FULLERTON, Calif. – For the Titans' Track and Field program, the 2014 season featured multiple team goals and individual records, as five athletes qualified to compete in the NCAA West Regional Championship and 43 athletes traveled to UC Davis to compete for individual conference titles at the 2014 Big West Championship.
FullertonTitans.com now takes a look back at the 2014 Titans:
Sprinters and Hurdlers
There's no question, this was a special crop for Fullerton, as five sprinters/hurdlers qualified for the 2014 NCAA West Regional Championships in Ashley Sims, Katie Wilson, Janaya Shorty, Deena Pierce, and Alexandria Stewart.
Sims set season bests in both the women's 100 (11.76) and 200-meter dash (23.91), while placing fourth in both events at the Big West Championships. Her 100-meter time ended up being the seventh fastest in the Big West Conference, while her 200-meter mark ranked 6th. In addition, she placed second three-times in the 100-meter, while taking home a first place finish in the 200-meter dash (24.27) at the Cal/Nevada Championships.
Wilson was one of the conference's best 400-meter runners all season long, as she placed second and ran a personal best 53.64 at the Big West Championship, while finishing with the second best time in the conference and 30th in the West Region. She also won six different meets in the 200 and 400-meter, but one of her most impressive highlights of the season was sweeping the 200 and 400-meter at the Steve Scott Invite.
Shorty excelled in the women's 200-meter, but it wasn't until the end of the season, when she showed what she really had in the tank, as she produced a personal best time of 23.55 in the 200-meter quarterfinals at the NCAA West Regional Championships. The time ended up ranking as the third fastest in the Big West. It was also a .3-second reduction from her previous season-best time of 23.85 in the NCAA West prelims.
As a junior, Pierce continued her Titan hurdling success, as she ran a season-best 14.11 in the 100-meter hurdles and 1:00.09 in the 400-meter hurdles at the Steve Scott Invite. Pierce's time qualified her for the NCAA West Region and she placed 46th at the event. At the Big West Challenge, Pierce swept both the 100 and 400-meter hurdles. Her season-best times rank 11th (100mHH) and third (400mHH) in the conference.
The women's 4x100 (45.22) and 4x400m (3:42.15) relay teams had impressive seasons and the 4x100 squad qualified for the NCAA West Regions. At the West Regions, the team finished in 18th with a time of 45.62, but prior to the meet the Titans came away victorious at the Big West Championships with a time of 45.33.
On the men's side, things were equally as impressive with multiple Titans such as Luis Matos, Daniel York-Mouton, and Taylor Ros taking the charge. All three were dominant all year long, as Ros made the podium at the Big West Championship with a third-place finish in the 400-meters (47.76). Matos holds the top three times in the 100-meter dash for the Titans during the 2014 season as his best performance of the season also came at the conference championships when he ran a 10.58, which was good for fourth overall.
York-Mouton took home two first-place finishes in the 400-meter dash over the course of the season and posted a personal best time of 47.68 at the Big West Challenge, which ranks fourth best in the conference.
The freshman also earned Big West Male Track Athlete of the Week honors back in March, thanks to his 400-meter performance at the Big West Challenge.
Alexander Ostrowski was the only Titan male to compete in the 110-meter hurdles and he had his best time of 14.83 at the UC Riverside Invitational when he placed fifth, while William Moore was the lone 400-meter hurdle runner and his best performance came at the OXY Invite when he placed 14th with a time of 56.06.
The men's 4x100 (41.18) and 4x400 (3:13.17) relay teams also had successful seasons, finishing fifth and third in the conference, respectively.
Distance Runners
The Titans saw success both on the men and women's side, as both Tejera Dial and Shelby Hernandez Jr. placed third in the 800-meter run at the Steve Scott Invite.
Both Dial and Hernandez Jr. recorded personal bests as Dial ran a 2:13.60 and Hernandez Jr. posted a time of 1:51.50. In the men's 800-meter run Hernandez Jr. and senior Brandon Cook traded off top times as Cook's best performance of the season came at the OXY Invite when he posted a time of 1:52.15.
Junior Ana Valdovinos recorded a win in the women's 3000-meter run at the Riverside Quad Meet when she with a time of 10:27.09. In the men's 10,000-meter run Jose Penaloza had his most impressive performance of the season when he finished second with a time of 31:03.86.
One of the biggest improvements of the season came from freshman Gilbert Solorza who ran the 3000-meter steeplechase. The first time he ran the steeplechase, the Buena Park, Calif., native posted a time of 9:46.23 at the UC Riverside Invitational. However, at the Big West Championships he improved his time by more than 30 seconds as he finished in fourth with a time of 9:12.73.
Also, junior Katie Bathgate held the top Titan times in both the 3000 and 5000-meter runs, as she ran a 10:20.83 (8th) at the UC Riverside Invitational and 17:22.70 (13th) at the Ben Brown Invitational, respectively.
Throwers
Junior Amanda Mercado was a key contributor for the Titans in the throws as she led the Titan women in the shot put (38-08.25), discus throw (115-00), and hammer throw (173-06). Her mark of 173-06 at the Bryan Clay Invitational gave her the sixth best toss in the Big West and her 38-08.25 heave in the shot put was the 20th best in the conference.
Freshmen Alexandria Kemp had an impressive rookie campaign as she posted personal bests in the shot put (34-03.50) and hammer throw (164-08) both at the Steve Scott Invite. In the javelin throw, Taylor Frank recorded the best throw of the season at the Big West Championship with a toss of 111-09 to finish 10th.
The Titan men throwers had an impressive season as four different Titans recorded top throws in all four events. In the shot put, sophomore JaQuan Scott posted a personal best of 47-11.00 to finish eighth at the UC Riverside Invitational and Kenneth Callinan recorded the top time in the discus throw with a toss of 141-08 at the same meet.
Sophomore Emmanuel Martinez recorded a team best of 171-02 in the men's hammer throw at the Ben Brown Invitational, while Steven Parsons had the second best throw of 170-00 at the Steve Scott Invite.
Redshirt freshmen Chris Vega led the Titan javelin participants, as he won the Riverside Quad Meet with team-best throw of 171-03.
Jumpers
Jasmyne Davis completed a fantastic senior campaign as she held the top marks on the team for the women's long and triple jump. Davis' finished third at the Big West Championship with a personal best jump in the long jump of 18-10.50. She also recorded a personal record in the triple jump (39-09.25) at the Steve Scott Invite as she finished third.
Fullerton also witnessed freshman Ty'Jalayah Robertson win the high jump with a personal best of 5-07.00 at the Steve Scott Invite. Robertson held the top four leaps for all Titan women jumpers during the 2014 campaign.
On the men's side, three different Titans led the long, high, and triple jump. Junior Malek Walls, who had an impressive sophomore season, backed it up with a great junior campaign in the long jump after recording a personal best of 23-02.75 at the Cal/Nevada Championships.
In the triple jump, Jonathan Tolentino finished ninth at the Big West Championship as he finished with a personal best leap of 46-00.50. Fullerton also had some great performances from Emmett Kellogg in the triple jump as he posted a season-best of 45-03.50 at the UC Riverside Invitational.
For the men's high jump, there's no need to look any further than Malik Johnson, who recorded a personal-best leap of 6-08.75 to win the Cal/Nevada Championships, as the performance was the third best in the conference. In addition, he also recorded a first place finish at the Big West Challenge.
Pole Vaulters
Freshmen Paris Pijuan and Bryn Williamson led this group as, Pijuan recorded a personal best mark of 16-00.75 to win the event at the UC Irvine Spring Break Invitational, while also finishing second at the Riverside CC Meet with a leap of 15-03.00.
Williamson finished 12th at the Big West Championships and recorded a personal best of 11-08.75. The freshmen pole vaulter finished in the top ten in five events during the 2014 season. Junior Kimberly Amaya also recorded a personal best of 9-10.00 at the UCR Riverside Invitational.
On the men's side Jacob Anderson, Andre Elmore, and Alexander Ostrowski also competed in the event during the 2014 campaign. Anderson's best of the season came at the conference championships when he recorded a leap of 15-01.00, while Elmore's season best was 13-07.00. Ostrowski competed in the pole vault while competing in the decathlon and had a season best of 13-05.25 to finish fifth at the California Combined Events Meet.