second-longest in state meet history.  He won the competition by more than 20-feet and, while breaking his own Cuesta Record by roughly five-feet and further seperating himself from Austin Field's (2011) former school record of 153-2 by more than 40-feet.  Katches is the first member of the Cuesta Men's Track & Field team to win a CCCAA State Title since Luke Nickelson (Long Jump) in 2018 and the first thrower to win since the single division system was adopted in 1982. 

Cuesta College

Men's Track & Field State Champions

1993               PJ Chadwick- Pole Vault*

1994               Sean Brown- Pole Vault*

2006               Kasey Burlingham- Pole Vault*

2011               Derick Hinch- Pole Vault*

2017               Aaron Cheek- Decathlon*

2018               Luke Nickelson- Long Jump*

2022               Gabriel Katches- Discus*