LOS ANGELES – With a series of impressive performances Friday in the pole vault and throwing events, the Cal Poly Pomona men's track and field team holds fourth place heading into the final day of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships.
Shane Cioni tallied 10 points for the Broncos Friday with a pair of fourth-place finishes in the hammer throw and the shot put. Freshman
Justin Ellerbee delivered a strong showing in the pole vault, placing third to contribute six points for CPP. The Broncos have collected 33.5 points as a team, trailing first-place Chico State (79.5), Cal State Stanislaus (70) and the host squad, Cal State L.A. (47).
The three-day postseason event is taking place at Jesse Owens Track on the campus of CSULA. If you're planning on attending the meet on Saturday,
sign up to ride the Broncos' "Pack the Track" fan bus that leaves from Lot B at 12 p.m. and returns to Pomona around 6:30 p.m. Free admission along with Chipotle and Golden Spoon cards will be awarded to those taking the bus.
In the hammer throw Friday, Cioni notched a career-best mark of 176-8 that ranks eighth all-time in the CPP record books. The junior from Upland entered the week as the No. 8 seed for the event. Cioni followed up the hammer performance with a 49-0.75 mark in the shot put, also good for fourth place among the CCAA competitors. Teammate
Andrew Durham finished fifth in the shot put, recording a throw of 46-3.25 to add four more points for the Broncos.
The pole vault competition Friday featured three point-getters for CPP. Ellerbee led the way, vaulting to a career-best height of 15-4.25 to take third.
Travis Voorhees followed in fifth while also registering a 15-4.25 mark and
Allen Black finished in a tie for eighth at 14-10.25.
Deavers got off to strong starts Friday in a variety of events. He recorded personal bests in both the 110-meter hurdles and 400-meter dash events at 14.40 and 48.15 respectively, with each of those times proving to be the top prelim marks for the CCAA. The 14.40 hurdles time is a career best and improvement on the "B" qualifier for Deavers, who now moves into sixth all-time for that event in program history. Among the top national times in Division II for 110-meter hurdles, the 14.40 would have held a top-20 spot at the start of this week.
James Weiner and
Tanner Terry turned in stellar 100- and 200-meter times to advance into the Saturday final events. Teammate
Brian Crane will join Weiner and Terry in the 200-meter dash Saturday after securing the last spot with a prelim mark of 22.11. Crane also qualified for the 400-meter dash final to be held Saturday.
Matt Boudreau turned in two solid prelim performances as well and he'll be competing in the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles finals on Saturday.
Connor Birtwhistle suffered a disqualification during the 110-meter hurdles portion of the decathlon but bounced back with a strong performance in the discus throw, tallying a 106-0 mark to place fourth for that event. The junior totaled 5,530 points through the two-day decathlon to bring in three team points for CPP.
The field events on Saturday will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the running events will begin at 1 p.m. All events on Saturday will be finals. Daily tickets are available for $6 for general admission and $3 for students, seniors and children.
