Cherry Captures CCAA Championship in Long Jump
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- May 5, 2015
Junior Marquise Cherry leapt into the ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ record books on Saturday when he was crowned men's long jump champion at the 2015 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) track and field championships at San Francisco State.
Cherry was in third place heading into the final round, but with the conference title on the line, leaped 24 feet, 10 inches (7.57m), recording the sixth-longest jump in program history. The distance ranks No. 5 in the country and automatically qualifies him for the NCAA national championships.
"Marquise capitalized and picked the best time to jump," head coach Ralph Jones said. "Overcoming cold and windy conditions, he showed great resiliency to establish himself as one of the best jumpers in the country."
The Diamond Bar, Calif., native is just the second Pioneer student-athlete to win a CCAA championship since the program joined in the CCAA in 2010, joining 2014 triple jump champion Lauren McGlory.
Cherry also had a strong showing in the triple jump, taking second with a leap of 47 feet, 7.25 inches (14.51 meters).
In the 100, Cherry ran a personal best time in the preliminaries with a time of 10.70 seconds, which was tied for the third-best time in the preliminary rounds. Unfortunately, he sustained a minor muscle injury and was unable to compete in the finals.
Cherry's season will continue in three weeks when he competes in the long jump at the NCAA Championships in Allendale, Mich.
It was somewhat of a bittersweet day for teammate Khalil Corbin, who ran personal bests in his two races. Corbin ran the 100 meters in 10.75 seconds and the 200 meters in 22.14, but in both cases he fell just one spot short of qualifying for finals.
Leo Theus III took 12th place for the Pioneers in the 400 meters in 52.11 seconds. Kyle Fetter and Orlando Ramirez both ran the 800, clocking in a 2:07.83 and 2:12.61, respectively.