11 Eagles Advance in Track and Field: ‘A Huge Accomplishment’

Eleven College of the Siskiyous track and field athletes, more than half the Eagle competitors at the Golden Valley Conference Championships, qualified for the postseason. That's the largest number in several years and "a huge accomplishment," said head coach Julius Jones.

Leading the way was freshman Kadon Friesen, the only Eagle to place top three at the GVC meet on April 26 in Redding and earn All-Conference. Friesen placed second in the 110m Hurdles while setting a personal record of 16.94 seconds, just 0.3 seconds off the winning pace.

In all, 12 of the 20 Eagle athletes competing in the conference championships set personal records, several of them in more than one event. Jones noted that Eagles qualified for the postseason in all the different event types: throws, jumps, sprints, and distance running.

They had a few All-Conference near misses, as Friesen placed 4th in the 400m Hurdles with a PR of 1:02.80, freshman Demetrius McWillie placed 4th in long jump, sophomore JeHan King placed 4th in triple jump with a personal best 12.02m, and sophomore Frances Fleener was 4th in the women's 100m Hurdles.

Fleener qualified for the NorCal Trials on May 3 at American River College in both the 100m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles (5th place). She set PRs in the 400m Hurdles (1:33.08) and shot put (7th place at 8.86m). She was also 6th in long jump and 8th in hammer.

The other two members of the Eagles' women's team, freshmen Tatum Allen and Asia Hendrix, also qualified to advance in two events: Allen made it in the 400m (4th place) and javelin (7th place), setting a PR of 25.85m in javelin. She also placed 7th in the 100m. Hendrix made it in the 200m (5th place in 27.82) and javelin (9th place), setting PRs in javelin (25.59m), discus (30.25m), and the 100m (6th place in 13.39).

For the men, freshman JJ Dorsey set three PRs in the conference championship throws: discus (25.13m), hammer (23.77m), and javelin (28.04m).

JeHan King qualified for the Trials in three events and set PRs in two others. He's advancing in discus (5th place) and shot put (8th place) and filled in for freshman Michael Cox on the 4x100m relay team that includes freshmen Lucas Cousens, Genaro Reyna and Demetrius McWillie and is advancing after a 4th place finish in 46.25 seconds. King set PRs in triple jump and hammer (30.88m).

Freshman Zeb Martin is advancing with a 6th place finish in shot put. His 12.27m heave was just short of his PR (12.32m), but he did set PRs in both discus (27.91m) and hammer (21.45m).

Also setting PRs for the Eagle men at the GVC meet were sophomore Zane Callison in hammer (24.47m) and javelin (28.02m); freshman Hunter Hill in long jump (5.65m); freshman Anthony Martin-Sweet in discus (28.77m); sophomore Edric Moroyoqui in long jump (5.74m) and javelin (29.62m); and freshman Keyshawn Thomas in hammer (24.42m).

The Eagles had several other top 10 finishes: Moroyoqui placed 6th in the long jump, 8th in triple jump, and 9th in pole vault; freshman Tyler Martino tied for the 6th in the high jump at 1.6m; Hunter

Hill was 7th in long jump and 8th in pole vault; freshman Genaro Reyna was 8th in the 200m and 9th in the 100m; Anthony Martin-Sweet placed 9th in triple jump; freshman Victor Lujan was 10th in the 800m; and sophomore James Coefield was 10th in shot put.

Three Eagle teams placed 5th, 6th, and 7th in the men's 4x400m Relay, which ended with many Eagle smiles as Dorsey closed the gap while chasing King down the final stretch. The team of Lujan, Cousens, Reyna, and Callison placed 5th, while Callison, Moroyoqui, Hill, and King were 6th, followed by Martin-Sweet, Thomas, Friesen, and Dorsey.

Coach Jones said the Eagles will have some opportunities to advance from the NorCal Trials to the following day's Finals, especially McWillie in the long jump, King in the discus, Friesen in the 110 hurdles, Zeb Martin in the shot put, and the 4x100m relay team if Cox is able to return.

Jones said, "It's awesome that all our girls qualified for the postseason and half of our athletes who qualified are freshmen. We should have a really strong sophomore squad next year."

This year Jones was mostly on his own coaching the Eagles to maximize their potential in sprints, jumps, throws, and distance events, while getting some help from Steve Pyles in the pole vault.

By Steve Gerace