SAN MARCOS, Calif. - The CSUSB Yotes concluded the CCAA Championships with their best finish in program history. Over the three-day event, they scored 77 team points and finished fourth overall in the team standings. This marks their highest point total and highest finish over their performance and the previous year's championships (61 points and fifth place respectively).
 

Day One
Day one of the competition featured the first day of the heptathlon and the discus throw. Melissa Fongod and Abby Venglass moved up from 16^th and 11^th respectively to 6^th and 7^th, scoring 5 team points for the Yotes. Fongod threw a personal best throw on the first round with a throw of 37.05m (121'07"). Payton McCartney-Pernell achieved two personal bests and two event wins in the 100-meter hurdles and the 200 meters respectively. She ran 14.95 and 25.62, good for 3^rd and 8^th all time at CSUSB.
 

Day Two
Day two of the competition featured the conclusion of the heptathlon with Kaleigh Giannone earning top 8 and scoring team points finishing 8^th with a new personal record in the heptathlon with a point total of 3600 over the two days.
 
Journie Alexander competed in the long jump, where in the 6^th and final round she leaped to a mark of 5.52m (18'1.5") moving her from 7^th to 3^rd and earning All-CCAA Honors. She is the first long jumper in program history to earn All-CCAA honors.
 
Two final events bookended the day at the CCAA Championships with the day starting off in the 3000m steeplechase and ending with the 10,000m run. Caty Gaynor and Samantha Avila ran for the Yotes in the 3000m steeple chase both earning personal bests in the event with times of 12:19.15 and 12:39.68 respectively. Helena Valdez capped the day off with her run in the 10,000m crossing the line in a time of 39:35.12, within 15 seconds on her previous best in the event.
 
Second day of the championships also featured the Preliminary rounds of competitions for most of the running events. Joanna Lopez and Alexis Wallace both placed 6^th in their respective heats in the 1500m run in times of 4:52.49 and 4:54.88 earning them a spot in the finals with 12 qualifiers going in this event. In the next event, Kyndahl Carter ran a personal best in her 100m hurdle prelim in a time of 14.50 earning a spot in the final Saturday.
 
In the 400m, Alexis White earned herself an automatic qualifying time with a school record 55.35. This proved to be the top qualifying time out of the Preliminary round with 3 women going under 56 seconds in the prelims. Na'kel Pennix-Webb ran in the preliminary rounds as well clocking in a time of 1:01.22, outside of qualifying for finals.
 
Yotes with six qualifiers for the 100m net two of the top three fastest times in qualifying with Sariyah Copeland and Hailey Hunt both running times of 11.85, with Copeland's wind legal time netting her the CSUSB school record. Copeland and Hunt alongside teammate Alexis White all qualified in the 200m, Copeland and Hunt getting automatic qualifiers winning their heats. All three ran personal bests time with Copeland netting a CSUSB Record in a time of 23.74, Hunt in 24.15, and White in a time of 24.44.
 
At the end of day two the Yotes had nine finals qualifiers over four events with both relays and several field events left to compete on day 3 of the competition.
 

Day Three
In the first track event of the day, the CSUSB Yotes competed in the 4x100m relays where the team of Journie Alexander, Hailey Hunt, Sariyah Copeland, and Alexis White ran their second-best time of the season to a time of 45.92 to achieve second place and earning All-CCAA Honors in the event.
 
In the 1500m Joanna Lopez and Alexis Wallace competed running times of 4:50.71 and 5:02.83, Lopez just outside of scoring position finishing in 9^th place. This marks her best finish in the event after her 11^th place finish in the event at last year's championships.
 
After securing a personal best in the event in the prelims, Kyndahl Carter comes back and does it again clocking in a personal best time of 14.49 in the 100-meter hurdle final. This placed her 4^th in the event and netted 5 team points for the Yotes.
 
In the shot put, Abby Venglass and Danielle Lister both made finals and secured team points with their 7^th and 8^th place finished respectively. Venglass with her final round effort of 11.38m and Lister with second round effort of 11.18 netted the team 3 points in the event. This marked a season's best for Lister in the event.
 
Alexis White in one of her 4 events on the day competed in the final of the 400m where she achieved a second-place finish earning her All-CCAA honors. She ran a time of 55.72 which is her third time breaking the 56 second barrier on the year.
 
Sariyah Copeland did what only one other athlete has done in CSUSB history which was win gold in an individual event. With her lifetime best run in the 100m sprint in a time of 11.69 she became only the second event winner in school history following Tayler Salley's win in the hammer at last year's championships. Her and Hailey Hunt in the time of 11.77 took the top two places in the event both earning All-CCAA Honors. Copeland and Hunt are both one and two all-time at CSUSB respectively.
 
Following their work in the 100m, the 200m group of Copeland, White, and Hunt all placed in the top 6 with Copeland running in a time of 23.38 and White in a time of 23.85, both earning All-CCAA honors being second and third on the podium. Hunt crossed the line in a time of 24.15 placing 6^th in the event. Copeland's 23.38 puts her 5^th in the nation as of this writing.
 
In the final event of the day the women's team in the 4x400m relay of Sariyah Copeland, Mahlaya Salter, Alexis White, and Na'kel Pennix-Webb ran a gutsy performance and earned one more All-CCAA honor placing third in the event of 3:52.26. This time placed them 3^rd all time at CSUSB.
 
In addition to the 4^th place finish and 77 team points overall for the Yotes, they also earned 14 All-CCAA Honors (Top three finish in an event) with the 4x100 relay, the 4x400 relay, Copeland in the 100m and 200m, White in the 200m and 400m, Hunt in the 100m, and Alexander in the Long Jump.
 

Up Next
The Yotes will compete at the Azusa Pacifico's Franson Last Chance meet on May 12^th and 13^th looking to secure their spots for the NCAA Championships held at CSU-Pueblo May 25^th through 27^th.