By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director

College of the Canyons student-athletes Aaliyah Garcia (women’s basketball) and Jerome Hughes (men’s track & field) have been named the COC Athletic Department’s Women’s & Men’s Student-Athletes of the Week for the period running Feb. 19-24. Garcia and Hughes are the ninth set of honorees for the winter/spring 2024 session.

Aaliyah Garcia / Women’s Basketball

Garcia poured in 30 points on a 10-of-22 shooting night to help lift Canyons over host Santa Monica College 70-49 in the Lady Cougars’ regular season finale Feb. 23.

The victory got Canyons back to .500 on the season and helped the program advance to the 3C2A Southern California Regional Playoffs for a third straight season.

The freshman point guard out of Canyon High School also added three rebounds, four assists and five steals on the night. The 30-point output was Garcia’s second highest of the season.

She finished the regular season with team-high averages of 18 points and 4.9 assists, alongside 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals each night out. Those numbers helped Garcia to earn All-Western State Conference (WSC), South Division First-Team honors.

Jerome Hughes / Men’s Track & Field

Hughes posted the top individual finish for the Cougars during the Western State Conference (WSC) North meet hosted by Cuesta College Feb. 23.

The sophomore sprinter out of Valencia High School finished runner-up in the 400m event with a time of 50.58. Later in the meet Hughes was clocked at 23.35 in the 200m to finish third in the field of more than 20.

Hughes was also part of the 4×100 relay team (Andre Bray, Da’Marrie Smith, Hughes, Alex Megas) which finished fourth at a time of 44.42.

Canyons track & field is back in action Friday, March 1 at the annual Santa Monica College Classic.