By Marcus Tolero
Four members from the City College of San Francisco Track and Field Team will compete for individual state championships at this weekend’s California Community College Athletic Association’s State Track and Field Championships at San Diego Mesa College.
The sophomore group of James Traylor, Gerardo Castro, Kiera Simmons, and Dorian Aberouette will compete in the Men’s 110 Meter Hurdles, Men’s 800 Meter, Women’s 100 Meter Hurdles, and Women’s Heptathlon, respectively.
Men’s Head Coach D’Marcus Williams and Women’s Head Coach Nicholas Torres believe that championship glory is definitely within reach for all four competitors.
“They‘ve been performing pretty well (this season). Where they are ranked coming into this weekend – they can all walk away with metals. I’m actually expecting lifetime best (times) out of each and every one of them,” Williams said.
The vote of confidence from both head coaches is well-deserved, especially after their performances at last weekend’s Northern California Championships. Traylor captured the NorCal 110 Meter Hurdle Championship after posting a time of 14.39 in the finals, the best time in NorCal and the fourth-best time in California this year. Castro won the 800 Meter Championship after running 1:51.95 in the finals. Castro also holds the NorCal and State’s best time (1:50.19) in the 800 Meter, and is ranked no. 2 in the nation. Simmons finished third in the 100 Meter Hurdle after finishing with a time of 14.42. She also holds the fifth-best NorCal and State 100 Meter Hurdle time with a 14.40. Aberouette finished sixth in the Heptathlon with a total score of 3774, which was also the sixth-best and eleventh-best scores in NorCal and State, respectively.
The performance by the men to this point have definitely exceeded the coaches’ expectations.
“James (Traylor) is an incredible athlete. I never set any limits on him. It’s kind of one of those things – you just want to see what he can do because at any given moment he’s gonna surprise you. The sky is the limit for him.
“I remember seeing (Gerardo) Castro running in high school, I knew that he would be very competitive at this level. He’s ranked no. 2 in the nation – I definitely didn’t see that coming,” Williams said.
On the women’s side, the season-long performances by Simmons and Aberouette were a revelation for the coaches.
“Kiera, I think, she surprised herself. Her freshman year going into her sophomore year, she had good improvements. I don’t think she realized how good she actually was until the middle and end of the season. She was laying down some good times and good PRs (personal records),
“Dorian, we kind of threw her in the Hep. Last year she was just a high jumper and she wasn’t training for seven different events. Pretty much every week she’s improved in certain events and really improved her score in the Hep. We’re really looking for her to improve and set some PRs at this event,” Torres said.
The state championships start this Friday at San Diego Mesa College
Meet Information: CCCAA State Track and Field Championships 2016 San Diego Mesa College May 20-21 (Fri-Sat) Complete Meet Schedule:
http://www.cccaasports.org/Track/2016StateChampionship_entrylist.pdf