Track & Field Sending Five to State

The VC track and field teams are sending three women and two men to the CCCAA State Championships next week in Modesto. Sophia Godina qualified in two events and will be joined by Brenda Garcia and Saj Nelson for the women while Isaiah Marecheau and Ramiro Mateos are advancing for the Pirate men. Overall, Ventura's men placed 12th and the women 16th at the 28-team SoCal Regionals at San Diego Mesa Friday.

Godina (Rio Mesa) won the bronze medal in the 1500m run with the second-fastest time in school history at 4:43.38. She also qualified for state in the 800m, running 2:18.25 to claim fourth place with the third-fastest time in VC history.

Garcia (Buena) finished fifth in the 3000m steeplechase, breaking the tape at 12:15.91, the third-best mark in Pirate history, to advance and Nelson (Pacifica) threw the shot 36' 4.25" to finish eighth and punch her ticket to Modesto.

Marecheau (Oxnard) ran fifth in the 100m dash to qualify for Modesto. His preliminary time of 10.51 was the sixth-fastest mark in the VC record books.

Mateos (Oxnard) advanced to state in the 3000m steeplechase running 9:43.09, the fifth-fastest time at VC, to come in seventh. 

There were also many other noteworthy performances at the Regionals 

Nelson was busy at the regional as she also finished 19th in the discus and 22nd in the hammer. Myah Hall (Rio Mesa) came in 17th in the triple jump and Jamie Lozano (Oxnard) was ninth in the hammer, 15th in the shot put and 16th in the discus. Denise Cardona came in 12th in the hammer throw.

Samantha McKenzie (Oxnard) finished 16th in the 100m and was running a great race in the 100m hurdles before she was tripped up, still finishing 19th. Meanwhile, the women's 4x100m relay of Hall, McKenzie, Stephanie Garcia (Rio Mesa) and Symone Collins (Rio Mesa) were ninth.

Marecheau finished sixth in the 200m for the Pirate men and was part of the 10th place 4x100m relay team that also included William Boyd (Buena), AJ Monarres (Ventura), and Andrew Stuart (Buena).

Boyd was also seventh in the 200m and eighth in the 100m while Adrian Valdez (Oxnard) came in ninth in the 1500m and 14th in the 800m.  Erick Tienda (Rio Mesa) ran 11th in the 1500m run.

Dante Mata-Burney (Santa Paula) finished ninth in the high jump, 16th ion the long jump and 25th in the triple jump and Adam Alfred (Oxnard) was 10th in the shot put and 20th in the hammer. Payton Hoff (Buena) came in 17th in the shot put and 18th in the hammer throw.

The CCCAA State Championships will be hosted at Modesto Junior College on Friday and Saturday, May 19 and 20.