Roberts leads Modesto JC men to third place at state track

Daniel Roberts, far from his South Dakota roots, won’t forget his two years at Modesto Junior College.

Roberts hasn’t yet decided his future school, but he can only hope to repeat his MJC success. The popular field-events star will leave with five state titles, the last two at the CCCAA Track and Field State Championships, which ended Saturday at San Diego Mesa College.

“I’m glad I made it out to California,” he said Saturday night, referring to his work with throws coach Bob MacKay and others. “Coming here, I developed so much.”

Roberts could not attempt a repeat of his 2015 hammer throw-discus-shot put triple at state after he failed to qualify in the shot put last week at NorCals. He did the next-best thing, however, by defending his titles in the hammer and discus.

In fact, Roberts erased a 12-year-old meet record by throwing the hammer 206 feet, 3 inches, followed in second place by teammate Erick Loomis (192-3). On Saturday, Roberts capped his JC career by winning the discus (178-11).

“We might not see an athlete perform for us like that again,” MJC coach Demitrius Snaer said. “Nothing compares to it.”

Roberts anchored a solid third-place team finish by MJC’s nine state qualifiers. The Pirates totaled 63 points, far behind Mt. San Antonio in first place with 148. Then again, Mt. SAC dominated with 25 athletes in the field.

Modesto’s third, after a fourth last year, was the best state performance by the Pirates in Snaer’s 12-year run as coach.

Donovan Wallace completed a busy two days with second-place finishes behind Mt. SAC’s Cravon Gillespie in the 100 and 200. Wallace trailed in the 100 (10.34) but ran a good turn in the 200 (21.14) before Gillespie caught him. The MJC star also ran a leg on the 4x100 relay team, which placed third (41.03).

“He (Wallace) wanted it bad,” Snaer said. “There was a lot of pressure on him. I thought he ran really well.”

Snaer also credited Alexies Reynoso, who was unranked in the 1,500 but came through with a sixth, and freshman Deaven Booker, who exceeded expectations with his fourth in the javelin.

“(The team’s high finish) doesn’t happen without them,” Snaer said.

Modesto, third at NorCals last week, beat all NorCal teams at state.

MJC women 15th – The 11 MJC women’s state qualifiers came home with a 15th-place team finish. The Pirates were fourth at NorCals last week.

“I’m very proud of how the team did,” said coach Mary Shea, who returned this season after a one-year sabbatical. “This was a very tough state meet. The times and marks are dropping.”

The busiest of the Pirates was sophomore Breanna Lowther, who placed fourth in the discus, seventh in the hammer and 11th in the shot put.

Dani Olson also had a full agenda. She placed ninth in the 100 hurdles and led the 4x400 relay team to a fifth and the 4x100 to a sixth. The 4x400 quartet – Olson, Lyric Anderson, Jocelyn Montes and Mariajose Correa – was timed in a season-best 3:57.51.

Earning sixths were Amber Flores in the pole vault (10-4) and Dana Pollard in the steeplechase (11:49.47).

This story was originally published May 22, 2016 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Roberts leads Modesto JC men to third place at state track."