The track & field season wrapped up last month at the state finals in San Mateo, California. The coaches collected to hand out Pacific Coast Athletic Conference post-season honors last week.
The 2019 track & field campaign was great for athletes from the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference. The conference had a couple of individual state champions to go along with some solid team finishes. San Diego Mesa College led the men with a 12th place finish at the state meet while Southwestern College led all women in the conference with a 13th place finish at the state finals.
On the men's side, the coaches selected Cuyamaca College's David Leber as the Field Athlete-of-the-Year and San Diego Mesa College's Stefan Rasmussen as the Track Athlete-of-the-Year. In addition, Mesa's Sean Ricketts was named the Coach-of-the-Year.
On the women's side, the coaches selected Southwestern College's Autry Lachelle as the Field Athlete-of-the-Year and Tajanique Bell as the Track Athlete-of-the-Year. Palomar College's Sonia Rodriguez was named the PCAC Coach-of-the-Year.
Leber finished fourth in the state in the discus last month when he had a toss of 45.24 meters on his third throw of the event. Rasmussen (pictured) captured the state title in the 5,000 meters when he crossed the finish line in 15:08.73, winning by just under five seconds. Autry finished in third place at the state championships in the triple jump when she leaped 11.69 meters on her second attempt. Bell (pictured) streaked past the field to capture the state title in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.02, and then finished second in the 400-meter hurdles.