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Five Cougars Earn USTFCCCA All-Region Honors

NEW ORLEANS – The Cal State San Marcos men's and women's track & field teams placed five student-athletes on the 2024 NCAA Division II U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region Team.
 
Kalathan Laiwa-McKay and Nick Melanese earned the honor on the men's side while Rasha Badrani, Lilly McGraw and Devin Yarbrough earned the honor on the women's side.
 
The top five individuals in each event from each region earned All-Region honors, in addition to each of the members of a top-three ranked relay team.
 
Laiwa-McKay earned All-Region honors for the second time in the shot put. The back-to-back CCAA individual champion posted the top mark in the West Region at 17.35 meters in his final meet of the year at the Franson Last Chance on May 9, breaking his own school record by .21.
 
Melanese earned All-Region honors for the second time overall and the first time in the 1500-meter run. Melanese posted the third-fastest time in the region at the Mangrum Invitational on March 22 as he recorded the second-best mark in program history at 3:44.80. His time ended up qualifying him for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
 
Badrani earned All-Region honors for the second time in the 400-meter hurdles. Badrani recorded the second-fastest time in the region at the CCAA Track & Field Championships as she won the individual championship and broke her own school record with a time of 59.30 seconds. Her time ended up qualifying her for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
 
McGraw earned All-Region honors for the first time in the pole vault. McGraw tied for the third-best mark in the region after winning the individual championship with a mark of 3.86 meters, breaking her own school record.
 
Yarbrough earned All-Region honors in the long jump for the third consecutive year. Yarbrough recorded the fifth-best mark in the region at the Franson Last Chance with a distance of 5.99 meters.
 
Since 2018, the men's time has had 18 USTFCCCA All-Region performances while the women's team has accumulated eight.

Players Mentioned

Rasha Badrani

H/S
Sophomore

Lilly McGraw

PV
Redshirt Sophomore

Devin Yarbrough

J/S
Redshirt Junior

Kalathan Laiwa-McKay

T
5' 10"
Junior

Nick Melanese

D
6' 0"
Redshirt Junior

Players Mentioned

Rasha Badrani

Sophomore
H/S

Lilly McGraw

Redshirt Sophomore
PV

Devin Yarbrough

Redshirt Junior
J/S

Kalathan Laiwa-McKay

5' 10"
Junior
T

Nick Melanese

6' 0"
Redshirt Junior
D