Pirates Women Claim First in Home Track Opener

Ventura College's Men and women's track & field teams welcomed Glendale College, Santa Monica College, West LA College, Moorpark College, and Antelope Valley College to the Sport Plex for the annual Western State Conference South 6-way meet. On the men's side, Glendale College took the top spot with 151 points, followed by Antelope Valley (111), West LA (101), Moorpark (79), Santa Monica (50), and Ventura (47). On the women's side, fueled by ten first place finishes, the Pirates took the top spot of the other five schools scoring 176 points. West LA (146), Antelope Valley (82), Glendale (63), Santa Monica (29), and Moorpark (28) rounded out the scoring.

The men were paced by Tristan Griffith who took the sprint double winning the 100 and 200 meters. His 200 meter winning time of 22.05 moved him to tenth on the Pirate all-time list. Sam Boyle also had a good day running a lifetime best (and  sixth fastest) 4:03 1500 meters and a seasonal best in the 800 meters for second and fourth, respectively.

Alisha Greenlaw did the bulk of the damage for the Pirates women's team, running on two winning relays relays, winning the 100 meters, 100 meter hurdles, triple jump and taking second in the long jump (Greenlaw's 100 meter win ranks her fourth all-time). Alyssa Carrillo scored in all four throws with two wins, one second and one fourth. Danielle Colvin joined in as a top Pirate scorer running on the two winning relays, placed fifth in the 200 meters, third in the 400 meters, and a first place in the long jump bouncing out to 17'6" (eighth). Tiara Litonjua won for the second week in the 400 hurdles and also placed third in the 100 meter hurdles. Marissa Tobin ran on both winning relays, and tied for first in the pole vault equaling her own school record in the process.

Other Pirates hitting the scoring ledger included Justin Coert (Shot Put and discus), Raul Martinez (discus), Ronald Washington (high jump and 100 meters), Amanda Wendt (800 meters), Gabriella Ramirez and Brittany Cox (400 hurdles), Maria Villalobos (1500 meters), Kenna Perez (3000 meters), Isabella Ironhill (pole vault), Avery Black (100 meter hurdles), Dejahnae Brown and Aiyana Brown (high jump).

"We started in the fall with goal of being a team to be reckoned with, and today was a good start to meeting that goal", commented head coach Tony Veney. "We had several young people who were left just outside the scoring but contributed by keeping non Pirate jerseys from entering the scoring column. It's still a long way to May, but today was a step in the right direction."

The Pirates return to action Friday Mar. 11 when they travel to Occidental College for their annual Spring Break Distance and Sprint Carnival.

https://www.directathletics.com/results/track/42733.html