SAN MARCOS, CALIF. - On Saturday, May 6th, the 2023 CCAA Track & Field Championships came to a close after three days of thrilling action. Head coach
David Lawrence Jr. would lead Sonoma State to the program's best finish at the conference championships as the Seawolves saw three podium finishes and placed 8th out of the 11 competing teams. Freshman
Gianna Bomarito would smash the conference record in the 10k and become SSU's first individual champion since 2002. She would go on to place third in the 5k event and be named the CCAA Freshman of the Meet, the first award winner for Sonoma State in program history.
DAY ONE:
The three day meet got started on Thursday in the discus with three Seawolves participating. Freshman thrower
Ariyah Ford would get the headline for SSU as she recorded a throw of 134'0'', a top-3 program mark all time and good for a 2nd place finish in the event. Ford became the first SSU thrower to medal at a conference championship since Becky Zachau won the hammer throw event in 2002. Fellow freshmen
Halle McDaniels and
Lily Garcia would follow in the event, finishing in 9th and 14th place respectively.
DAY TWO:
Additional field events and the start of the track events would begin on Friday with Sonoma State participants in seven different events. Second year member
Katie Sheldon would make her second career appearance at the CCAA Championships in the long jump, recording a mark of 4.97 meters for 13th place.
Five more throwers for SSU would compete in the hammer throw with freshman
Halle McDaniels just missing out on a podium spot, placing 4th with a mark of 151'7''.
Lily Garcia would finish right behind McDaniels as the two were the only Seawolves to record a throw of 150 feet or better in the event.
Ariyah Ford and
Kyra Togni would finish in 8th and 9th place to round out the top-10 and
Emma Lopez would record a mark of 133'4'' for 12th place.
Freshman sprinter
Mia Cecilio would kick off the track events for Sonoma State as she recorded a top-10 finish in the 400 meters. Katiel Sheldon would also record a top-10 finish in the 400 meter hurdles, recording a time of 1:06.68. Then, in the 200 meter dash, second year sprinter
Nia Arceneaux would record a time of 27.93 seconds for the Seawolves.
Concluding day two of the conference championships would be the highly anticipated 10,000 meter race featuring standout freshman
Gianna Bomarito. Bomarito would live up to the expectations after putting on a stellar spring campaign prior to the conference championships and place first in the event with a time of 34:40.57. Her first place finish would be her second individual title of the season as she became the program's first conference champion in an event since 2002. Although she did not beat her own 10k time from earlier in the season, she would shatter the conference record by more than a minute, which was previously held by Sonoma State's own Kathy Lenno in 2001.
Along with Bomarito, veteran distance runners
Sophie Rodriguez and
Abby Ribet would also compete in the 10k event. Rodriguez would record a time of 39:27.49 for an 11th place finish, while Ribet would follow closely behind with a time of 39:55.02 for a 13th place finish.
DAY THREE:
Athletic high jumper
Kathyrn Rust would make her championship debut on Saturday and record a top-10 finish in the high jump. Two more throwers for SSU would round out the field events as
Ariyah Ford and
Halle McDaniels would compete in the shot put. Ford would record an impressive 6th place finish with a mark of 37'5''. McDaniels would place 14th with a mark of 28'5''.
Fresno native
Gianna Bomarito would seal the Freshman of the Meet honors with another podium finish in the 5k, recording a time of 17:14.74 for a 3rd place finish. She went on to be named the 2023 CCAA Freshman of the Meet and became the first award winner at the conference championships in program history. Bomarito will await her NCAA National Championship fate with the selections scheduled to be released in the coming weeks. She will look to become the first Sonoma State track & field member to compete at nationals in program history.
FULL MEET RESULTS:
All Sonoma State participants in this year's CCAA Championships can be found below. The full meet results can be found
HERE.
Sonoma State earned themselves 42 points on the weekend, good for second most in program history and would place 8th out of the 11 competing teams. In relation to the amount of total teams competing, this would go down as SSU's best team finish at the conference championships. Congratulations to all members of the Seawolves track & field team on an incredible season.
Day One:
Discus:
Day Two:
Long Jump:
Hammer Throw:
3000 Steeplechase:
400 meter
400m Hurdles
200m Dash
10k
Day Three:
High Jump:
Shot Put
400m Relay
- Arceneaux, Bernadez, Cecilio, Sheldon (49.20 sec., 6th place)
5k
1600m Relay:
- Cecilio, Bernadez, Sheldon, Arceneaux (4:06.23, 8th place)
LOOKING AHEAD:
Be sure to follow your Seawolves on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get all the latest SSU athletics updates and information. Sonoma State athletics also has launched a new fan app in partnership with From Now On. Download the free app today in both the Apple and Google Play stores by searching Sonoma State Seawolves in the app store. @SonomaSeawolves | #NomaNation
