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Hannah Lopez, pictured in a file photo, took fourth in state in the steeplechase. (Hugh Cox Photo)
Hannah Lopez, pictured in a file photo, took fourth in state in the steeplechase. (Hugh Cox Photo)
Posted: May 15, 2018

Lopez takes 4th in steeplechase in CCCAA State meet

BAKERSFIELD (5-19-2018) -- Palomar's Hannah Lopez, competing before friends and family in her hometown, ran to a fourth-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Saturday in the CCCAA State Track & Field Championships at Bakersfield College Memorial Stadium..

Lopez, a freshman out of Frontier High School in Bakersfield ran a 12:05.61 in a race won by the Southern California champion, Maria Theologidy of Antelope Valley, who was timed in 11:28.35.

Lopez didn't match her Southern Cal meet fourth-place time of 11:53.10. But she didn't have to on a day the Comets scored 8 points to finish in a three-way tie for 21st place out of 38 scoring teams.

Mt. SAC won the women's championship, outscoring second-place Cerritos College 169.5 points to 152. Riverside City College was third with 54 points.

Tria Ismay, a freshman out of Poway High School, provided the remainder of Palomar's points by running 1:07.56 to finish sixth in the 400 hurdles. Mt. SAC's Brittany Mitchell won the event in 1:00.1.

Marissa Horton, a freshman out of El Camino High School, finished ninth in the high jump for Palomar. Besabe Reyes, a sophomore from Orange Glen High, placed 11th in the discus

Previously, coach Sonia Rodriguez's Palomar women finished second in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Championships that concluded a two-day run on Saturday, April 21, at San Bernardino Valley College after the Prielims at Mesa three days earlier. At the conference meet, the Comets won seven events and qualified 10 athletes for for the the Southern California meet.

Mesa dethroned two-time defending PCAC champion Palomar, scoring 179 points to the Comets' 168 points. 

Reyes and Katie Preston, a red-shirt freshman from Vista High School who transferred from Chico State, both were double winners to lead Palomar at the PCAC meet. Reyes won the PCAC hammer throw with a mark of 39.20 meters (128 feet, 7 inches) and the discus at 37.47 meters (122 feet, 11 inches). Preston took home gold medals in the 100-meter dash in 12.51 and the 200 meters in 25.99.  

Also winning events for the Comets in the conference meet: Lopez with a 12:13.32 in the steeplechase, Ismay with a 1:07.55 in the 400-meter hurdles and Horton with a 16.04 in the 100-meter hurdles.