Photo by Tadzio Garcia
Photo by Tadzio Garcia

ELAC Men's T&F Gets Best Results at SoCal in 10 Years

SAN DIEGO, CA — The East Los Angeles College men’s track and field team placed 13th at the 2018 Southern California Championships and will compete in two events at the CCCAA State Championships.

All-American sophomore Joshua Taylor won the long jump at San Diego Mesa College and placed fourth in the triple jump. He advances to the State Finals in both events.

It is the best finish at the SoCal Championships since 2008 when ELAC placed fourth overall.

Taylor wasted no time claiming the top spot in the long jump with a first-place leap of 6.77-meters on his first attempt. On his second attempt he improved his mark to 7.00-meters but fell into second place. Taylor was in third place after the third jump. The marks remained the same entering the final jump.

Taylor came through with a leap 7.10-meters and won the long jump title. ELAC’s last SoCal men’s individual title when he won the same event in 2015.

Taylor placed fourth in the triple jump with his final attempt of 14.17-meters, a personal record.

“My goal in the triple jump was to at least move on to state in the event I didn’t win it,” said Taylor. Taylor had a personal record in the event of 14.16-meters last week at the SoCal Prelims.

PAW TRACKS

Freshman Dijon Donaldson (Bellflower HS) ended his first season with the Huskies with a 10th place finish in the triple jump. Last week in the Preliminaries, Donaldson had a personal record in the event. Donaldson placed 12th in the high jump in the Prelims also with a personal record.

Freshman Jakob Tilford (Colony HS) ended his season with a personal record in the 100-meter dash and a 14th place finish.

Also, freshmen Hector Gutierrez (South East HS) and Nicholas Hutson (Paramount HS) ended their season at the Prelims in the 4 x 100-meter relay team with Tilford and Taylor.

Up Next

The State Championships will take place at Bakersfield College on Saturday, May 19 all day. Taylor will be the third seed in the long jump.

Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index or on Facebook at ELAC Huskies Athletics (@elachuskiesathletics).

story submitted by Tadzio Garcia