All-American Shawnta (Shawn-tay) Barnes continues her history-making season after winning three individual South Coast Conference titles at El Camino College Compton Center last week.
Barnes was named top women’s runner of the meet by the coaches.
Barnes won the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and the women’s long jump titles in the SCC finals.
Barnes ran her fastest time ever in the 100 dash, during the SCC prelims, Tuesday, April 24.
Barnes also placed second in the 100–meter hurdles and fourth place in the high jump in the finals on Friday, April 27.
Barnes took third place in the javelin throw, even though she only threw twice instead of the allotted six total throws in the prelims and finals.
“Shawnta is unbeatable when she’s on,” Head Coach Louis Ramirez said.
Compton’s Robinea McClinton also won three SCC crowns in the 800-meter run, the 1,500 run, and as the first leg of the Tartar’s 4 x 400 relay win.
Barnes scored 49 points total, to McClinton’s 30 points.
A 23-year El Camino College coach said he did not know of any athlete scoring as many points in a SCC conference final as Barnes.
The women’s team scored 59 points, outscoring Pasadena City College (45 1/2 points) for fifth place out of eight teams.
Eight Huskies advances to post-season
Barnes advanced to the first round of the postseason in all six of her events.
“I am speechless on how I made it through those events back to back. I couldn’t have done any of this without my coaches and teammates who support and have faith in me,” said Barnes.
Huskies also advancing from the women’s team include Iris Abrego in the pole vault, Raquel Acosta in the javelin and Bette Bosch in the 100 hurdles.
Abrego placed fifth in the pole vault at the SCC finals with a leap of 2.61 meters.
Bosch beat Katya Reynoso of El Camino College by .26 of a second for sixth place in the 100 hurdles to advance.
Bosch’s time of 16.55 seconds was her fastest time of the year and a personal best.
“Our goal is to peak at the end of the season when it counts most,” said Ramirez.
Acosta placed seventh in the javelin, throwing 30.86 meters, also a personal record.
Acosta also threw to a personal best in the hammer throw, 30.27 meters, which was good enough for a 12th place.
Daniel Zaragosa-Rincon placed ninth in the 10,000-meter run. His time qualified him to advance to the postseason.
The men’s team placed eighth in the SCC finals with 16 points, more than doubling their total points in the previous two years combined.
The men were edged by Pasadena City College by three points.
Darren Bragg scored 10 points for the Huskies placing fifth in the triple jump, in 13.07 meters, and sixth in the long jump.
Bragg leaped to a personal best in the long jump with 6.93 meters and also ran a personal best in the 100-meter dash during the prelims.
Avanti Armendariz placed sixth in the triple jump in 12.45 meters adding three points for the Huskies.
Giovani Leon upset Daniel Walker of Pasadena in the javelin for sixth place with a throw of 43.58 for the final three points of the men’s team.
Bragg, Armendariz and Leon also advance to the postseason.
Adrian Gaytan is a postseason alternate after taking 10th place in the 1,500 run with a time of 4:14.70 minutes, a personal best.
Huskies ending their careers for the track team include Lupe Baquero, Ricardo Navarro and Carlos Segovia.
Lizett Herrera is a postseason alternate in the discus after finishing in 8th place with a throw of 30.21 meters.
Baquero accomplished an amazing feat in the finals of the 10,000 run during the SCC finals. He knocked off 5:15.55 minutes of his previous top time in the event.
Herrera ended her Husky career in the javelin throwing a personal best in the SCC finals.
Navarro competed in the 110-meter hurdles and 400 hurdles for the Huskies.
Teammate Jimmy Palencia edged Navarro in the 110 hurdles by 1.10 seconds. Palencia ran a season best time in the 400 hurdles in 1:04.75.
Segovia competed in the 5,000 run, the steeplechase and the 10,000 run at the SCC finals beating five teammates in the 5,000 run.
Multiple event competitors for the Husky men’s team include Carlos Lopez (5,000 and 10,000 runs), Davis Rangel (discus, hammer, javelin, shot put) and Alejandro Collazo (200 and 400 dashes).
“I am going to work through to next season to improve my times, which will help the team,” Collazo said.
Other personal records accomplished at the SCC finals include Daniel Romero (shot put, hammer), Jesus Hurtado (steeplechase) and Rene Flores (1,500 run).
Huskies from the women’s team ending their season include Linda Alvarado and Gloria Hernandez.
Both women competed for the Huskies this year in the 800, 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000-meter runs.
Alvarado ran to her fastest time in the 800 run during the SCC prelims.
Both women debuted mid-season in the 10,000 run finishing with times that were the 11th and 12th fastest times in the state at that time.
Marcela Collazo ended her season with a personal best in the 400-meter hurdles in 3:00.49 minutes.
Dominique Scott ended her first year on the team with her top times of the season in both the long jump and triple jumps.
Jessica Espinosa threw a career best in the shot put (6.22 meters).
Jessica Herrera’s best showing at the SCC finals was a 14th place finish in the hammer throw. Jessica Herrera competes in the hammer and discus,
Doris Garcia walked away from the SCC finals with two personal best throws in the hammer (16.73 meters), and the discus (21.98 meters).
The postseason, the Southern California prelims, is this Saturday at San Diego Mesa College.