HUMBOLDT, Calif. – Shasta College's Grace Southern led the Knights at the Humboldt Invite on Saturday by winning the women's 1,500 meter race and shattering the school record by 7 seconds and qualifying for the 2022 CCCAA Track and Field State Championship "A" standard.
Southern finished in 4 minutes, 31.15 seconds, besting Yoshi Shimizu's time of 4:38.39 set in 1986. Southern's time met the 'A' qualifying time for the 2022 CCCAA Track and Field State Championships by nearly 23 seconds. She ranks as the fastest in the state and country among junior college women in the event, Shasta College coach Anthony Williams said.
"Grace has continued to make timely strides in her training and her hard work and commitment to be the best is starting to pay off," Williams said.
Southern was the lone event winner for the women while Shasta's Anthony Pigoni-Covington won two events on the day for the men, capturing the high jump and the long jump.
Shasta had eight top five finishes overall out of the 20 event entries.
The Knight men finished in fourth in team scoring with 61 points, behind Cal Poly Humboldt (190), Multnomah (94) and Southern Oregon University (80). The Shasta women, which is comprised of two competitors, was seventh with 10 points. Southern Oregon won with 154 points.
According to Williams, Audrie Reuss is ranked No. 2 in the state for heptathlon, first in NorCal for high jump and 10th in shot put in NorCal.
For the men, Shasta's Luke King is ranked seventh in the state in shot put and has hit the state qualifying 'B' standard, Williams said.
Here's a breakdown of by event that involved a Shasta competitor:
MEN
100 meters: Taivonn Ervin was sixth (11.42), Dante Harris was 10th (11.81) and Josiah Graham was 12th (11.97) and Jordan Hall was 16th (12.10).
200 meters: Ervin was fifth (23.55), Holden Gilbert was sixth (23.76), Graham was 11th (24.61) and Harris was 13th (24.66).
400 meters: Jackson Reindel was fourth (53.07) and Gage Bellomo was sixth (54.71).
800 meters: Devon Hammeke was 12th (2:12.79) and Bellomo was 15th (2:29.85).
4x100 Relay: Shasta's team of Gilbert, Harris, Reindel and Ervin was third (44.21).
4x400 Relay: Shasta's team of Bellomo, Hammeke, Gilbert and Reindel was fifth (3:29.28).
High Jump: Anthony Pigoni-Covington won with a jump of 6-feet, 4.75 inches.
Long Jump: Pigoni-Covington won with a jump of 21-4.
Shot Put: King was second with a throw of 45-10.5.
Discus: King was seventh with a throw of 129-1.
WOMEN
800 meters: Angelique Escobar was ninth in 3:46.98.
1,500 meters: Southern won in 4:31.15.