Ventura College hosted the Western State Conference prelims Saturday where both the Pirates and the Moorpark College Raiders looked to qualify for the championships on Friday, April 30.
The Pirates did just that, putting together a very solid showing, finishing third in overall points for the men and fourth for the women, and were able to qualify players for championships.
Freshmen Jeff Bush and Thomas Castillo qualified for championships, finishing seventh and ninth overall in the April 24 prelims. Castillo also qualified for championships in the men’s 200m, finishing eighth overall.
The Pirates Blayne Lewis finished fourth overall in the 400-meter with a time of 50.03 seconds, only fractions of a second behind the leader.
For the woman, freshman Raquel Ormsby qualified for the 400-meter, finishing fourth overall.
Long distance proved to also be a strong point for the Pirates, as freshman Miguel Reyes was able to finish in eighth overall in the 1500-meter.
Sophomore Carissa Arce and freshman Mayra Sahagun finished eighth and ninth respectively in the women’s 1500-meter.
Freshman James Innis tied for first place in the high jump with a jump of 6’1″.
In men’s shot put freshmen Jordan Paea and Meshach Shively finished fourth and sixth respectively. Pirates sophomore Cynthia Sanchez finished second in the women’s shot put.
Both the men and women put together strong performances overall and head coach Tim Gutierrez believes that the team learned how to run with the correct intensity for conference prelims.
“Overall we came and worked hard and competed today,” said Gutierrez, “They learned a couple of things, how to compete and how to raise their intensity…”
The Raiders proved to be the strong focal point of prelims, with the men finishing first in overall points and the women second in overall points.
The Raiders have 18 qualifiers from both the men and women’s side.
Among those that qualified for championships included:
Zuleima Jimenez in the women’s 1500-meter, with a second-place time of 5:02.25; Jonathan Gomez in the men’s 1500-meter, with a fourth-place time of 4:08.37; Shara Longbotham in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, with a second-place time of 15.68 and five shot putters, including Kenny Sugishita, with a first-place throw of 49′ 9 ½”.
Raiders coach Linda Boyan was very impressed, pointing out how important it was to do well in the sprints and in throwing.
“I’m very pleased,” said Boyan.”We actually have two sprinters qualified through in the 400 and 100 the guys did a great job out in the throwing areas like they normally do.”
Both the Raiders and Pirates will look to qualify runners and throwers for the state championships April 30 at the WSC Championships at Moorpark College. The field events will begin at noon, and the running events begin at 2 p.m.
