Women's Track Thrower Liz Ghazanchian Signs Scholarship To Cal State San Bernardino

Liz Ghazanchian in a signing ceremony at PCC last month.
Liz Ghazanchian in a signing ceremony at PCC last month.

Pasadena City College women's track and field thrower Liz Ghazanchian signed an athletic scholarship to attend Cal State University San Bernardino. Ghazanchian placed fifth in the discus throw at this year's 3C2A State Meet and was the Lancers top discus/shot put thrower the last two seasons.

Ghazanchian was third at the Southern California Championships when she made the second-longest discus throw in PCC women's track and field history at 144 feet, 5 inches. It was just one inch off the school record set 30 years earlier by Michelle Bryant. 

The graduating sophomore was second in the discus at the South Coast Coast Conference Championships as a freshman. This year, she was the first Lancer thrower to score at the state meet since the 1990s. 

She improved her performances thanks in part to Lancers assistant coach Grace Apiafi, who coached Bryant as well and herself was an Olympic thrower for Nigeria at the 1988 Seoul, Korea Games. Apiafi is still the state record holder for community colleges in the discus and shot put when she was an athlete at Mt. San Antonio College.

Ghazanchian participated under PCC head coach Innocent Egbunike, also an Olympian who won a bronze medal for Nigeria at the 1984 Los Angeles Games as a relay sprinter. 

Ghazanchian earned an Elizabeth Jensen Performance Scholarship from PCC and carries a strong 3.2 GPA to San Bernardino where she will be directed by CSUSB head coach Lauren Podgaysky.