Posted: Jun 18, 2015
Final Performance List M/W (PDF) | History & Records (PDF)
FULLERTON, Calif. – The men's and women's record-breaking 2015 outdoor track and field season featured four student-athletes who rewrote the Titan record books, multiple personal best finishes, and five student-athletes who qualified for the 2015 NCAA West Region Championships in Austin, Texas.
Three women etched their name into Cal State Fullerton track history during the season, breaking records in the 1,500-meter run, the hammer throw, the high jump and the heptathlon while Joshua Gordon was the lone Titan from the men's side to rewrite history.
Tejera Dial, who broke the Titans record in the indoor 800m run earlier in the year, shattered a 26-year old school record in the 1,500m run previously held by Mary Kenny (4:28.50 sec.) after crossing the finish line at the University of San Diego Triton Invitational in 4:27.54 seconds. Jessica Flores followed with a new record in the hammer throw (196'5), surpassing Jameena Hunt's previous record throw, 185-feet-1-inch, by over 10 feet at the University of Las Vegas Spring Invitational.
Ty'Jalayah Robertson joined Dial in breaking multiple records in 2015, setting all-time marks in both the indoor and outdoor high jump. Robertson broke the indoor record after clearing the bar at 5-feet-7.25-inches, and the outdoor mark after jumping 5-feet-8-inches. Taylor Frank was the final Titan on the women's side to set a record this season at the UC Riverside Spring Classic. The senior posted 4,672 points in the heptathlon competition, surpassing the previous record of 4,508 points set by Lacy Welborn in 2003.
Gordon, the 2014 Big West Scholar-Athletes of the Year for Cal State Fullerton, ran into the Titan record books twice in 2015. First in the 400m dash with a mark of 46.90 sec., and again with a 21.19 sec. finish in the 200m dash that proved to be enough to make another school record fall.
Sprinters / Hurdlers
Tyler Hardge, named the 2015 Big West Women's Freshman of the Year, burst onto the collegiate track this season, posting six, first-place finishes between the 100m and 400m hurdle events. Hardge took home a Big West Championship in the 400m hurdles at UC Riverside and qualified for the NCAA West Region Championships in her first year in a Titan uniform.
Janaya Shorty was also a top performer for the Titans in 2015 and was one of five Titans to qualify for the NCAA West Region Championships. Shorty outpaced the field five times this season while posting nine top-five finishes in the 200m and 400m runs.
The Titan sprinters and hurdlers were far from a two-women show throughout 2015, however. Calaiah Branch was a key contributer on the track in the 400m dash and 1600m relay events, Brooke Hardge was apart of the 400m relay team that brought home gold at the Riverside Community College Open, and Darnisha Loftis-McKnight, Alexis Stewart and Alexandria Stewart were all apart of the first-place 400m relay team at the Ben Brown Invite.
Along with Gordon, Taylor Ros and Nick Sole took the reigns of the Titan men's sprinting corps as each senior reached the top of the podium multiple times this season. Gordon posted six first-place finishes between his sprinting and relay events, Ros finished with five primarily in the 400m dash, and Sole posted four predominantly in the 100m dash.
Mason Guzman-Sanchez, Torry Moline and Nick Reynolds took control of the hurdling events for the Titan men this season, as Guzman-Sanchez saved his season-best time for his final run as a freshman, crossing the finish line at the Big West Championship's final heat in 14.78 sec. Moline's top time in the 400m hurdles came at the CSUN Challenge, posting a time of 55.08 sec. to take home fifth place as Reynolds qualified through to the final heat for both the 110m and 400m hurdles at the conference championships, finishing the 110m in 14.85 sec. and the 400m in 52.79 sec.
Distance Runners
The record-breaking senior year for Dial was one to remember as she took home gold three times and posted 10 top-five finishes. She ran the 800m at the OXY Invite in 2:09.87 sec., missing out on setting a third Titan record in 2015 by only 12-hundreths of a second.
Abby Buckhoff and Arianna Fuentes were the other distance runners for the Titan women to post top-five finishes as Buckhoff took home fourth place at the CSUN Challenge in the 1,500m run (5:02.46 sec.) and Fuentes with a third-place finish at the RCC Open (4:57.98 sec.).
Shelby Hernandez Jr. and Marco Zaragoza were two first-place finishers for the Titan men in the long distance events this season, Hernandez Jr. in the 800m run (1:52.17 sec.) at the CSUN Challenge and Zaragoza in the 3,000m run (8:42.00 sec.) at the RCC Open. David Ramirez also took home gold for the Titans in the 5,000m run (14:57.72 sec.) at the Ben Brown Invite while Tim Reed's second-place finish was the best of any Titan in the 3,000m steeplechase (9:23.10 sec.) at the UCLA Legends Invite.
Jumpers
Steven Williams, the Titans most consistent top finisher in any event in 2015, ended his career at Fullerton with five first-place finishes in the high jump, including a Big West Championship in his specialty event. Williams went on to post a personal-best jump at the NCAA West Region Championships after he cleared 6-feet-11.75-inches in the first day of competition.
Malik Johnson was also a consistent force in the high jump for the Titan men this season, competing with teammate Williams in every meet and taking home two first-place finishes and six top-five honors.
In her first season competing at the collegiate level, Laura Hamann impressed for the Titan women. The Yorba Linda native's best finish of the season came at the UCR Spring Classic where she posted a 5.42m jump to finish second place in the long jump event.
Throwers
Amanda Mercado and Alexandra Kemp joined Flores as the three mainstays for the Titan women throwers in 2015. Mercado threw in 10 different meets, participating in the hammer throw and shot put. The senior posted her best hammer throw of the season at the CSUN Challenge, finishing sixth overall with a distance of 53.14m. Kemp competed solely in the hammer in 2015 with her best toss coming at the UCR Spring Classic where she finished sixth with a throw of 52.66m.
The Titan men began year on fire with Trevor Gorwin taking home a first-place finish in the shot put (16.54m) and a second-place finish in the hammer throw (51.52m) at Riverside Community College Open. Gorwin would go on to earn a Big West Field Athlete of the Week nomination for his opening weekend performances and post back-to-back top-finishes in the shot put event at the Ben Brown Invite (16.23m) and the UNLV Spring Invite (16.74m).
Daniel Walker was the standout performer in the javelin competition for the Titans this year. The Pasadena, Calif. native used a personal-best throw of 60.88m at the UCR Spring Classic to take home the first of his two first-place
finishes on the season. The senior also took home gold at the CSUN Challenge later in the year after a toss of 54.05m stood up as the best of the weekend.
Steven Parsons and JaQuan Scott also earned podium spots this season as Parsons took home first place in the hammer throw (52.14m) at the RCC Open to begin his senior year. Scott, the junior from Riverside, Calif. also made the podium at the Ben Brown Invite, coming in second place overall in the shot put event with a toss of 15.07m.
Pole Vault / Multi-Events
The Titans had two strong competitors in the pole vault competition all season with Paris Pijuan representing the men and Kimberly Amaya the women. Both experienced the feeling atop the podium at least once in 2015 as Amaya finished first place at the RCC Open (3.36m) and Ben Brown Invitational (3.50m), and Pijuan at the UCR Spring Classic (4.80m).
The multi-event competitions this season were dominated by new school-record holder, Taylor Frank, but Nicolette Garcia, Leah Stevens and Ifunanya Gwacham all made their mark on the event at different times during the campaign. Stevens took part in the festivities at the UCR Spring Classic, finishing 15th with 3,541 points while Garcia and Gwacham both showed well at the Big West Championships with 3,749 points and 3,951 points, respectively.
Senior Bubba Ostrowski was the lone Titan man to compete in the decathlon at the Big West Championships, taking home eighth place with 6,096 points. The Glendora, Calif. native posted top-five finishes in six of the ten individual events throughout the two-day competition.
The Titans will graduate 27 student-athletes from the 2015 men and women's track and field team including: Kimberly Amaya, Katie Bathgate, Tristanie Bjazevich, Calaiah Branch, Elizabeth Claustro, Tejera Dial, Taylor Frank, Nicolette Garcia, Tijerra Lynch, Celinda Manzo, Deena Pierce, Leah Stevens, Morgan Thompson, Alexandria Kemp, Kenneth Callinan, Sean Graham, Bubba Ostrowski, Brandon Perry, Taylor Ros, Nick Sole, Daniel Walker, Malek Walls, Steven Williams, Emmanuel Martinez and Steven Parsons.
