HAYWARD, Calif. - The Cal State East Bay women's track and field team hosted the 2022 East Bay Invitational at Chabot College on Friday and Saturday. The Pioneers placed second among NCAA Division II programs in team points at the meet and third overall. 

Highlighting the Pioneers' performances was a first place finish in the women's 1,500 meters by Chase Worthen. Worthen completed the run in four minutes, 41.40 seconds, which was a personal best for her. 

Also in the 1,500 meters, following Worthen in the next three places were Amanda Navarro in second (4:49.36), Leza Cassidy (4:50.96) in third and Melissa Sosa (4:54.47). For Cassidy and sosa, their times in the run were personal bests. 

Additional highlighted performances for the Pioneers include:

• A personal best in the women's 800 meters for Veronica Valenton of 2:23.81, finishing third.
• A personal best for Ariel Van Riper in the women's 5,000 meters of 19:16.33. 

Post-meet Quote

Cal State East Bay head coach Tony Nicolosi on both Pioneer teams:
"We love hosting this meet. And our team really stepped up both from a hosting standpoint and a competitive standpoint. Dylan Shubert and Melissa Sosa qualified for the CCAA championships in impressive fashion. Veronica Valenton and Chase Worthen had huge personal bests. And several others put themselves in position to have a great postseason. We are extremely excited." 

The Pioneers have two upcoming meets in Southern California that begin this coming Wednesday. They include the Bryan Clay Invite, hosted by Azusa Pacific, and the Mt. SAC Relays, taking place at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. A preview outlining probable event assignments for the Pioneers will be released later this week prior to the first day of the meets.