Pioneer Points
- October 29, 2013
Greetings, Cal State East Bay community! I hope the fall quarter is going smoothly for everyone — it has certainly been an exciting month for Athletics! Thank you to all the students, faculty and staff that have been attending games and events to support their fellow Pioneers. We have had some outstanding crowds this fall, and I hope the excitement for Athletics on campus only continues to grow as we move towards the winter season.
October was a month filled with fun events, from the massive al Fresco celebration to our annual student-athlete barbeque. It was also a month of firsts for a few of our remarkable Pioneer student-athletes.
Two weekends ago, on Oct. 26, our cross country teams raced in the 2013 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships in Chico. Sarah Perrin, a freshman from James Logan High School in Union City, placed 11th out of 200 runners. She was the top freshman finisher and, therefore, won the conference’s Freshman of the Year Award. She became the first Pioneer runner to earn All-CCAA honors and the first to collect a Freshman of the Year Award since we joined the CCAA!
The Pioneer golf teams also played their fall schedules in October, and one golfer in particular made it a month to remember. On Oct. 22, Andrea Castellanos, a four-year senior, won the individual championship at the Sonoma State Invitational. Andrea was three over par for the tournament, and it was the first victory of her Pioneer career!
I haven’t even mentioned our most successful squad from last year, the swim team. After finishing 2012-13 as one of the top 25 Division II teams in the nation, the Pioneer women are off to another great start. Two of the four All-American swimmers from last year are back, and the team already has dominant victories in their first two meets of the fall.
Meanwhile, our soccer and volleyball teams are still in the midst of grueling CCAA schedules that pit them against some of the top teams in the country on a weekly basis. It was a special moment — and probably the loudest night of the fall at Pioneer Gym — when the volleyball team defeated 11th-ranked Sonoma State in a thrilling five-set match on Oct. 18. That night, four-year senior Kitona Offord became Cal State East Bay’s all-time leader in career blocks!
This is one of my favorite times of year. As a former player and coach, I can’t help but get excited when the start of the basketball season rolls around. It was awesome to see so many fans out at Pioneer Gym Oct. 16 for our annual Basketball Madness event, and I hope to see even bigger crowds once the season starts. Both the men’s and women’s teams kick off their seasons in November, which promises to be another outstanding month for Athletics as we continue to strive for excellence in competition, in the classroom and in the community.
Go, Pioneers!