Lady Huskies Win Two Titles in Best-Ever Finish

The East Los Angeles College women’s track and field team took fifth place at the 2015 CCCAA Southern California Track and Field Championships and won two individual titles on May 9 at Cerritos College.

It was the team’s best-ever finish at SoCal according to Head Coach Louis Ramirez. East Los Angeles College had upset wins against College of the Canyons, El Camino, Saddleback, West Los Angeles and Bakersfield colleges who finished sixth through 10th, respectively, all seeded higher.

All-American sophomore Laura Aceves won the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a personal best that is a new state finals meet record. Aceves’ time of 10:54.96 eclipsed the previous meet record of 10:56.03 set by Larissa Davis of Riverside City College in 2010.

Aceves continues to have the fastest time in the nation in the steeplechase, which she has held for most of the season.

Aceves took second place in both the 10,000 and 5,000-meter runs.

Freshman Kaniya Bawlson is the women’s SoCal long jump champion. She was seeded fifth.

Bawlson also took fourth place in the heptathlon, which was held at San Diego Mesa College on April 7 & 8.

Bawlson was also a finalist in the high jump, but could not compete when the event was delayed for hours due to rain. Bawlson had a prior commitment.

Sophomore Guadalupe Yanez was a SoCal finalist and took 20th in the 5,000 run.

ELAC SoCal semifinalists included freshmen Maureen Contreras (discus throw, shot put) and Darling Durant (shot put).

story by Tadzio Garcia