De Anza College :: Men's and Women's Track and Field

Welcome

Head Coach Nick Mattis

Phone: 408.864.5731
Office: PE-670
E-mail Address: mattisnick@deanza.edu

Address:
De Anza College
21250 Stevens Creek Boulevard
Cupertino, CA 95014

Assistant Coach: JJ Noble

Assistant Coach: Ray Cornell
Assistant Coach: Gordon Hovey

Volunteer Assistant Coach: Mike Mayes

2009 Men's and Women's Track Team

2010 Track and Field

Any students interested in joining the 2010 De Anza Dons Mens or Womens track and field teams should meet with or contact Coach Mattis in office PE 670 or by email mattisnick@deanza.edu or by phone 309-255-9895 or 408-864-5731. We are beginning offseason training during the fall quarter of classes to help prepare you for the upcoming season. We are always welcoming female athletes willing to work hard! Hope to see you soon.

Student Athlete Receives Special Recognition

The Evergreen Valley High School Graduate was named the student-athlete of the year for this past year in a recent awards ceremony. She was a two time state qualifier (last year in the hammer throw and this year in the shot put).

Also Congratulations to Whitnee Garrett (Track and Field) for being named on the
honorable mention list for the

2009 NATYCAA SCHOLAR ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARD

NATYCAA stands for National Alliance of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators.
This is the first time a De Anza student-athlete has received recognition
from this National group.

Congratulations Whitnee!

California Community College State Championships Day 2

Day 2 of the state championships was hot! With temperatures in the 90's many athletes had trouble handling the heat and kept the training staffs busy. However, many of the Dons rose to the occasion and had very good performances. Marko Vatavuk finished the second day of the decathalon with 5569 points good enough for tenth place in the state meet but places him 7th in school history for the event. Marko had personal bests for the season in 6 of the 10 events. Kim Kilgroe started the ladies day with a medal and some points. Kim lowered her school record for the third time this season and finished in 7th place in the 3000 steeplechase (12:13.28). Daniel Chen just missed getting an All-American certificate (finishing in the top 4) by placing fifth with a personal best and second best in school history mark in the 110 HH. Chen ran a 14.87 and placed 5th to earn a medal. The next race on the track was the big one for the Lady Don. Not one but two members of the womens team earned All-American honors in the 400. Deirdra Pettigrue and Marshey Brown passed a number of girls coming up the final 100 meters of the race with strong finishes for Pettigrue to finish as the state runner-up and Brown right behind her in third as the top finishing freshman in the race. Pettigrue ran a 55.80 which was just off her top time of the season. Brown ran a 55.39, which was a lifetime personal best and moved her to 6th on the all-time top 10 list in school history. The 5000 meter run became a race of survival with women and men not finishing the race due to the extreme heat. Kirsti Whitmyre ran well enough to earn her second medal of the meet finishing in 8th place. Jessica Paranthaman was 9th just out of the medals and Kim Chew finished in 11th. Clifford Crum thought he missed his chance at a medal finishing in 9th place on the track but due to the 8th place finisher weaving up the last 100 trying to block his final sprint Crum was awarded 8th place due to a DQ of the other runner for illegally blocking him running to the finish line. The final race of the day was the men's 4x400 who last week were discouraged finishing in 5th place and thinking they had failed to qualify to the state championships. However, they did qualify due to being the fastest fifth place time in both regionals and entered as the ninth team in the state meet. The four members of the relay Mychal Ladd, Don Gaspar, Kwame Agyemang, and Kevin Gonzales made the most of their second opportunity with all of them running under 50 seconds in their splits and running a season best 3:18.24 and finishing in sixth place earning a medal and 3 team points. Other finishes for the Dons was Ka Wai Ng 11th in the Triple Jump, Michael Barrios 11th in the pole vault, Jessica Paranthaman 10th in the 1500, and Whitnee Garrett 11th in the shot put. Overall for the two days the Dons had 17 men and women competing and 11 of them took home a medal and scored points at the state meet. The women finished with 19 points and finished in 16th place out approximately 60 schools in California with track programs and the men finished tied for 23rd place with 11 team points. With numerous freshman on the team and a good outlook in the recruiting process the Track program looks to continue to build on its huge success this season.

California Community College State Championships Day 1

The first day of the California State Championships at the College of San Mateo saw both men and women's teams get on the scoreboard. The women's 10000 was a struggle for Kirsti Whitmyre who is stuggling with some nagging injuries at the end of the season but she was strong enough to hold on for 7th place and earn her first medal and score two team points for the women's team. On the men's side Rene Stephan only needed one big throw to earn his first state medal after missing the finals in the Shot Put last year, Stephan launched a big PR 179'5" on his very first throw, which held up through six rounds to earn him a medal in sixth place and three team points for the Dons. Marko Vatavuk also finished the first day of the Decathalon with a first day point PR and a seasons best in the long jump and 400. Marko will be back on the track at 9AM for Day 2. The rest of the Dons competing will begin with the steeplechase at 12:45.

NorCal Championships Day 2

Day 2 of the NorCal Championships was held at Diablo Valley College May 8th. The day started early for a few of the athletes but well for one in particular. Rene Stephan started his day off with a sixth place finish (168'5") in the men's javelin finals to start the day off for the Dons and their historic day. Whitnee Garrett then came back after failing to make a return trip to the state meet in the women's hammer throw, she regrouped and threw a lifetime best and 8th best throw in school history (38'10.5") in the shot put to capture third place and spot in the state championships. The field events continued to be strong for the Dons with Michael Barrios capturing 6th place and a ticket to the state meet in the Pole Vault for the second straight year (13'3.5") and Ka Wai Ng jumped a season best (46'2.5") to crack the top ten in school history with the tenth best jump in school history and finish sixth in the meet to extend his season a week longer. The first evening meet for the Dons on the track began with Kim Kilgroe just missing a NorCal Championship when she finished second in the women's steeplechase (12:19.10) and will be moving on to the final week of the season. The men's and women's 4x100 teams both had slight bobbles of the baton, which cost them their right to move on both finishing 5th with only the top four teams advancing. The women had three women in the 1500 meter final and two ran fast enough to qualify to the state championships. Jessica Paranthaman finished in fourth place with a 4:59.79 and Kirsti Whitmyre was close behind in fifth with a 5:00.23. Next on the track was Daniel Chen who the week before had sprained his ankle the night before the prelims and was unsure if he would even run. He did and barely made finals and was going to be in lane eight for the finals. However, a week of rehab and rest did Chen good cause he finished second with the second fastest time in school history (14.89) and suprised a field who weren't ready for a guy in lane eight to run so well and he will move on to the state championships. Chen had already previously qualified in the Decathlon but will scratch to focus on the hurdles. Next up was the women's 400 meter race which featured two De Anza athletes. Both girls ran outstanding times and season bests with Deirdra Pettigrue finishing in second place with a 55.70 and Marshey Brown finishing in fourth with a 56.72 and both will move on. Brown and Pettigrue also came back and finished in 6th and 7th respectively in the 200 to score team points but will not be moving on in that event. Marko Vatavuk who was already a qualifier in the Decathlon for the state meet came close to advancing in the men's 400 hurdles running a PR in 55.86 and finishing in 5th place. The women again had three competitors in the finals of the women's 5000 and two running times good enough to advance them on to next week. Kirsti Whitmyre finished in second place with a time of 18:45.55 and Jessica Paranthaman finished in fourth place with a 19:56.89. Kim Chew also finished in 8th place in the event to pick up another team point, and qualified as an alternate to the State Championships. The men's 5000 had two competitors in it and provided probably the biggest suprise of the night for the Dons. Clifford Crum was seeded in 13th place coming into the competition but ran a PR 15:37.34 to finish with a medal in fourth place and move onto the state meet next week. The final event of the night again ended in heartbreak for the Dons. The men's and women's teams both again completed something rare to see. Both finishing in 5th place meaning all four relays which were contested finished with De Anza in 5th place and only the top four earning automatic advancement. However, after the Southern California Regional some good news finally came the Dons way as the Men's 4x400 relay team received the wild card entry into the state meet by beating the fourth and fifth fastest finishers in the south with their time. When all the dust has settled so far the Men's and Women's teams will be sending 16 athletes to the state meet (10 men and 6 women) with the possibility of one more with scratches still taking place until Tuesday of this week. They will be competing in 14 individual events and one relay. This is one of if not the largest combined group of athletes to ever qualify for the state meet in school history. For the women in the team competition they finished in 5th place their highest finish since a 5th place finish in 2003, scoring 73 points one of the highest point totals ever in school history. The men finished in 10th place the highest finish for the men in over 20 years, finishing with a total of 48 points again one of the highest totals for the men in over 20 years. The state meet begins next Friday at the College of San Mateo with the Men's Decathlon, Men's Javelin and Women's 10000 at 9:00 AM. All other events will be contested on Saturday also beginning at 9:00AM.

NorCal Championships Day 1

The first day of the NorCal Championships began much like the season started off. It was wet and raining the whole meet and De Anza athletes overcame the elements to have a very good day one of the NorCal Championships at Diablo Valley College. In the only final of the day the 10K for the women. Kirsti Whitmyre became the first female to qualify for the state championships by breaking her own school record and breaking 40 minutes to become the NorCal champion. Whitmyre once again lapped everyone in the race passing the second place girl to put her a lap down as she finished her 25th lap. On the guys side the men came up a little short in their bid for state, however Clifford Crum did have a PR and moved up to 9th all-time on the De Anza school history list with a 33:48. All other events contested on the day were to qualify to next weeks NorCal Finals again to be held at DVC next Friday. On the lady's side most of the team is still alive moving on to the finals. The Lady Dons will be sending two girls to the finals in the 200 and 400 meter dashes as Marshey Brown and Deirdra Pettigrue will be advancing in both events. Three ladies will be competing in the 1500 with Kirsti Whitmyre, Jessica Paranthaman and Kim Chew all advancing. Both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays will also be advancing for the ladies on the track. Also advancing straight to next week will be the trio of Whitmyre, Paranthaman, and Chew in the 5000 and Kim Kilgroe, Yasamin Yazdi, Maura Villanueva and Vy Huynh in the 3000 Steeplechase. In the field events Whitnee Garrett will be advancing in the Hammer Throw and Shot Put and Kim Kilgroe will be advancing in the High Jump. On the men's side both relays will be advancing to the finals with the 4x100 breaking the school record for the third meet in a row with a 41.51. Marko Vatavuk advanced in the 400 hurdles and Daniel Chen advanced in the 110HH. Abiy Gebrekristos and Clifford Crum will be competing in the 5000 in the final individual event on the track that will be a final. In the field events the men had an excellent day. Michael Barrios will be advancing in the Pole Vault in an attempt to qualify for state a second year in a row. Rene Stephan had a huge day in the throws advancing in all 4 throwing events to the finals and bettering his mark in the Hammer Throw to 150'11 a nine foot PR bettering his third place all-time performance. Ka Wai Ng and Ted Green will also be competing in the triple jump finals. In all 26 male and female athletes will be on the track again next week in the NorCal Finals. Field events will begin at 11:30 AM and running events will begin at 4:45.

Coast Conference Championships

De Anza Men's and Women's Teams both finished in second place finishing just short of winning both Champoinships. The men's team scored 155 point behind Hartnell College who had 201 and ahead of City College of San Francisco. The men had 3 championships overall. To go with Michael Barrios' Pole Vault championship on Wednesday the 4x100 relay team of Earnest Sims, Charles Hudson, Kwame Agyemang, and Kevin Gonzales broke their own school record with a time of 41.57 and nudged out CCSF. The time ranks De Anza in 7th on the latest state rankings in this event. Daniel Chen ran a personal best into a headwind in the 110HH with a time of 15.07 and winning a conference championship. The time moves Chen up to 4th in school history. The men scored points in every event in the meet. On the women's side, the women scored and amazing 205 points but fell short to Laney College who scored 251.5 points. It was basically a two team meet with Hartnell College finishing in third place with 82.5 points. Kirsti Whitmyre added two more championships to her 10000 meter title on Saturday by winning the 1500 and 5000 beating teammate Jessica Paranthaman who in both races. Whitmyre also added a 5th place finish in the 800 to complete her busy week. The other championship in the women's meet was Kim Kilgroe who finished beating her own school record with a time of 12:13.47, which makes her the leader in Northern California in the lastest rankings. Both teams had numerous outstanding performances and I invite you to please look on our schedule page and click on the Coast Conference Championships to view the rest of the results. Fifteen women and sixteen men have qualified for the Northern California Championships, one of the largest groups in school history. The NorCal Championships will begin next Friday at Diablo Valley College at 11AM and conclude the following Friday again at Diablo Valley College starting at 1PM. The top qualifiers at DVC will advance to the California Community College Championships to be held at the College of San Mateo May 15th and 16th.

Day 1 Coast Conference Championships

Day 1 saw many great performances for the Dons and Lady Dons. On the women's side of the competition the De Anza women have the first day lead in the team competition with a 41-37 lead over Laney College with 5 events completed in the overall conference competition. Kim Kilgroe ended up picking up a second place in the pole vault for the Lady Dons and Marshey Brown started the day off with a 3rd place in the long jump with a seasons best and 7th best jump in school history with a leap of 17'5". Jamila McIntosh came in with a 3rd place in the Hammer Throw and 7th place in the Javelin for a strong first day showing in the throws. The Ladies big points on the day came in the 10000 meter run. Kirsti Whitmyre captured the first Coast Conference Championship for the team with her victory coasting to an easy victory lapping the field and pacing her teammates finishing with a time of 41:42.56. Jessica Paranthaman placed 4th and moved from 10th on the All-Time list for De Anza to 6th with a lifetime PR of almost 5 minutes running a 44:11.05. Next in was Kim Chew with the 7th fastest time on the De Anza All-Time list with a 46:12.37. Maura Villanueva ran a lifetime best breaking 50 minutes for the first time in her life with a 49:44.99 to finish 8th in the meet. In preliminary competition Marshey Brown and Deirdra Pettigrue both advanced in the 200 and Meghan Thomas ran a season best time in the 400 hurdles to qualify for Saturday's Finals. Thomas and Vicky Leung also ran in the only other women's preliminary, the 100 meter dash. Both girls ran season bests and Thomas bettered her NorCal provisional mark by almost half a second but both missed out on the finals. On the Men's side thru four events scored (the Men's Hammer Official Results were not posted yet) De Anza is two points behind (44-42) Hartnell College. The Dons were led by Michael Barrios who captured his second Coast Conference Championship in the Pole Vault winning with a vault of 13'5". Marko Vatavuk came in 3rd place and was followed by teammates Trevor Addison and Daniel Chen who finished 6th and 7th places. Other place winners were Michael Borg finishing 3rd in the Long Jump with a season best leap of 20'11.5". Rene Stephan had a very big day with season bests in the Hammer Throw and Javelin Throw. Stephan started the day placing 2nd in the Javelin with a toss of 172'5" placing him 7th in school history. He followed that performance with a 3rd place in the Hammer Throw but his official distance had not been published yet. His toss is estimated to put him in 3rd in school history in the event when the official results come out. In the 10000 all three of the De Anza athletes have been struggling with illness all week but Abiy Gebrekristos and Cliff Crum ran well enough to place in 5th and 6th place. In preliminary events, the Dons did very well. In the 100 Kevin Gonzales ran the 5th fastest time in school history (10.85) to advance to Saturday's final. Kwame Agyemang will join Gonzales with time that would place him in 11th (10.90) just off the schools best list. Charlie Hudson just missed the finals placing 10th but did run a season best 11.00 moving him up the standings in Northern California. In the 200 Gonzales and Agyemang also advanced to Saturday's final. In the 400 Don Gaspar and Mychal Ladd advanced into the finals. The 800 saw Luis Nunez run a season best to qualify easily into the finals and Cliff Crum ran a time good enough to qualify to Saturday in the 1500. In the 110H and 400H, Daniel Chen and Marko Vatavuk will be advancing. This means the Dons will be represented in every event this Saturday at the College of San Mateo in the Coast Conference Championship Finals.

NorCal Multi's

Over the past two days three De Anza athletes competed in their first Decathlon and Heptathlon. The results were very good for the two men who competed. Both freshman, Daniel Chen and Marko Vatavuk both became the first two athletes on the 2009 team to qualify for the 2009 California Community College State Track and Field Championships. The two finished 5th (Chen) and 6th (Vatavuk) taking the last two spots among the field to qualify for the state meet. Both had several PR's on the day to earn their births. Chen finished the day with 5449 and Vatavuk survived the 1500 to hold onto the 6th spot by 17 points with his total of 5367. On the women's side Kim Kilgroe finished in 9th place and just missed the scoring positions in the meet but did have personal bests in the 100 Hurdles, Shot Put, Javelin, Long Jump, 200 and 800. The high jump was the only event Kilgroe did not have a PR in. Kilgroe's total for the two days was 3160. Kilgroe will have several more opportunities to qualify for the state meet since she is ranked 3rd in NorCal in the 3000 Steeplechase and also qualified in 7 individual events for the NorCal Championships to take place the first two Friday's in May. All three of these athletes will be in action again next Wednesday at the College of San Mateo for the Coast Confernce Trials.

Woody Wilson

Thirty-one athletes woke up very early Saturday morning to head to UC Davis for the Woody Wilson Invitational. The record books and NorCal marks weren't as plentiful as they had been in the past but the Dons did change one school record in a big way. The team of Earnest Sims, Charles Hudson, Kwame Agyemang, and Kevin Gonzales joined together for the first time this season to break the 1994 4x100 record by .07 seconds. The foursome ran a time of 41.61 to capture the record and the victory at the meet. Gonzales and Agyemang also teamed up with Don Gaspar and Mychal Ladd on the 4x400 relay to record a season best and capture the other first place finish for the Dons at the meet in a time of 3:19.85. Overall in the unofficial scoring the Men's team finished in 5th place out of the 15 college teams competing. The Dons scored 60 points on the day. On the women's side, the ladies scored 34 points and also place in 5th out of 17 women's teams competing. UC Davis won both titles. This was the last regular season meet of the year for the Dons. Three athletes will be in action Tuesday and Wednesday at Santa Rosa Junior College to compete in the NorCal Multi Championships. Marko Vatavuk and Daniel Chen will be competing in the Decathlon and Kim Kilgroe will be competing in the Heptathlon. The top 6 finishers out of the 12 men and 11 women will earn a berth into the State Championships. The rest of the Dons will take the week off to perpare for the Coast Conference Championships which will be held at the College of San Mateo. The Coast Conference Championship prelims for running events, along with the Hammer Throw, Javelin, Pole Vault, Long Jump and 10000 meter run finals will be held Wednesday May 22 and the finals for all other events will be held Saturday May 25th. It will be the final meet with the entire roster of Dons competing.

Ed Adams

The 2009 assault on the De Anza record book continued Friday and Saturday at Hartnell College competing in the Ed Adams Invitational. Combined both men's and women's team put up 58 season's best marks. The Men's team came up short in their bid for the team title by finishing tied for 3rd with host Hartnell College with 139 team points. Fresno City College edged out Modesto by one point for the team title 162-161. Kevin Gonzales finished the day with two first place finishes and two second place finishes on the day. Gonzales led off the 4x100 relay to gold in a seasons best time of 41.91. He then followed that up by winning the 100 in a race that came down to the thousandth of a second running a lifetime best of 10.95. His next performance on the track didn't earn him gold but he did break his tie on the all-time school record list to now hold second place all by himself and become the second runner in school history to break the 22 second barrier with his 21.96. He finished the day by anchoring the second place 4x400 relay team with with a 49.34 and help lower the teams season best time by over four seconds to a 3:22.47. Kwame Agyemang also had a huge day. Running on both relay teams with Gonzales, and having Personal Records in the 100 (11.05) placing 5th and the 200 (22.12) which was good enough for 7th place in school history and third in the meet. The sprinters were not the only guys putting up good numbers. Abiy Gebrekristos and Clifford Crum ran their first 10000 meter runs in their lives and came out with very impressive results. Both of them ran times good enough to qualify them for the NorCal Championships, and both of them put their names on the school's all-time top 10 list. They became the first people to crack this list in 16 years. Abiy Gebrekristos had a time of 33:13.63, which placed him 4th in the meet, and 8th in school history. Crum finished right behind him with a 5th place finish and placed 10th in school history. Takahiro Shiriawa and Robert McClure also ran their first 10000 meter runs and placed 6th and 7th respectively among college runners. Gebrekristos and Crum also came back to compete in the 5000 the following day. Crum came out with another PR running 15:54.64 and finishing 2nd among college runners. He was followed by Gebrekristos who finished 3rd. Rene Stephan led the field events with 3 top eight finishes in his 4 throwing events and led off the 4x100 "B" team which finished in 3rd place overall. Stephan threw seasons bests in the javelin (158') and discus (131'). The Women's team was not to be outdone by the guys this week. The ladies finished in first place overall edging out Modesto 164-163 for the team title. Marshey Brown came though with a big day for the Lady Dons with a first place finish in the Long Jump (16'4"), a season best 12.52 to finish second in the 100 which moved her up to 8th place all-time on the top 10 list, anchored the 4x100 relay to a season best time of 50.52 for a 3rd place finish, led off the 4x400 relay team that finished 4th and added a PR 4th place finish in the triple jump (34'3"). Brown was a part of 34 team points. Making up for the loss of Deirdra Pettigrue after an injury in her first event of the day. The distance runners again came through with big numbers. Kirsti Whitmyre led a group of three girls who ran their first 10000 on friday night and did it in impressive fashion again. Whitmyre ran a lap ahead of the second place finisher in the meet and broke the school record with a time of 40:22.58. Kate Braham finished in 4th place in the meet and ran the 8th fastest time in school history with a time of 48:41.80 and Devin Powell finished in 5th place overall and missed the top 10 list by less than 5 seconds with a time of 49:04.45. Whitmyre came back on Saturday to finish in 5th place in the 1500 on a little bit of spaghetti legs from the night before behind teammates Jessica Paranthaman who finished second (5:00.70) and Kim Chew (5:06.24) who finished 4th both PR's. Kim Kilgroe also ran the 1500 finishing 8th place running a 5:26.25, which gives her a NorCal Provisional mark. However, Whitmyre recovered well enough to come away with the 5000 victory later that day again cruising by herself with a 19:04.89. Paranthaman finished 3rd among college runners in the 5000, followed by teammates Yasamin Yazdi (6th), Vy Huynh (7th) and Maura Villanueva (8th). Huynh, Yazdi and Villanueva also scored big team points finishing 2nd-4th respectively in the 3000 steeplechase. Villanueva running her first steeplechase became the 8th girl in school history to compete in the steeplechase. In the 800 Paranthaman and Chew finished 1-2 overall with Paranthaman running a PR time of 2:25.10 to nudge Chew at the line for the victory. In the throwing events the one-two punch of Whitnee Garrett and Jamila McIntosh came up with big points. Garrett and McIntosh did not have their best throws in the Hammer throw but did finish 4th and 6th in the meet. They then came back with much stronger performances in the shot and discus with both adding PR's in each event. McIntosh finished in 3rd in the discus with a PR of 125'7" and Garrett missed the top 8 but did PR. In the shot put, Garrett finished in third place with a toss of 35'4.5" and McIntosh was close behind in 5th place with a throw of 31'9". The Don's have one more meet next weekend at UC Davis, the Woody Wilson Invitational next Saturday before the championship season begins.

Stanford Invitational

A group of 11 men and women made the trip to Palo Alto to compete in the Stanford Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Although no Don finished in the Top 8 some season bests were had. On the Women's side, two women were entered in the open 400. Dierdra Pettigrue had a season best time of 56.78 to move up to 6th fastest all time on the Top 10 list. A few heats later Marshey Brown had her season best almost winning her heat with a time of 57.77 to which moves her to 8th all time in school history. On Saturday Brown and Pettigrue teamed with Kim Chew and Jessica Paranthaman to run a season best 4x400 relay by over 8 seconds with a time of 4:01.29. For the men's team, Daniel Chen ran a season best of 15.22 in the prelims of the 110HH which moves him to 5th place all time in school history. On Saturday Kevin Gonzales, ran the second fastest time in De Anza history in the 200 almost breaking the elusive 22 second barrier with a 22.01. Over spring break the Dons will travel south for the first time to compete in the Ed Adams Invitational April 3rd and 4th at Hartnell College. This will mark the first time in over a month the Dons team will compete at full strength again.

Bob Rush Invitational

The final split squad week occured with a large majority heading to the College of San Mateo for the 2009 Bob Rush Invitational. It was also finals week for the Dons. A sleep deprived and tired group still had some very nice performances. On the women's side the women's 800 was the highlight of the meet. Kim Chew finished in 3rd place and had a season best time of 2:25.81. Jessica Paranthaman also PR'ed right behind her in 4th place with a 2:26.24, and Kirsti Whitmyre was close behind them in 6th place. Kim Kilgroe and Meghan Thomas both PR'ed in the 100 hurdles finishing in 5th and 6th with 18.19 and 18.39 respectively. Thomas scored again in the 400H finishing 5th despite hurting her knee on an awkward landing after the first hurdle and Vicky Leung finished in 7th place behind her. Kilgroe also added two more fifth place finishes in the Pole Vault and High Jump. Jamila McIntosh added a third place in the Discus with a Personal Best throw of 125'1". On the guys side Mike Barrios cleared 14'1.25" in the pole vault to finish in second place. The group of Earnest Sims, Mychal Ladd, Rene Stephan, and Ted Green who usually run on the 4x100 B team got their chance to shine and came in 4th place in the event as the A team in this meet. Ladd and Green also teamed up with Marko Vatavuk, and Luis Nunez to finish 6th as the A team in the 4x400 relay.

Hornet Invitational

The Dons traveled north bright and early to Sacramento this past Saturday(3/21) to compete in the Hornet Invitational hosted by Sacramento State University. Once again the level of competition was raised to a new level for the Dons. With 29 schools competing from six different states and some of the nations best individuals competing the Dons turned in a very respectable performance. In the unofficial scoring the women's team finished in 18th place out of 29 collegiate teams. Three individuals scored top 8 finishes for the women's team. Kirsti Whitmyre finished in 5th place among collegiate runners and 8th place overall in the 5000 meter standings. She was the only community college runner in the fast heat of the 5000. Jessica Paranthaman was the winner of the second heat running the 8th fastest time in school history, a 19:30.59. Kim Kilgroe bested her own school record by a little over a second in the 3000 meter steeplechase finishing in 7th place in the meet. Vy Huynh and Yasamin Yazdi also ran the steeplechase and finished with career bests to better their times on the All-Time Top 10 list at De Anza. The final top 8 finish came in the 200 from Deirdra Pettigrue running a season best 25.41 which is good enough to improve her standing on the top 10 list now to 5th all-time, and placed her in 8th place in the meet. Jamila McIntosh also bettered her standing in school history moving into 2nd place now in the women's hammer throw with a personal best 119'7". For the men there was a bit more scoring. The men had 7 Top 8 places in the meet. In the unofficial scoring the men finished 14th out of 27 college teams in the meet. Both relays were just off their season bests while missing a key member. The 4x100 relay finished in seventh place and the 4x400 relay finished in 6th place overall in the meet. Kevin Gonzales had a fantastic day not making the fast heat in either the 100 or the 200 meter dashes. However, Kevin finished tied for 6th place among college runners in the 100 and 4th place overall in the 200 running close to season bests despite running into a headwind. Daniel Chen also was a double place winner in both hurdle events. In the 110HH Chen finished in 6th place from a slower heat, and came back to finish in 8th place in the 400 hurdles. The final Top 8 finish on the day was Ka Wai Ng finishing in 8th place in the triple jump. Abiy Gebrekristos did not place in the top 8 finishing 9th among college runners in the 5000 but he did run a season best 15:33.67 to become the first male athlete to earn an automatic qualiying time into the NorCal Championships in the 5000. This time also qualifies him in the 10000 meter run for the NorCal Championships. A busy week is ahead for the Dons. With finals up for the student athletes the Dons will be juggling tests all week with practice and two meets coming up. The Bob Rush state preview meet will be held Thursday at College of San Mateo all day. Also up this week is one of the nations best early season meets, The Stanford Invitational. The Dons qualified 6 individual events and one relay on the men's side and 2 individual events and one relay on the women's side. These athletes will be competing both Friday and Saturday this week heading into spring break.

Aggie Open

A group of 20 athletes, who qualified, headed out early Saturday morning to spend the day at the UC Davis Aggie Open. This meet easily represented the toughest competition the Dons have faced this year. The Ladies had two girls who placed in the top 8 in this meet. Kirsti Whitmyre continued her climb through the records of De Anza history finishing second place in the 5000 meter run as the only Junior College athlete in the field of 13 four-year school scholarship athletes. The only girl who beat her was from the University of San Francisco. Her time of 18:05.37 moved her up to the second fastest 5000 in school history. Dierdra Pettigrue also was runner-up at the meet. She finished second to a girl from Sacramento State University with a time of 58.11 which moves her up two spots to 7th All-Time on the Top Ten list. Pettigrue also added a 6th place finish in the 200. In the field events Jamila McIntosh and Whitnee Garrett were throwing for the second time this week and had PR's in all of their respective events they competed in. Jamila McIntosh added almost 2 feet to her season best in the Discus and Whitnee Garrett threw her season bests in both the Shot Put and Hammer Throw. For the Men the placing wasn't as high but more men contributed Top 8 performances in the meet. Kevin Gonzales place in the top 8 in all three events he competed in. He contributed an 8th place finish in the 100 and a 5th place finish in the 200. Gonzales also led off the 4x100 team to a 5th place finish and a season best time of 42.12. Charles Hudson, Kwame Agyemang, and Don Gaspar were the other members on the 4x100 team. Daniel Chen added a fifth place finish in the 110HH just missing his season best into a stiff headwind. Abiy Gebrekristos added two 8th place finishes in his high mileage day finishing 8th in both the 2 mile run and the 5000 meter run. Ka Wai Ng was the final Top 8 finisher with an 8th place in the triple jump. The Dons will again head north into what should be another step up on competition as they head to the Hornet Invitational hosted by Sacramento State University.

CSM Mini Meet

A scaled back group of De Anza athletes went to the College of San Mateo on Thursday (3/12) and competed against Fresno City, CSM, DVC, Marin and Santa Rosa. The women's team finished 2nd in the meet behind Fresno City College without competing in any sprinting events. Some of the good performances were freshman Meghan Thomas making her season hurdling debut and winning both hurdle events with NorCal Provisional Times. She was also a member of the winning 4x400 relay. Thomas accounted for all three of the Don's wins on the day. Marshey Brown was runner-up in the Long and Triple Jumps. It was Brown's first time ever triple jumping and she hit a NorCal Provisional Mark of 34'2" which was also good enough to move her into 6th All-Time in school history. The Women's team had 7 either new or improved NorCal Provisional Marks. Kim Kilgroe and Lauren Rosiles also improved their All-Time School Marks in the Pole Vault going 7'5.75" and 6'0" respectively, and Jamila McIntosh improved her 3rd best All-Time Hammer Throw mark by almost 4 feet. For the Men's team last year's state qualifiers Rene Stephan and Michael Barrios led the Dons on the field with improved marks on the season. Stephan hit the provisional mark in the Javelin with a throw of 153' in his runner-up performance. Barrios had a lifetime PR with a Pole Vault of 14'1.25" in his runner-up performance in the vault. The third and final NorCal mark improvement was Tim Stanislao improving is Triple Jump mark to 42'1.5". A group of about 20 De Anza track athletes who qualified for the Aggie Open held a UC Davis will compete Saturday (3/14).

Gator Preview

As the sun came out for this track meet the De Anza Track teams put an assault out on the record books and the NorCal Qualifying list. In what was the best weather the teams have performed in so far this season both the Men's and Women's teams responded well. This was also the first meet of the year competing against 4-year schools and local track clubs and elite athletes. Some teams may have been intimidated by the experience but the young Dons responded well with almost all of the athletes who competed having at least one season best mark. Between the Men's and Women's teams the teams also 5 automatic qualifying marks and 20 provisional NorCal Qualifying marks. The good conditions and the great competition to compete against helped pull the men and women to these excellent marks. The All-Time De Anza Top Ten List was also rewritten for the 5th week in a row. The women's 3000 meter steeplechase once again was reshuffled with a new person emerging at the top. Freshman Kim Kilgroe competing in just her second lifetime steeplechase broke the school record by over 27 seconds with a time of 12:22.82. She was actually competing against last years state qualifier and previous school record holder Angie Sandavol who now runs for Mills College and ended up finishing in 5th place and 4th among college athletes. This was also an automatic qualifying mark to the NorCal Championships. Behind her Lauren Rosiles moved up to 5th place on the All-Time List ahead of Vy Huynh who also competed. Both of these two athletes also ran lifetime personal bests with NorCal provisional marks. After the women's steeplechase David Rios finished 5th in the Men's Steeplechase with a personal best just missing the NorCal Provisional Mark. Next on the track was the Men's 4x100 teams. De Anza put three teams on the track and ended up finishing in first place edging out Chico State with a season best time of 42.62. De Anza's "B" team would have placed in 3rd but was disqualified for a zone infraction but closely following them was the De Anza "C" team which did break the 44 second barrier and finished in 4th beating the "A" teams from Humboldt State, Santa Rosa and the UC Santa Cruz track club. Next on the track was freshman Kirsti Whitmyre who is continuing her amazing season by finishing in third place out of 34 athletes in the 1500 and was the first collegiate athlete across the line in what is now the 7th best All-Time women's mark with a 4:53.83. Jessica Paranthaman and Kim Chew also bettered their provisional marks and finishing as the 5th and 8th fastest college runners in the race. In the Men's 1500 all six guys who competed ran a season best although no one was in the top 8 places in the race. In the women's 100 Hurdles freshman Vicky Leung finished as the 6th fastest collegiate runner and bettered her provisional qualifying mark running a season best 18.58. Next up was the Men's 110HH race Daniel Chen finished in second place overall running the 8th fastest ever De Anza 110HH race with his time of 15.49. Rhoden Briones was the 8th place collegiate finisher in the race also running a PR. In the women's 400 freshman Marshey Brown moved up the All-Time De Anza list with her NorCal automatic qualifying time of 58.49 which was good enough to be the second fastest college runner. She was followed by Deirdra Pettigrue who finished in third place. In the Men's 100 meter race Kevin Gonzales ran his first 100 of the season and finished in 6th place with a NorCal provisional mark of 11.01 into a slight headwind. In the 400 hurdles Vicky Leung finished in 5th place with a season's best just missing the NorCal provisional mark. In the Men's race Marko Vatavuk finished in 3rd place among college athletes bettering his provisional mark to 58.02. Next on the track was the 200 meter dash with Pettigrue finishing as the top collegiate athlete with Brown finishing second both were slightly below their season's best times. The Men's 200 was highlighted by three Dons finishing among the top 8 collegiate runners. Kevin Gonzales was third with his season best NorCal provisional mark of 22.13, which was also good enough to move into 6th place on De Anza's All-Time List. Don Gaspar came was next with a NorCal provisional mark of 22.59, followed by Charles Hudson who finished 8th among college participants. As the sun started to set on the track the 5000 meter runners were taking the track. Eight members of the women's team ran the 5000 and all eight ran a personal best. Kirsti Whitmyre bettered her season best and moved up to 3rd on the All-Time List with her State Best time of 18:29.50, which also qualifies her for the NorCal 10000 meter run. She was followed by Kim Chew, Jessica Paranthaman, and Kim Kilgroe who all ran NorCal Provisional Marks and now rank second, third and fifth respectively on the NorCal performance list this season behind Whitmyre. Since the sun went down and the automatic timing device doesn't work in the dark the Men's 5000 was hand timed and results have not been made available yet but all seven guys running the race also ran a season best on the unofficial results. The Men's 4x400 was cancelled due to darkness. A couple of field events also saw improved perfomances. Jamila McIntosh finished in 6th place, bettering her NorCal mark to 116'4". Mike Barrios was in a tie for first at 12' in the pole vault when it was shut down due to darkness. Ka Wai Ng finished in third place in the Men's Triple Jump with his season best provisional mark of 45'5.75". He was followed by Tim Stanislao who finished in 7th and Ted Green in 8th among college jumpers. The last field event place winner was Rene Stephan who finished 4th among college participants in the Javelin. The De Anza runners have a busy week coming up with their first week of split squads. Some of the athletes will be competing in the CSM Mini-Meet on Thursday while others will step up in competition level again by heading to UC Davis to compete in the Aggie Open on Saturday.

Maurice Compton Invitational

Once again the track teams competed in less than ideal weather conditions. On a cold and very windy day overlooking the bay in Oakland at Merritt College, strong winds and cool temperatures were a major component in the scores and times on the day. Although this meet wasn't officially scored, the Women's team would have finished second to Laney College and the Men would have tied for third with City College of San Francisco, behind Hartnell and Modesto Colleges out of the 14 Men's and Women's teams competing. Some good performances were turned in despite the weather. The Men's team did not win any events however, some top performances did occur with the tough competition. Don Gaspar became the first member of the men's team to make De Anza's All-Time Top Ten list moving into 5th place on the 400m list running a 49.32. Newcomer Ka Wai Ng earned third place in the Triple Jump with a jump of 44'7.5". Some of the other medalists included Jeremy Lipp in the Steeplechase, Marko Vatavuk in the 400 Hurdles and Abiy Gebrekristos in the 5000 all placing 3rd in the meet. On the Women's side of the competition the Lady Dons earned five individual victories on the day. Three of those victories came on the track from Kirsti Whitmyre by completing the distance trifecta. Whitmyre started the day winning the 1500 with a 5:05, then came from behind to win the 800 at the line in 2:28 and finished the day with her most impressive race of the day winning the 5000 in what is currently the fastest time run in the state with an 18:39.54. Whitmyre lapped the entire field in the race and also moved up one slot on the All-Time list to the 5th fastest time in school history. The other two victories came on the lower field outside the stadium for the ladies. Whitnee Garrett won the Hammer Throw and Jamila McIntosh earned the victory in the Discus. The other medalists on the day included: Jamila McIntosh third in the Hammer Throw, Marshey Brown third in the Long Jump, Jessica Paranthaman third in the 1500, Kim Chew third in the 800, Vicky Leung third in the 400 Hurdles, and the 4x100 relay also earned bronze. Thuy-Vy Huynh did better her Steeplechase record mark and moved up to 5th on the All-Time list and earned a mark good enough to qualify for the NorCal Championships. Marshey Brown also moved onto the All-Time list moving into 10th place on the 100 list. The Dons will be in action again March 7th competing in the San Francisco State University Gator Preview, which begins at 9AM.

Santa Rosa Rotational

Mother Nature finally cooperated with the De Anza Track teams and provided a good early season afternoon of weather, and due to this nice change the De Anza Track teams responded in a big way. The Women's continued their early season success in a big way. The Women outscored the other five teams in the rotational's scores combined. On the track in eleven running events De Anza won seven of them. Deirdra Pettigrue continued her assault on the All-Time De Anza Top 10 list by winning the 100 and 200 with times that placed her 6th and 10th All-Time Respectively. Kirsti Whitmyre continued her dominance of the long races on the track winning the 1500 and 3000. Kim Kilgroe led a group of ladies in the first 3000 Steeplechase of the year winning the event in the second fastest time in school history. Yasamin Yazdi and Lauren Rosiles finished the race and landed 5th and 7th All-time and Thuy-Vy Huynh actually finished in a personal best time but dropped from 4th to 6th on the list. Kim Chew earned her first collegiate victory ever winning the 800 nudging out two other De Anza runners to sweep the top three spots. The final victory of the meet on the track came in the 4x400 relay with the team of Marshey Brown, Chew, Jessica Paranthaman and Pettigrue. Off the track after missing last weeks meet due to illness Whitnee Garrett came back strong winning two events the shot put and hammer throw. With three meets done in the 2009 season the women have 26 NorCal provisional and automatic qualifying marks. Unlike past weeks where the girls have stole the spotlight the Men's Team joined in the fun by also winning the rotational meet edging out Coast Conference Rival Hartnell in the team scoring and winning four events. David Rios earned his first collegiate victory leading a pack of Dons through their first ever 3000 Steeplechase and started the Dons out with 28 team points right out of the gate. Daniel Chen was the second victory for the Dons in the 400 hurdles. Abiy Gebrekristos won the 3000 meter run edging out teammate Clifford Crum for his second victory of the season. Finally in one of the most exciting races of the year so far, Don Gaspar got the baton in second place in the 4x400 relay but quickly passed Hartnell's anchor runner to seal the event and meet victory. The men now have 15 provisional marks for the NorCal Championships. The Dons will head to their first Invitational of the season when they travel next Saturday Feb. 28th to Oakland to compete in the first ever Maurice Compton Invite at Merritt College. This should be a great meet with many of Northern California's best teams scheduled to compete.

Diablo Valley Rotational

The De Anza Track Teams were on the road in less than desireable weather conditions for a second week. This week at Diablo Valley College the Dons participated in the 10 team NorCal Super Rotational with an ever changing weather pattern. The day had a little bit of everything when it came to the weather. The day started off a little overcast and cold, then it rained and delayed the field events for a short while, while the first couple running events were contested in the rain. After the first shower ended the wind picked up and the sun came out for a bit. But by the end of the meet the final three events were run in a cold downpour of rain again. The Dons did overcome the bad conditions again for another good performance. The Women lost to perrenial state powerhouse Sacramento City College by 1.5 points in the team scoring, and if it wasn't for a misinterpretation of the rules at the triple jump the Dons would have actually won the meet. Some of the highlights of the the meet for the Lady Dons was once again winning five events. The Lady Dons started the day off by getting the stick around the track in the 4x100 to get first place. The 4x100 meter team was made up of Meghan Thomas, Tiffany Loi, Vicky Leung, and Lauren Rosiles. Next up on the track was Kirsti Whitmyre holding off two tough competitors from College of Sequoias to take the 1500 meter title for the second meet in a row. Her time of 4:59.28 was good enough to also earn an automatic qualifying time for the NorCal Championships. Kim Chew finished 5th in the 1500 but did earn a provisional qualifying mark for NorCals in the event also. The next winner on the track was Deirdra Pettigrue who captured the 400 meter race in a NorCal automatic qualifying mark of 58.95. This mark also placed her 8th on the De Anza Top 10 list for the 400. She was followed closely by Marshey Brown who finished 2nd and bettered her previous weeks provisional mark and moved into 10th all-time in the De Anza Record books. Whitmyre came back onto the track for the 5000 in the downpour to win in a NorCal provisional time of 19:30.46, which was good enough for 6th best all-time in De Anza History. The final win for the Lady Dons came with Marshey Brown, Kim Chew, Kim Kilgroe and Dierdra Pettigrue teaming up for victory in the 4x400. A few other highlights of the meet were Jamila McIntosh moving up from 7th to 3rd all-time in the Hammer Throw, and Kim Kilgroe and Lauren Rosiles clearing 5'6" in the Pole Vault to become the 6th and 7th females in school history to clear a pole vault height. On the Men's side of the meet, the Don's finished 3rd behind Sacramento City College and City College or San Francisco. The Dons only managed one individual title on the day when Abiy Gebrekristos ran to a cold wet victory in his first collegiate 5000 meter run. Gebrekristos ran fast enough to hit the provisional mark in the 5000. Earlier that day Gebrekristos earned a provisional mark in the 1500. Three other Dons earned NorCal provisional marks during the meet. Rene Stephan hit the mark in the Hammer Throw, Michael Barrios will be headed back to NorCals in the Pole Vault again this season and Marko Vatavuk earned a qualifying mark in the 400 Hurdles. The Dons will next compete at Santa Rosa Junior College in the second round of NorCal Rotational Meets on Friday Feb. 20th.

Coast Conference Preview Opens up 2009 Season

The 2009 track and field season got underway under very wet and miserable conditions. The Coast Conference Preview Meet was held Friday (Feb. 6) at West Valley College in extremely wet and raining conditions. Many events were cut short or not contested at all and the meet was filled with late scratches of athletes. Most of lane one was underwater for the meet also. The pole vault and 4x400 relays were not run at all in this meet. Despite all of these horrible conditions. The Dons had some bright spots during this gloomy day. This meet was not officially scored however, if the meet were scored the Lady Dons would have easily outdistanced the field. The Lady Dons had five event wins, seven NorCal provisional qualifying marks, and one all-time Top 10 De Anza performance. Leading the Dons was Kirsti Whitmyre who picked up where she left off in the fall when she was Conference Runner-up in Cross Country. Whitmyre led the Dons with two individual victories (1500, 3000) and a runner-up performance (800). The other individual winners for the Dons was Marshey Brown (400), Deirdra Pettigrue (800), and Kim Kilgroe (High Jump). Along with these girls who all reached provisional qualifying marks Whitnee Garrett (Hammer, Shot Put), and Jessica Paranthaman (1500) joined them with qualifying distances and time. Jamila McIntosh also changed the De Anza Top 10 All-Time list on her first collegiate meet by landing in 7th on the Hammer Throw list. On the Men's side of things if the meet were to be scored The Dons would have been a close runner-up to defending Coast Conference Champions Hartnell. The Men's team was victorious in four events in the rain. The relay team of Thompson Ly, Kevin Gonzales, Ted Green, and Don Gaspar started the day off by winning the 4x100 meter relay. Three other individuals also collected wins in the meet. Rene Stephan squeeked out a victory in the Discus by one inch. Daniel Chen was victorious in his De Anza debut winning the 110HH and Tim Stanislao won the rain shortened Triple Jump with the one jump each competitor received before the event was stopped for safety reasons. All of these events also hit provisional marks for the NorCal Championships in May. The track teams will next compete next Friday Feb. 13th at Diablo Valley College in the NorCal Super Rotational ten team meet at 11AM.

2009 Track Season

The 2009 track season will kick off tomorrow at noon when the De Anza Dons travel to West Valley College for the Coast Conference Preview Meet. With one of the largest teams in the schools history, the Dons look to improve on the giant steps made last year toward becoming one of the NorCal elite teams. One the men's side the Dons are led by returning state qualifiers Rene Stephan (shot put) and Michael Barrios (pole vault). With a large crop of newcomers including three NCAA Division I transfers it looks to be the strongest team from top to bottom in many years here at De Anza. On the women's side Whitnee Garrett (Hammer) is the returning state qualifier. The women's team also is seeing some of its biggest numbers ever at De Anza. The women's team features six girls who led the women's cross country team to the state meet in the fall, along with several talented high school state qualifiers. It looks to be an exciting year. See our schedule and come support your Dons!

The 2008 Track Season

Coach Mattis joined the De Anza Track teams for his first season as the head coach of the Dons, and the Dons responded with one of their best track and field seasons in many years. The De Anza Men finished in fourth place and the Women finished 3rd in the Coast Conference Championships.

Men's Season Highlights included:

Darren Rous- Coast Conference Champion 800M, NorCal Runnerup 800M, 7th place State Championships 800M, California Junior College state 800M fastest time 2008
Michael Barrios - Coast Conference Champion Pole Vault, 6th Place NorCal Pole Vault, State Qualifier Pole Vault
Sean Alexander- 6th Place NorCal High Jump, State Qualifier High Jump
Rene Stephan- 6th Place NorCal Shot Put, State Qualifier Shot Put
NorCal Championship Finalists - 110HH, 800M, 4x400M Relay, High Jump, Pole Vault, Shot Put, Javelin
Stanford Invitational Qualified Events - 4x100M Relay, 4x400M Relay, Long Jump, 400M Hurdles
11th Place NorCal Championships

Women's Season Highlights included:

One Hundred Point Improvement in Team Points over previous year in Coast Conference Championships
Cynthia Chaidez- Coast Conference Champion 800M, 1500M, 5000M; NorCal Champion 800M, 1500M, 2nd place 5000M; All-American 1500M 3rd place State Championships, 7th place State Championships 800M, 5000M State Qualifier
Angie Sandoval- Coast Conference Champion 3000M Steeplechase, 10000M; 5th Place 10000M, 5th Place 3000M Steeplechase NorCal Championships; State Qualifier 3000M Steeplechase, 10000M, Broke School Record in 3000M Steeplechase
Whitnee Garrett- 3rd place Hammer Throw NorCal Championships, State Qualifier Hammer Throw, Broke School Record in Hammer Throw
NorCal Championship Finalist - 800M, 1500M, 5000M (2 entrants), 10000M, Hammer Throw, Shot Put
7th Place NorCal Championships

Whitnee Garrett was named the 2008-2009 De Anza Student-Athlete of the Year

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Men's and Women's Track and Field