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California State Championships

In what was some of, if not the worst weather in the history of the California State Championships, the Dons had some great performances.  The Men and Women finished with 4 All American perfomances, as Dylan Bouzigues finished 2nd in the state Decathlon, Adee Newman finished 4th in the 400 Hurdles, and Melissa Favorite finished in 2nd place in both the Hammer and Discus.  Many other athletes earned All-State honors earning medals and scoring at the State Finals.  Rebecca Collins finished in 7th place in the 400 Hurdles, Jordyn Alexander finished in 7th place in the Hammer Throw and the 4x400 team of Collins, Newman, Samantha Bell and Leslee Patino finished in 8th place.  On the Men's side, Nathan Alvarado finished 7th in the Hammer Throw, Iman Bayat finished in 6th in the 1500 and 8th in the 800 to earn two medals and Semanu Attiogbe finished in 5th place in the Triple Jump.  The Women's team finished 10th overall as a team while the men finished in 15th place in the State for the season.

NorCal Trials and Finals

The Northern California Track and Field Championships got underway in the end of May with the Heptathlon and Decathlon Championships at Chabot College.  Sophomore Dylan Bouzigues became the first Don male to win the Decathlon in over 40 years beating his rival from American River by a mere 7 points.  The Trials and Finals for the rest of the meet saw several Dons qualify for the State Meet as they were held at Modesto Junior College.  For the women, Leslee Patino finished in 5th place in the 1500 to qualify on place.  Adee Newman and Rebecca Collins finished in 1st and 2nd to both qualify for the 400 Hurdles, Collins, Newman and Patino all teamed up with Samantha Bell to qualify for State in the 4x400 relay finishing 3rd place with a season best time.  Nicole Zazkowski finished 6th in the High Jump but qualified based on her season best performance and place combined.  Melissa Favorite finished as the Hammer Champion and Discus Runner-Up to also qualify for State in 2 events.  For the Men, Nathan Alvarado finished in 3rd for the Hammer Throw and 6th for the Shot Put to qualify for both events, Semanu Attiogbe finished in 4th place in the Triple Jump to get back to state with Alvarado for the second straight year.  Akito Fujisawa had a huge personal best and great kick to finish in 2nd place in the 5000 to earn his first ever trip to state.  Iman Bayat finished in 3rd in the 1500 and 5th in the 800 to qualify for both races to the state meet.  As a team the Women finished in 5th place and the Men finished in 6th place of the 24 teams in Northern California. 

Coast Conference Championships

De Anza hosted the Coast Conference Championships with some new teams added to the conference this year.  Laney College rejoined the conference after a few years of being out and Fresno City College, Sequoias and Merced Colleges all joined the conference this year making it the biggest conference in Northern California.  The Dons had several great showing by both the Men and the Women.  The Men had Iman Bayat as a champion in the 1500, Dylan Bouzigues was champion in the High Jump, Semanu Attiogbe as the Triple Jump Champion and Nathan Alvarado as the Hammer throw champion.  For the women, Adee Newman won the 400 Hurdles, The 4x400 Relay team of Newman, Samantha Bell, Rebecca Collins and Leslee Patino came out on top as Conference Champions, and Melissa Favorite was a double champion, winning the Discus and the Hammer Throw.  The women came in second overall as a team while the men finished in 3rd. 

East Bay Invitational

The Dons traveled to Chabot College for the CSU East Bay Invitational for the last time the majority of the team would compete together before the Coast Conference Championships.  The Don Men came away with the team victory in the 18 team competition featuring 11 4-Year Universities.  Three Dons earned their first College victories.  Stephen Lamb won the 110 High Hurdles with a season best 16.00.  Jing Huntley in his first High Jump competition since High School tied for first with a jump of 6'.  Finally Travis Eitel was the top Collegiate Thrower in the Hammer Throw with a toss of 150'2".   The women came in 3rd place behind a couple of NCAA Division 2 teams.  Adee Newman won the 400 Hurdles ahead of teammate Yarenzi Alatorre.  Newman also finished as the 2nd fastest Collegiate hurdler in the 100 hurdles.  The Dons other two victories came from Melissa Favorite who won the Hammer Throw and Discus easily.  2 Dons will be competing in the NorCal Multis on Tuesday and Wednesday at Chabot and 4 others will travel to CSM for a Last Chance Qualifier before all of the Dons compete in the Coast Conference Championships at De Anza College April 24th and 27th. 

Chico Twilight and Distance Carnival

The Dons took a slightly smaller crew to the 2 day meet at Chico State this past weekend.  Some of the highlights of the meet were Adee Newman running a season best in the 100 Hurdles and running the 7th fastest time in school history at 15.82.  Melissa Favorite finished in 4th place in the Discus and 5th in the Hammer Throw.  Newman also finished in 4th in the 400 Hurdles followed closely by Rebecca Collins who finished in 7th.  Nathan Alvardo and Travis Eitel both made finals in the Hammer throw finishing in 3rd and 8th respectively.  Stephan Lamb ran a lifetime best in the 400 Hurdles to finish in 6th place.  Both relays for the Men and Women both ended up scoring in the Top 8 and finally Tyler Stowell finished in 3rd place in the 800 with Emilio Zertuchi finishing close behind in 8th.  The Dons will travel to Chabot College again next week in the final meet for the whole team before the Championship Season Begins.

Hartnell vs De Anza Dual

For the third year and first time at De Anza the Hartnell versus De Anza Dual was held.  This year the meet moved from its traditional first meet of the year spot to the middle of the season and happened on a rare Tuesday time slot.  Like the first year the meet was held De Anza came away with both team titles and the traveling trophies.  Both team titles came down to the 4x400 relays and the Dons took both to win.  The women won 77-70 and were led by Samantha Bell and Adee Newman who each were apart of 4 wins.  Bell won the 100, 200 and teamed with Newman on both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.  Newman also added titles in the 400 Hurdles and the 100 Hurdles.  Other event winners were Daniella Kovalerchik in the Pole Vault, and Nicole Zazkowski in the High Jump.  For the Men the score was even closer with the Dons prevailing 80.5-78.5.  The Dons were led by several event victories.  Nathan Alverado in the Discus and Shot Put, Terrance Matthews-Murphy in the Discus Throw, Dylan Bouzingues in both the High Jump and the 110 HH.  Rob Abousamra in the 100, Tyler Stowell in the 800, JayDino Angeles in the 400 H and the 4x400 Relay. 

Mike Fanelli Track Classic

As the Dons finished up finals for the Winter Quarter, a group of Dons participated in one of the largest meets in the United States.  The newly named Mike Fanelli Track Classic (formerly the San Francisco St. Distance Carnival) hosted over 100 schools from around the US and Canada of all sizes and divisions.  The Dons represented themselves well against the field.  The Men finised 4th out of all the college teams when scored against each other.  The Dons points came from Nathan Alvarado who finished in 3rd place in the Shot Put and 4th Place in the Hammer Throw.  Terrance Matthews-Murphy finished in 4th Place in the Discus Throw and Travis Eitel finished in 8th with a season best in the Javelin Throw.  JayDino Angeles finished 4th in the 110 Hurdles and 5th in the 400 Hurdles.  Dylan Bouzingues finished right behind Angeles in the 110 Hurdles in 5th place and added an 8th place finish in the High Jump.  The 4x400 Team finished in 6th place and the DMR finished in 7th to round out the Men's Scoring.  The Women finished in 9th place and were led by the 400 Hurdlers who finished in 3rd, 6th and 8th.  Brenda Blanco missed her season best by .02 to finish 3rd overall.  Adee Newman had a 2 second PR to finish in 6th with a State A qualifying mark and Rebecca Collins also ran a lifetime best to finish 8th with a State B mark.  Melissa Favorite finished 2nd in the Discus and 4th in the Hammer Throw and Nicole Zazkowski finished in a tie for 7th in the High Jump.  The Dons have a busy week coming up during Spring Break with the Dons hosting Coast Conference Rival Hartnell for their annual Dual Meet on Tuesday with events starting at 1 PM and a group of Dons will then travel to Chico State for a meet on Friday and Saturday.

De Anza Invitational

The Dons got to stay home for the second time this season for the De Anza Invitational.  The meet featured 9 Women's Teams and 8 Men's Teams.  The Women finished 1st again over Conference foe MPC to take the victory.  The Dons were led by several performances.  Leslee Patino finished first in the 1500 in her first try racing this distance this year.  Rebecca Collins ran a lifetime best time to win the 400 Hurdles for the Dons.  The team of Patino, Collins as well as Samantha Bell and Adee Newman ran the fastest time of the year for the ladies in the 4x400 to take the win.  On the Field.  Melissa Favorite won both the Discus and Hammer easily and Alejandra Ceron got her first Collegiate Victory in the Shot Put.  For the Men, they finished 2nd to State Powerhouse Sequoias.  The Dons were led by JayDino Angeles who won the 400 Hurdles.  Dylan Bouzigues got his first collegiate win in the Pole Vault as an individual ever.  The throwers again had a great day with Terrance Matthews-Murphy winning the Javelin, and Nathan Alvarado winning the Shot Put.  The Dons will travel to Chabot next week for the Mike Fanelli Track Classic (formerly known as the SF State Distance Carnival) for Thursday, Friday and Saturday with those Dons who qualified.

Hornet Invitational

The Dons traveled to a 2 day meet at Sacramento State University and again stepped up against a much higher level of competion.  The Dons may not have scored many points but againt mostly 4 year schools the Dons represented themselves very well.  The Men and Women hit 4 State A Marks, 3 State B Marks and 17 NorCal Provisional Marks.  The Dons also rewrote the record books with 3 School Records in the Women's Discus by Melissa Favorite who finished as the top collegiate thrower with a huge PR of 162'6", Dylan Bouzigues competed in his first Decathlon since the State Championships last season where he finished as an All-State Performer and came out with a 500 point personal best to break the school record with 6200 points, and the 4x100 team broke the New Zone 4x100 record.  Iman Bayat hit the State A mark in the 1500 with the 6th fastest time in school history finishing in 4:59.75.  Nathan Alvarado improved his 4th Place in school history mark in the Hammer Throw with a toss of 174'2" in a better State A mark than he previously held and Brenda Blanco who competed in her first Heptathlon ever and earned a State B Mark, followed it up with a lifetime best and 7th in school history 400 Hurdle mark of 1:05.69 to earn a State A mark.  The Dons stay home this week to host the De Anza Invitational on Friday March 22nd with Field Events starting at 10 AM and running getting underway at 11 AM. 

Jack Albiani Invitational

The Dons traveled to their biggest meet yet in Modesto this past Friday, the Jack Albiani Invitational.  With 13 Men's and Women's Teams Competing, the Lady Dons came away with a 1 point victory over American River College.  The Men finished 3rd in the unofficial scoring behind American River College and SJ Delta College.  The Women were led again by Freshman Brenda Blanco who won the 400 Hurdles with a personal best time of 1:06.61 beating her own NorCal leading time.  Rebecca Collins and Yarenzi Alatorre were 2nd and 3rd to sweep the top spots in that event.  Jillian O'Brien had a 6 second PR in the 1500 to take the victory in the 1500.  These were the only winners on the day for the Women, however the depth of the Dons helped carry them to victory.  For the Men, Iman Bayat continued his undefeated campaign in individual events winning both the 1500 and 800.  Some of the Dons will travel next Friday and Saturday to Sacramento State University to compete in the Hornet Invitational. 

Beaver Mini Meet

For the second straight week, both the Men and Women came away with team wins (in unofficial scoring).  Both teams traveled with many key people missing to compete in a rainy cold day in Sacramento at American River College.  But the small group of Women came away with several victories.  Brenda Blanco continued her great start to her Freshman season winning the 400 Hurdles and 800.  Leslee Patino won the 3000 Steeplechase for the second week in a row.  Jillian O'Brien in the 5000 and the 4x400 relay of Rebecca Collins, Brenda Blanco, Leslee Patino and Samantha Bell on the track.  Melissa Favorite was first in the Discus for the field events.  The women won by 31 points over host ARC in the 12 team meet.  The Men were led by JayDino Angeles in the 400 Hurdles with a season best time for the win, Iman Bayat remained unbeaten in individual events this season winning the 1500 and 5000.  Tyler Stowell won the 800 with a lifetime best time from the slow heat and Nathan Alvarado won the Hammer Throw for the second straight week.  The Dons will travel to Modesto for the Jack Albiani/NorCal Preview Meet on Friday.

De Anza Open

The first home meet for the Dons in almost 2 years was a successful one.  As both the Men and Women took the team titles in the 7 team meet.  The Women won by 99 points and the Men won by 90 over second place Modesto.  Winners for the Men were:  Iman Bayat in the 1500 and 800, JayDino Angeles in the 110HH, both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays, Semanu Attiogbe in the Long Jump, and Nathan Alvarado in the Hammer Throw.  Winners for the Women were:  Brenda Blanco in the 400 hurdles, Leslee Patino in the 3000 Steeplechase, both 4x100 and 4x100 relays, Nicole Zazkowski in the High Jump, and Melissa Favorite in the Discus. 

MPC Open

The 2019 Season kicked off with a rainy cold meet in Monterey at the MPC Open.  The Men came away winners in unnofficial scoring in the 11 team meet.  The Men were led by Iman Bayat who was a double winner in the 1500 and 5000.  Dylan Bouzigues came away with a victory in the High Jump and Nathan Alvarado earned victory in the Shot Put.  The Women finished second place to NCAA Division 2 CSU Monterey Bay by 5 points.  The winners for the Women were Jillian O'Brien in the 5000, The 4x100 team of Samantha Bell, Adee Newman, Brenda Blanco and Jessica Marvin, and Melissa Favorite in the Hammer Throw.  The Dons will next be at home for the De Anza Open.

Chico State Wildcat Invitational

The Dons continue their crazy road trip season as about half of the team traveled to Chico State on an overnight trip to compete in the Wildcat Invitational.  Both the Men's and Women's Team finished in 6th Place out of the 16 men's teams and 18 women's teams that was comprised of about half 4 year schools and half community colleges from two states.  The meet was won by host Chico State easily for both teams.  The Dons got a victory from Melissa Favorite as she won the Discus.  The Men had a team victory as Semanu Attiogbe won the Triple Jump.  The Dons will travel to Visalia, CA for the Sequoias Invitational next Saturday.

Beaver Relays

American River College hosted the 33rd Annual Beaver Relays last Saturday in Sacramento.  The meet started and finished with sunshine and had cold, wind, rain, hail all in the middle of the meet.  The meet features some unique events that are not contested in other meets.  The Dons were victorious in the women's meet in the Javelin Relay where the 3 throwers from De Anza had their marks added together to get a team score.  Individually in that event Emily Hallett had the farthest throw, Mimi Nguyen and Melissa Favorite were the other members of the Javelin team.  Hallett also had the farthest throw in the Hammer Throw on the day.  The women finished in 3rd out of the 11 team competing at the meet as a team.  The Men finished second as a team with victories in the Hammer Throw Relay with the team of Manny Sanchez, Shawn Berbena and Renato Oyarzun.  The relay team of Marc Calopez, Tommy Mai, Hezekiah Ramirez and Rob Abousamra won the 4x200 relay and Calopez, Ramirez and Abousamra teamed with Semanu Attiogbe to win the 4x100 relay.  Attiogbe also had the farthest leap in the triple jump in the meet.  A smaller group of athletes will travel to Chico State for the Wildcat Invitational next weekend to compete against both junior colleges and 4-year schools.  

Yuba 49er Invitational

The Track Teams got up bright and early and headed north to Marysville, CA to compete in the Yuba 49er Invitational for the first time ever.  With gusty winds and temperatures in the upper 30's at the start of the meet the Dons braved the cold to compete well against 7 other teams.  Traditional State power American River College won both the Men's and Women's meets and the Butte College Men also finished ahead of the Dons as the Men finished in 3rd out of 8 teams and the women were again 2nd for the 3rd meet in a row.  Event winners for the Men were Semanu Attiogbe in the Triple Jump winning by 1 centimeter, Senai Gebrehiwet winning the 5000 and Marc Calopez being the top collegiate runner in the 200.  For the women they had two individual wins by Emily Hallett continuing her awesome Sophomore season taking top honors in both the Hammer and Javelin Throws.  The Dons will compete next week in the Beaver Relays at American River College all day Saturday.  

MPC Open

The Don's traveled to Monterrey Peninsula College this past weekend to compete in the MPC Open.  The event featured 10 Women's Teams and 9 Men's Teams including every team from the Coast Conference.  In the unofficial scoring of the meet.  The Women came out in second place and the Men were in a close 3rd.  The women were again led by a strong group of throwers.  The women went 1-2 in the Discus, First Place in the Javelin out of the collegiate throwers, 1,2,3,4 in the Hammer and 3rd, 5th and 6th in the Shot Put to score just over half of the teams 140 points.  To top it off the talented throwers also had Melissa Favorite win the Pole Vault with a 10' vault to earn a State A mark and she finished 3rd in the Triple Jump in her first ever competition.  Emily Hallett added 3rd place points in the High Jump as well.  Hallett threw the 3rd longest toss in school history to win the Hammer Throw, and was first in the Javelin with a PR.  Favorite was first in the Discus for the second week in a row.  The other win for the Dons came on the track as Rebecca Collins used a strong finish to pull away and easily win the 400.  For the men, they only had one victory on the day, by winning the 4x100 with the team of Rob Abousamra, Marc Calopez, Tommy Mai, and Hezekiah Ramirez.  The teams will traveling pretty far the next 4 weeks to compete as the Dons next travel to Marysville, CA to compete in the Yuba 49er Invitational.  

De Anza vs Hartnell 2nd Annual Dual

2016 California State Championships

The 2016 season came to an end last Friday and Saturday at San Diego Mesa College, host of the 2016 California Community College State Championships.  The Dons came home with quite the hall of hardware.  11 women and 2 men competed for the Dons and 12 came home with a medal.  Michele Perez-Lopez after failing to qualify for the State Meet as a freshman came away with the second fastest time in the nation for any 3000 Steeplechaser, a new school record and the State Title over conference rival Nancy Rodriguez from Hartnell by 7 seconds.  The Dons had two other All-Americans as Anya Tonga finished 3rd in the Discus and Emma Seyer finished 3rd in the Hammer Throw.  Tristan Meye was the next highest finisher and the highest finisher for the Men with his 5th place finish in the Triple Jump.  AJ Orozco was 6th in the Javelin for the Men to also earn All-State Honors.  Kelia Surrency had a 300 point PR in the Heptatlon to finish 7th place after entering the meet as an alternate.  Silvia Gutierrez finished in 8th place in the Hammer Throw to pick up All-State Honors.  The 4x400 relay team of Cheianne Armstrong, Sedona Shepard, Akeia Neptune and April Williams claimed their medal with an 8th place finish.  Aly Renteria also entered the state meet as an alternate finding out the night before the team left that she would be competing and passed 3 runners on the final lap including the last girl in the final 10 feet of the race to finish in 8th place with a 25 second PR and become the 12th All-State Athlete for the Dons.  The women finished in 10th place as a team in the meet.  The women's second straight Top 10 finish in the state meet.

2016 Northern California Championships

The Dons sent 30 athletes to the Northern California Championships held over two weekends at Chabot College.  17 Women and 13 Men competed during the preliminaries on week one and 27 of those athletes made it to the finals of the meet.  All 17 women and 10 men competed on week 2 for their chance at moving on to the state championships.  13 of those athletes qualified in at least 1 event to the state Championships.  Michele Perez-Lopez won the 3000 Steeplechase to punch her ticket to San Diego Mesa College and the State Championships.  Aly Renteria finished 5th to also qualify for State.  Anya Tonga won the Discus to earn a trip to State and also by virtue of her season best mark qualified for the Shot Put finishing in 8th place.  Emma Seyer and Silvia Gutierrez finished in 3rd and 4th respectively in the Hammer Throw to move on.  Kelly Baxter in the Javelin and Kelia Surrency in the Long Jump and Heptathlon placed 7th, but moved on based on their season best marks.  The Women's 4x400 relay of Cheianne Armstrong, Sedona Shepard, Akeia Neptune and Kelia Surrency, who was filling in for April Williams due to a schedule conflict with High Jump hit a season best mark to place 3rd and qualify for the State Championships.  The women placed 7th overall as a team.  The men had one NorCal Champion in Tristan Meye who leaped to the 2nd best mark All-Time to qualify for the State Finals.  AJ Orozco finished 8th in the Javelin but his season best mark allowed him to move on.

2016 Coast Conference Championships

The Dons hosted the 2016 Coast Conference Championships for the first time ever.  Both teams fought through two windy days.  The women came away with their first conference victory in 4 years as they bested conference rival Hartnell 258-228 in the final standings.  The women had 7 event championships during the meet.  Anya Tonga led the way with two individual championships winning the Shot Put and Discus competitions.  Emma Seyer won the Hammer Throw and Kelly Baxter won the Javelin to complete the sweep of the throws.  Also in the field events, Michelle Figarella won in a jump off against teammate Melissa Borello to claim the Pole Vault title.  On the track the women swept the relays with a season best time in the 4x100 relay of 49.18, which was just .02 ahead of runner up Laney College.  The 4x100 relay was made up of Stephanie Baca, Kelia Surrency, Cheianne Armstrong and Akeia Neptune.  Armstrong and Neptune teamed up with April Williams and Sedona Shepard to put an exclamation point on the meet by winning the 4x400 relay by 10 seconds.  The men had numerous season bests but could not overcome the distance points of Hartnell College and settled for a well fought 2nd Place.  Tristan Meye had the two individual event championships by winning the Long Jump and Triple Jump with lifetime best leaps.  The Dons will next compete at Chabot College for the NorCal Trials and Finals the next two weeks.  13 Men and 17 Women will be competing for their chance to go to the State Championships in San Diego in three weeks