Men's Track and Field

Micah Young’s triple jump gives him the Foothill Conference best mark.

The San Diego Mesa men’s track & field team competed in the prestigious Mt. SAC Invitational on Saturday, April 10. The meet featured some of the abest teams in the state. Against this high level of competition, the Mesa team produced some of the year’s best marks. Leading the way for Mesa was triple jumper Micah Young. Young’s mark of 45’ 4” placed him second in his flight of the meet and he now leads the Foothill Conference best marks list.

The team had many other marks that now rank high on the Foothill Conference performance list. The first of the day came from steeplechaser Deng Akuien, who improved upon his personal best with a 5th place time of 9:44.53. His time now ranks 3rd in the conference. Qualin Simmons, who ranks number 6 in the conference, ran a fine time of 11:10 in the 100 meters, just .01 seconds of his best mark this season. Also getting into the act was the 4 x 400 relay team of Sean Estes-Carroll, Estevan Galindo, Justin Gibbons and Chris Montiejunas whose time of 3:29.58 was a big improvement on the season’s best time for the team and moves them to 5th in conference. Justin Gibbons also ran a season’s best 15.87 in the 110 Hurdles.

Next up for the men is the Foothill Conference Championships. The prelims will be held Friday, April 23 at Antelope Valley College. The finals will be at Mesa on Friday, April 30.

Deng Akuien had a strong performance in the steeplechase at the Pt. Loma Invitational.

The Mesa track & field team produced a large number of great performances at the Pt. Loma Invitational on Saturday, March 20 including many that rank in the top ten in the Foothill Conference rankings and loads of personal bests. The meet included most of the San Diego area schools including Pt. Loma College, Cal State San Marcos, UCSD, USD, Southwestern College as well as schools from outside of the San Diego area including the Naval Academy.

One of the highlights for Mesa was the performance of the sprint squad. The 4 x 100 relay team of Kenyon Morris, Justin Gibbons, Qualin Simmons and Antonie Jackson finished a very close 2nd place in a time of 42.80. All of these athletes then had success during the rest of the meet including strong times by Qualin Simmons (11.27) and Kenyon Morris (11.29) in the 100 meter dash. Qualin and Kenyon moved to 8th and 9th on the performance list in the Foothill Conference. Kenyon added a 22.55 victory in his heat of the 200 meters which moved him into 7th on the conference list. Qualin won his heat of the 200 with a time of 23.10. In addition, Mesa had two other heat winners in the 200 with Jeremy Langford (23.43) and Chris Montiejunas (23.96) both crossing the line in victory.

The distance team also produced some outstanding performances. Deng Akuien ran a big time PR in his second 3000 meter steeplechase finishing in 3rd place in 9:49.43. Deng’s time moved him to 2nd on the Foothill Conference performance list and into 6th place in Southern California. Also moving high onto the conference performance list were Connor Betancourt (15:22.26) and Ryan McMonigle (15:37.72) who moved to 4th and 6th on the 5000 meter list.

Mesa was not to be outdone in the field events as they produced many outstanding marks. These were led by thrower Brandon Jilka who performed well in both the shot put (11.55 m) and discus (33.73 m). These marks moved him to 6th place on the shot put list and 5th place on the discus list in the conference. The Olympians also shone in the triple jump with a tremendous 2nd place finish by Billy Carter, who jumped 12.95 m. Billy’s mark moved him to 2nd on the Foothill Conference performance list. Justin Gibbons added a strong performance of 12.33 meters, moving him into 6th place on the conference list.

Next up for Mesa is a home meet with the other San Diego area community colleges on Thursday, April 1.

Qualin Simmons had a productive day in the relays and long jump at the Foothill Conference Relays

The Men’s track team took 5th overall in Friday’s Foothill Athletic Conference Relays. The team had outstanding individual performances which contributed significantly to the team’s overall success. Impressively, minutes after an exulting sprinting leg in the 4x200m, Qualin Simmons was able to add another inch to his exceptional early season mark in the long jump from last week’s competition. Simmons again earned 2nd place in the long jump with a leap of 20’8.5.” Moreover, Christian Jacobs had intimidating throws as he posted imposing marks of 39’6.25” in the shot put and 109’2.5” in the discus wearing ‘low top Chuck Taylors.’ Jacobs earned 3rd and 4th place in his events. Justin Gibbons had an impressive early season mark of 5’10” in the high jump and received 4th place.

On the track the action focused mostly on relay competition. Mesa's top finish was a second in the 4 x 200 relay. They also recorded a 6th place finish in the distance medley and a 7th place finish in the sprint medley. The team will divide up for the next competion with the distance runners going to the Oxy Distance Carnival and the rest of the team competing at the Aztec Invitational.

Micah Young opened his season with a second place in the long jump.

The track & field team opened their season at the Last Chance meet at Azusa Pacific. It was a great opportunity for the team to get a kick start on the season. The men’s team is quite a bit larger than in the past few years and it was great to see the Mesa navy blue and gold all over the track.

Leading the way for Mesa was Connor Betancourt, who won the 3000 meter with a time of 8:50.45. Ryan McMonigle and Deng Akuien were 3rd and 4th in the same race giving Mesa a strong showing in the event. Another strong performance in the middle and long distance events came from Sergio McGirr, who finished 2nd in the 1000 meter event with a time of 2:45.06. The sprint events were the deepest for Mesa as they entered 6 to 8 athletes in the 60 meter, the 200 meter, and the 400 meter events. Leading the sprint charge was Kenyon Morris, who had the team’s top time in both the 60 and 200 meters. The top time from Mesa in the 400 came from Estavan Galindo who ran 54.07. Chris Montiejunas, running 54.65 in another heat, also ran well for the team.

Fewer athletes competed in the field events during this early season meet, yet Mesa managed to have success in this area as well. Highlighting the field events was a second place finish in the long jump by Qualin Simmons, who jumped 20’ 8”. The leading shot put mark was 37’ 1 ¾ “ by Gerry Buckhanon.

Next up for the team is the Foothill Conference Relays, to be held at Antelope Valley on Friday, February 26.

Full Results

Connor Betancourt, a Southern California regional finalist last year in the 1500 meters, returns to lead the team in 2010.

The Mesa track & field team opens the season this Saturday, February 20 at the Azusa Pacific Last Chance meet. After two years of leading the women’s cross country team, Renee Ross takes over as coach of the track & field program. Ross brings a wealth of experience to the job and that has had an immediate impact on the program even before the season begins as the team will be by far the largest it has fielded in years. With many of the athletes being new to the program Ross is excited this week because “it will give our new athletes a chance to compete and the coaching staff a chance to see how all of the new athletes compete”.

This year’s team will be lead by a coaching staff whose talents include an incredible amount of athletic achievements. The staff includes: Head Coach Renee Ross, an All-American while at San Diego State, who will lead the sprints; Thom Hunt, who has lead the distance program that has produced six state champions in the past three years of cross country and track; Jared Rome, an Olympian and World Championships team member in the discus who will coach the throws; Bashir Ramzy, an All-American at Texas A&M in four events who will coach the hurdles; Marcus Carroll, an NCAA finalist in both the long and triple jumps who will coach those events at Mesa; Karoline Koehler, an NCAA All-American at San Diego State who will coach the high jump.