Tigers Take Second at State Championship

Riverside City College capped a solid year with a runner-up finish at the 3C2A State Track and Field Championship after grabbing 114 total points. Mt. San Antonio College won the team championship with 179 points.

Edward Ta'amilo crushed the shot put competition, taking home the championship with a throw of 16.59 meters – over a meter further than the next-best thrower. Christian Burroughs grabbed fourth with a toss of 15.24 meters, while Justice Brown took sixth at 15.09 meters.

Ta'amilo picked up his second State Championship in the discus, posting a throw of 54.25 meters on his final attempt of the day. Isaiah Butler grabbed third with a toss of 48.46 meters, while Burroughs finished fourth at 48.25 meters.

After winning the 10K championship last night, Ernesto Ruiz grabbed his second state title on Saturday in the 3K steeplechase. He posted a time of nine minutes, 5.40 seconds to beat out his competition by five seconds. Kailil O'Brien joined him on the podium with a fifth-place finish, clocking in at 9:41.13.

Ruiz looked to grab his third state title – in the three longest distance races, which is no easy feat – and ran the 5K in one of the last events of the meet but came up just shy. He posted a time of 14:32.72 to take second place, less than two seconds behind the first-place finisher. After the meet, Ruiz was named the Track Athlete of the Meet.

Burroughs led a trio of Tigers who medaled in the hammer throw after finishing runner-up with a toss of 54.99 meters for his third trip to the podium. Butler took sixth (48.21 meters), while Adam Torres finished eighth (46.09 meters).

Samuel Willis held onto his second place standing in the decathlon to finish runner-up with 6,497 points. He had two third-place finishes in the final half of the decathlon, posting a discus throw of 38.79 meters and hitting 4.35 meters on the pole vault.

The Tigers' 4x100 relay team (Marcellus Linton, Elijah Davis, Jacob Petrick, and Kai Fowler) took second with a time of 40.56 seconds.

Bryson Williamson and Zachary Owens each grabbed a spot on the podium in the high jump, with Williamson taking fourth at 2.00 meters and Owens finishing eighth at 1.95 meters.

Quinten Flowers earned fourth place in the triple jump after posting a mark of 14.06 meters.

Linton took fifth in the 200-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 21.17 seconds.