Men's: 1953, 1955, 1966, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2006
Women's: 1976, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009
CALIFORNIA STATE HAMMER CHAMPION!!
(5/22/09-Jeffrey Jenn) Holly Lohse capped her Shasta College track and field career last weekend with a state title in the women's hammer throw. Not bad for someone whose fourth-best sport in high school was track and field. Now, it's landed her a partial scholarship to attend Sacramento State next season. Before Shasta College, Lohse was a standout in prep volleyball, basketball and softball at Hamilton High School before graduating in 2006. She was a two-time all-section pick in volleyball and basketball and once in softball. She then played one year of volleyball and softball at Butte College, but health issues caused her to change sports and schools. "My body was breaking down from the other sports," Lohse said. "I decided to try and do track and Shasta was a better fit for me." Plus, her boyfriend, Steven Candelaria, moved up to join the Shasta College baseball program. At Shasta, she hooked up with Knights throws coach Kirk Ramage and things took off. It all culminated at last week's state JC track and field championships. Lohse won the women's hammer throw with a personal-best mark of 164 feet, 8 inches, then finished second in the discus with a toss of 148-6. Though she fell short of her best in the discus, Lohse's PR is around 155 feet in that event, the Hamilton product was more than happy with her season. Outside of fouling three straight times in the shot put at the Northern California trials, there was little to be disappointed with. "It was so much fun," Lohse said. "I had a blast doing it. It felt really, really good." Lohse is joining a Hornets program that has fared well in recent years, thanks to its excellent facilities at the Alex Spanos Sports Complex. Sac State's throws program helped Enterprise product David Nichols went to Sac State and became a two-time All-American in the men's shot put a couple of seasons back. While Lohse was making her mark at the JC state meet, helping Shasta to a 12th-place team finish, the Sac State women's team won the Big Sky Conference team title. "I've thrown there a couple of times before," Lohse said about Sac State. "I'm very familiar from everyone. It's an hour from home. Other schools that expressed interest in Lohse included UC Davis, Nevada, Fresno State and Chico State. "At first I had no idea how the system worked," Lohse said. "I didn't know how to react to all the phone calls."Lohse is expected to compete in all the throwing events: the hammer throw, the discus, the shot put and even the javelin. Lohse admits she hasn't lifted the weights much, but that will change with the move to a D-I athletic program. "With the hammer, it is about speed," Lohse said. "Not many people know that. It's speed and technique, how quick you can spin. The discus is a lot about form, too."
Lohse plans to major in business and is focusing on entrepreneurship.
TAKES SECOND IN DISCUS
(5/15/09-San Mateo) Shasta College track and field athlete Holly Lohse earned the state title Friday in the hammer throw at the California Community College Athletic Association finals in San Mateo. Lohse's toss of 164 feet, 8 inches secured the win, that throw also set a new school record. Eric Wright was sixth on the men's side with a throw of 165-10. Following a state title in the hammer throw on Friday, Shasta College track and field athlete Holly Lohse placed second in discus on Saturday at the California Community College Athletic Association finals in San Mateo. Lohse threw a distance of 148 feet, 6 inches for the ranking. Ashley Webster was sixth in shot put with 41 feet, 5 inches. Amanda Potts was 12th in pole vault with 9 feet, 3 inches, and the Shasta women placed 12th overall. For the men's side, Donavan Lackey was seventh in the 800-meter dash with a time of 1:56.92. Marcus Sannadan was 12th in shot put with 45 feet, 8 inches.
BOTH WIN NORCAL HAMMER
(5/9/09-San Mateo) Shasta College's Holly Lohse is the Northern California College Track and Field champion in the hammer throw and will advance on to the California Community College Athletic Association Championships at College of San Mateo on Friday and Saturday. Lohse's toss was 157 feet, 10 inches, and she also was second in the discus at 146-5. Amanda Potts is also going to state in two events, as she was fifth in the pole vault and third in the javelin throw. Ashley Webster was fifth in the shot put. For the men, Eric Wright was the hammer throw champion at 165-10. Donovan Lackey was fourth in the 800 meters in 1 minute, 56.45 seconds and will move on to state. So will Marcus Sannandan, who was third in the shot put.
MEN TAKE SECOND
(4/25/09-Shasta College-Jeffrey Jen) Knights head track and field coach Aaron Junta figured that early-season injuries derailed the chance for a Golden Valley Conference team title this season.
But he reversed his thinking last week and decided to allow the Shasta College women's team a chance to defend its league crown. Sure enough, the Knights edged Butte 123 points to 119 at the GVC Championships at Shasta College on Saturday behind a stellar day from their throwers.
The Roadrunners ran away with the men's title as expected, compiling 144 points. Shasta was second with 84 points while an improved College of the Siskiyous squad took third with 77.
Junta is surprised about his women's team win, the program's second in a row and its eighth in the past 10 years. "I kind of calculated the points ahead of time a couple of weeks back and we came out behind by some 30 points," Junta recalled. "But I thought it over last week and decided why not go for it." That meant turning some of his athletes into iron women of sorts. Sophomore Amanda Potts and freshman Alisha Thompson competed in eight events apiece. Natalie Marquez ran every race between 800 meters and 10,000. The top performer for the Knights was sophomore Holly ohse, who swept all four throwing events, including getting a couple of personal bests. She came in seeded second in all of the events save for the discus. Yet, she won the shot put with a throw of 41 feet, 2 3/4 inches, edging past Butte's Prisca Pasina (40-8 1/2). Lohse then improved her hammer throw by some 15 feet, winning in a school-record 162-5. Her other personal record was the 125-4 winning effort in the women's javelin. Lohse then capped her day with a win in her top event, the discus (150-9). While Lohse was winning events, Potts and teammate Ashley Webster were getting thirds and fourths and tacking on a few key points here and there in the throws. "We stepped up," Lohse said. "All the girls showed up and competed." Lohse, who is being recruited by Division I and D-II track and field programs, is eyeing strong state finishes in the discus and now the hammer throw.
Potts also won the women's 400 in 1 minute, 2.38 seconds and took firsts in the pole vault (8-0) and the triple jump (30-4 3/4). Thompson won the 100 hurdles in 17.95 and was second in the high jump (4-9) and the long jump (16-7). "We had girls get PRs and have a big day," Junta said. The second-year coach thinks he also has a better men's track and field team compared with a year ago. The problem is that Butte and Siskiyous are also a lot better than a year ago. The Roadrunners had more sprinters and were better in the throwing events. Instead of holding off Shasta like a year ago, Butte ran away with the team standings. "I feel we're stronger especially in the sprints this year," Junta said. "We weren't quite as strong on the throws or the distances, but overall as a team we were better." The Knights still had some strong results. Cole Johnston took second in the men's 100 in 11.33 seconds, finishing behind Butte's Darius Ray (11.15) and a reprisal of their 1-2 finish at the Northern Section Masters meet in 2008. Johnston was fifth in the 200 (23.23), while twin brother Kyle was fifth in the 100 (11.46) and third in the 200 (22.73). Both also ran the 1,600 relay team, but Butte barely edged Shasta for the win in 3:23.31. Shasta's time was 3:23.63. Shasta's Donavon Lackey won the 800 in 2:03.64, while Jake Kyle was second in both the 110 hurdles (16.91) and the 400 hurdles (59.00). Tyler Bowman was first in the 3,000 steeplechase (10:36.22). Ronny Soulliere was second in the triple jump (42-3 1/2) and third in the long jump (20-6 1/4). In throwing events, Marcus Sannadan won the men's shot put with a throw of 49-7 1/2. Teammate Eric Wright won the hammer throw with a toss of 174-4, a full 22 feet better than Siskiyous' Joshua Sanford who was second. Wright was third in the discus in 131-2 while Sannadan was fifth at 118-5. In the end, that still left them behind Butte. All that remains on the schedule now are the Northern California championships and the state meet. The NorCal Trials are scheduled for Friday at Diablo Valley Junior College. The NorCal Finals occur on May 8, also at DVC. The state meet is on May 15-16 at the College of San Mateo. Reporter Jeffrey Jen can be reached at 225-8228 or at jjen@redding.com.
KNIGHT MEN FINISH IN 13th
(4/17/09-Concord) On April 17th, the Shasta College track team competed at the Harlan Anderson Memorial Inviational. The meet, which included 26 Colleges and Universities, was a tune up meet for the Golden Valley Championships which will be held on April 25th at Shasta College. The women were lead by Holly Lohse who had outstanding throws in the discus and shot put. Holly placed 2nd in the shot put in a mark of 41’ 7” and won the discus in a mark of 155’ 7”. Holly’s who is #2 in the state in the discus and #3 in the hammer throw, broke her discus school record in the event. Other positive marks were made by Amanda Potts who placed 3rd in the pole vault and 4th in the javelin. Jumper Alexis Han also placed 7th in the triple jump In the men’s competition, the men finished 13th. Outstanding performances were made by Eric Wright who placed 5th in the shot put with a mark of 45’ 11”. Cole Johnston also ran well in the 100M, placing 5th in a time of 11.08. His twin, Kyle, placed 6th in the 400M in a time of 50. 66. Jake Kyle also set season bests in both hurdle races placing 8th in running times of 17.09 and 58.92 respectively.
(Modesto Invitational) Eric Wright had his best day yet in a Shasta College uniform. The Sophomore from Eureka won the hammer throw (170-0) and placed 6th in the shot put, and 6th in the discus in the Modesto Invitational. All three of his throws were personal bests. Eric's hammer throw, a 25 foot improvment, puts him 3rd in the state. "He has been hitting big throws in practice, he just needed to do it in a meet," said throws coach Kirk Ramage. The invitational which featured 15 junior colleges is one of largest early season junior college meets in California. Other throwers to have success was Marcus Sannadan who placed fifth in the shot put with a mark of (45-8 1/2), Holly Lohse won the women's discus in 142-9 and was third in the shot put (38-4 1/2) and Amanda Potts took who took third in the javelin (108-8). In the sprints, twins Cole and Kyle Johnston, were third and fifth in the 100M with times of 10.93 and 11.16. Kyle was also fourth in the 200 in 22.85. Donavan Lackey also had a good performance in the 800M with a time of 2:02.
Shasta Invitational Form 2009
CSU-Chico Multi-event Results
CSU-Chico Relay Results
Jack Albiani Invitational Results
Sacramento Five Way Results
The 2009 Men’s Track and Field Team will have a new look to it. They will have 28 new faces out for a team that came 5 points shy of winning the Golden Valley Conference last year. Much like the previous year, Shasta will challenge Butte College for the League Championship. This year’s team should be much improved in all areas.
Shasta should have much depth in the sprints. Leading the way in the sprints will be Foothill graduates Cole and Kyle Johnston. The twin brothers should compete for a league title in both the 100 and 200 meters. Enterprise graduate Martin Harrison (a former Northern Sectional finalist) should add depth in the 100M and 200M. In the long sprints, Donavan Lackey should contend for a league championship in both the 400M and 800M. Derek Evans (Fort Wayne, Ind) also will contend for a league title in the 400M. Other sprinters Eddie Martinez and Jordan Buckingham should add depth while competing for a spot on both the 400M and 1,600M relays. Shasta will also be strong in the hurdle events. Competing in the 110 hurdles will be JT Minto and Shasta High School graduate Anthony Halesma. Both athletes should score point for the Knights at the conference level. Returning conference champion Jake Kyle is looking to defend his title in the 400 hurdles.
The Shasta team is thin in the endurance events this year. Andrew Milne who won the league championship in all five distance events last year had transferred to Southern Oregon University. The Knights will have some big shoes to fill in replacing him. Tyler Bowman who was the league runner up in the 3,000 steeplechase and the 800M will lead this group. Other endurance athletes Tom Chamberlain and Kyle Oilar should add depth to these events.
The jumping events should be strength of the Knights this year. The team will be very strong in the long jump; having 5 potential athletes who could jump over 22 feet. The Knights will be lead by Tyler Edwards, who was the Deleware state champion in the event with a person best of 23’ 7”. Tyler will compete in all three events this year. Behind Tyler will be a strong group of horizontal jumpers including Derek Evans, Ronny Soulaire, Anthony Halbersma, and Nolan Telles. Nolan, who was a former Northern Section Champion in the triple jump, should be Shasta’s top triple jumper. In the high jump, Shasta will have Mark Snyder (PR of 6-9) who should compete for a state title for the Knights. The Knights will also score points in the pole vault with returner Jake Kyle and converted Decathlete Anthony Halbersma.
The throws have been strength of the Knights ever since Kirk Ramege came over from Shasta High School to coach for the Knights. This year will not be any different. Returner Eric Wright should be much improved this year in the shot, discus, and hammer. Eric should compete for a spot in the state meet in all of these events. Newcomer Marcus Sanadan (Red Bluff HS) should be an instant state contender in all three throwing events. Other throwers Ben Hughes and Ben Weaver should add depth in the events.
Last year was the best Women’s team that Shasta has had in years. The Shasta Women finished 10th in the State Meet last year. In addition, Shasta Women’s teams won the GVC Conference by over 50 points and were only 5 points away from winning the Northern California Championship. This year the goal of the team is to replicate the accomplishments of last years team and hopefully win a Northern California title.
The Lady Knights sprints group will be lead by a couple of freshmen. Bailly McCulloch from Del Norte HS (25.9 200M) will be one of the top sprinters in Northern California. She will lead both of Shasta’s relay teams. In the hurdles, the Knights top hurdler will be Ashley Thompson. Ashley, who was the Northern League runner up in the hurdles the past couple of years will be one of the top hurdlers in Northern California. She is also looking at competing in the heptathlon this year as well. Adding to depth for the Knights will be Amanda Potts and Lydia McDemos.
The Knights should get many points in the distance events this year. Gone is Maggie Roberts (3rd in State in the 3,000M Steeplechase). However, the knights have a couple of distance runners who should make up the points of Maggie and compete for a spot in the state meet. Stephanie Kzenulak will be one of the top endurance runners in the state this year. Stephanie, a transfer from New Mexico St. is capable of winning state in several events including the 5K and 10K. Brittany Williams, a 2006 graduate from West Valley High should be one of the top runners in the Northern Section as well. Brittany was 3rd in Northern California and 8th in the state last year in the 3,000M steeplechase. Danielle Morarity, last year’s league runner up in the 1,500M should help with depth this year.
The jumping events should take a drop off from last year. Gone is Ashley Britton who was the top triple jumper in Northern California last year. Alexis Han will be Shasta’s top jumper and will contend for a spot in state meet in the high jump. Returning Northern California Champion Amanda Potts will also be back. Amanda will hope to defend her league and reigional championship in the pole vault as well as place in the California State Championships.
The throwers will be thin in numbers, however they will have one of the top junior college throwers in California. Holly Lohse was the state runner up in the Discus last year. This year Holly hopes to qualify for state in all of the throwing events. Amanda Potts who qualified for state in the javelin last year will add to the depth in the throws in both the javelin and the discus when she joins the track team after the Lady Knight basketball season is over.