SAN MARCOS, Calif. - Last year, it was the men's; this year, it was the women's CCAA Track & Field Championship presented by FloCollege that came down to the 4x400m relay to determine who would be that year's champion.
 
Chico State needed at least a fourth-place finish to hold off Cal Poly Pomona, which was favored in the event. The Wildcats' relay team of Teresa Vasconcellos, Savannah Sawyer, Crystal Rosales, and Emma Gaddy delivered a second-place finish with a time of 3:46.22 to secure Chico State's first CCAA Championship since 2017 with 213.5 points.
 
That race capped off a day of great performances in the throws, jumps, and on the track, with many NCAA provisional standards set and multiple facility records broken.
 
Cal Poly Pomona's Neshara Smith completed an incredible weekend, earning her fourth gold medal with a first-place finish in the 100m hurdles. Smith posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 13.67 to earn the win and collect her 40th point of the championships. The senior from Bakersfield also won the long jump, high jump, and heptathlon, earning three NCAA provisional marks along the way. Smith is the first student-athlete to ever win high jump and long jump at the CCAA Championships in the same season, and the fifth to repeat as heptathlon champion. She was named the CCAA Field Athlete of the Meet and won the High Point Award.
 
Jessica James from Cal Poly Pomona won the women's Track Athlete of the Meet Award after earning points in five events. She won the 400m with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 54.57. She just missed another NCAA standard as she placed second in the 200m with a time of 24.12 to secure eight more points for the Broncos. James would add a fourth-place finish in the 100m, and she helped the relay teams win both races. In total, James earned 28.5 points for Cal Poly Pomona, which placed second with 209.5 points.
 
Cal State San Marcos' Nadia Miechowicz was voted the CCAA Freshman of the Meet after winning the 100m and 200m. The Escondido native registered a time of 11.89 seconds early in the day to secure the 100m title. She came back near the end of the meet and claimed her second gold medal with an NCAA provisional time of 23.93 in the 200m. She would also contribute to the 4x100m relay to come away with 20.75 points in the meet.
 
Newcomer of the Meet honors went to Cal State LA's Summer Stevenson, who garnered points in three events, including winning the triple jump with a facility record and NCAA provisional standard mark of 41-4.25 (12.60m). Stevenson also placed fourth in the long jump (18-6.5/5.65m) and helped the Golden Eagles' 4x100m relay team place fifth.
 
Cal Poly Humboldt's Isabel Perez-Zoghbi won multiple events and finished third in overall scoring with 21.25 points. Perez-Zoghbi won the 3000m steeplechase on Friday evening, then came back on Saturday to win the 800m with a facility record and NCAA provisional standard time of 2:08.00. She also helped the Lumberjacks take fourth in the 4x400m.
 
Iresh Molina earned 20 points for Chico State by winning the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. The junior from Chico won the 10k on Thursday evening (36:16.67) as she led a group of four Wildcats across the finish line to help Chico collect 29 points in the event. It was the same in the 5k, where Moline again led a pack of Wildcats to a dominant performance and earned Chico the points it needed to capture the title.
 
Molina was the first to cross the line, but seven of the eight scoring spots went to runners from Chico State. Megan Malloy finished second, and Iresh's twin, Della Molina, placed third. Fourth place went to Paulina Martins, followed by Kira Forsberg. A CPP runner, Galilea Jimenez, would break up the Wildcats' cluster, but they would add three more points with Isabel Rosales and Jasmine Fletcher crossing the line in seventh and eighth, respectively. In total, Chico State earned 36 of the 39 points in the event, giving it the lead going into the 4x400m.
 
Chico State's four-point win (213.5-209.5) is the closest conference championship score since Chico edged out UC San Diego 212.33-209.5 in 2010. It is the third closest margin of victory since 1999. 

Individual Award Winners
High Point Award: Neshara Smith, Cal Poly Pomona
Freshman of the Meet: Nadia Miechowicz, Cal State San Marcos
Newcomer of the Meet: Summer Stevenson, Cal State LA
Field Athlete of the Meet: Neshara Smith, Cal Poly Pomona
Track Athlete of the Meet: Jessica James, Cal Poly Pomona
Coach of the Year: Oliver Hanf, Chico State
Elite 13: Isabel Perez-Zoghbi, Cal State San Marcos

Women's Event Winners