Track & Field Men 2nd, Women 4th at WSC's

Battling through some injuries, the VC men's track and field team were the runner's up at Friday's Western State Championships at Moorpark. The Pirate women came in fourth out of the 11 competing teams. Adam Alfred, Payton Hoff and Isaiah Marecheau all brought home gold medals for the men while Sophia Godina, Brenda Garcia, Jamie Lozano and Saj Nelson won silver for the women. In total, 10 men and nine women qualified for the Southern California Regionals that begin on Friday May 6.

The Pirate men totaled 108 points, finishing behind Moorpark with 197 points and ahead of Bakersfield at 97.  VC's women scored 91 points to finish behind West Los Angeles (175), Bakersfield (114) and Moorpark (98).

Alfred (Oxnard) threw the discus 138'3" to claim the gold for the Pirates while also claiming bronze in the shot put and placing fourth in the hammer. Hoff (Buena), meanwhile set a mark of 42' 2.75" in the shot put to win and he also placed third in the hammer. 

Marencheau (Oxnard) provided VC with gold on the track running a 10.59 in the 100m and also won bronze in the 200m at 21.37. His times are currently fifth and second all time at Ventura College.

Adrian Valdez (Oxnard) finished second in the 800m and came in eighth in the 1500m while William Boyd (Buena) was fourth in the 100m and fifth in the 200m. Erick Tienda (Rio Mesa) broke the tape seventh in the 1500m and Ramiro Mateos (Oxnard) was sixth in the 3,000m steeplechase.

Running with a pair of alternates, VC's 4x100m relay of Boyd, Isaiah Spence (Oxnard), Marecheau and Andrew Stuart (Buena) placed fifth and the 4x400m relay quartet of Boyd, Tienda, Marecheau and Valdez also came in fifth to qualify for the regionals.

Dante Mata-Burney claimed the silver medal in the long jump ad finished fourth and seventh in the high jump and triple jump, respectively.

Godina (Rio Mesa) led the Pirate women with an outstanding meet, winning three silver medals. She finished second in the 800m, 1500m and the 10,000m and also finished sixth in the 5,000m to qualify for the regionals in all four events. Garcia (Buena), meanwhile, ran second in the 3,000m steeplechase. Samantha McKenzie (Oxnard) won bronze in the 100m hurdles and finished sixth in the 100m while the 4x100m relay team of Myah Hall (Rio Mesa), McKenzie, Stephanie Garcia (Rio Mesa) and Symone Collins (Rio Mesa) claimed the bronze medal.

In the field, Lozano (Oxnard) placed in three events with a silver in the hammer and a bronze in the shot put, and she had a sixth place throw in the discus. Nelson (Pacifica) also qualified for the regional in three events, winning silver in the shot put, bronze in the discus and finishing seventh in the hammer. Denise Cardona (Pacifica) placed sixth in the hammer throw and Hall placed sixth in the triple jump. 

The Pirates next travel to the SOuthern California Regional Preliminaries on May 5 at San Diego Mesa College.