Cuesta Women's Track and Field Finished 2nd in the Western State Conference and last week took 4th at the 2022 CCCAA Regional Meet, while qualifying eight athletes in a dozen events for the 2022 CCCAA State Championship. The women last reached the State's Top 10 in 2018, with 7th place, but Coach Brian Locher thinks this squad could be the best women's team he has seen. The program has only enjoyed six Top 10 finishes since 1988, with that year's team earning a team Bronze to set program's zenith. The Cougars well-balanced team should score all over the stadium but will be missing some points in the shorter track events. In the longer runs Dulce Esquivel shall run the 800 and the 1500, where she is fresh off a Regional title in the metric-mile. Esquivel scored a team-high 14 points at the Regional. Her fellow Harrier Julia Voss will leg out the 10,000m and is another title threat for the Cougars. Heptathlete Savannah Shoemaker ranks behind only former State Champions Riley Cooks and Julia Turing on the Cougars' all-time points list and could add a title herself. She may also pull extra duty in the Javelin, where she qualified individually. She will be joined in the Throws by Natalia Delgado and Makaylie Howell. Delgado took 2nd in the Regional for Shot Put, just one notch and less than an inch ahead of Howell. They rank 4th (39-5.25) and 5th (39-4.5) all time at Cuesta. Howell's other event is the Discus, where she ranks 3rd (133-9) at Cuesta, while Delgado takes on the Hammer, where she is 4th (136-7) at Cuesta. Leapers Eva Kessler and Hannah Quimby join Pole Vaulter Elen Zhu in the Cougars' quest to clear the bar. Kessler is one inch away from Cuesta's most tied record (5-4), which is currently held by five people. It was first set in 1978, the program's third season, by Ella Baston. Since Pole Vault became a women's event in the early aughts, the Cougars have brought home 17 all-State honors in the event, including five State Titles. This year, the legacy is the hands of Freshman Elen Zhu. Zhu won six of her seven events heading into the regionals, where she tied for 4th.
The 2022 CCCAA State Track & Field Championships shall be held this Friday and Saturday at Mt San Antonio College in Walnut
