The Moorpark College track and field team placed second in the WSC north meet Friday afternoon with 132 points thanks to strong showings in both the men’s and women’s events.
The 100m, 200m, and 400m sprints were what hurt the Raiders as both the men and women only placed in the top five twice when freshman Leanne Mccarthy placed fifth in the 100m dash with a time of 12.69 seconds, and freshman Cameron Harn finished fifth in the 400m with a time of 50.82 seconds.
Due to a poor finish in the 4X100m, the Raiders could only seven points for both men and women in the sprint events.
Distance running was a much different story for the Raiders as they placed in the top five in both the 1500m and the 3000m for the men and women.
Sophomore Jonathan Gomez finished second in the men’s 1500m with a time of 4 minutes, 05.52 seconds, less than a second behind first place. Sophomore Madelyn Stoltze came in fourth for the women in the 1500m with a time of 4:57.91.
The 3000m also saw some strong performances as both freshman Cesar Lopez and sophomore Isidore Herrera finished in the top five. Lopez came in fourth with a time of 9 minutes, 10.71 seconds, and Herrera came in fifth with a time of 9:16.22 for the men. Stoltze hauled in another strong performance by landing in second place with a time of 10:31.30.
Distance running Coach Eleazar Hernandez was very proud of his group’s effort and success in the meet.
“They did great,” he said. “We had a couple of PRs [personal records], and it was [a] tough field, especially with Glendale. They have one of the best distance runners in the state, and they were actually running toe to toe with them…”
Shotput proved to be another strong point for the Raiders, with four throwers finishing in the top five. Freshman Josh McClure came in first with a throw of 15.43m, sophomore Kenneth Sugishita came in second with a throw of 14.68m, sophomore Acero Gabriel came in third with a throw of 13.49m and sophomore Andrew Durham came in fourth with a throw of 12.82m.
The Raiders also performed well in the long jump, with the Raiders’ John Walsh placing third with a jump of 6.34m.
Men’s track coach Linda Boyan was very happy with the men’s performance at the meet.
“As a whole we did really awesome…the young guys in my sprints, which they are young this year, a lot of them had PRs [personal records], and we ran faster in some of our relays,” she said. “I’m really pleased with what they’ve done.”
The Raiders look to build upon some of the success they saw in the WSC north meet as they prepare for the Easter Relays on March 26.
