Richards Qualifies for State in 1500m

VC's Brianna Richards qualified for the 3C2A State Championships Saturday in the regional finals of the 1500m run at Bakersfield. Meanwhile, the Pirate men's 4x100m relay team of Makaio Thompson, Max Daniel, Ja'Varien Salter and Jeremiah Penny just missed an automatic qualification for the final meet of the year, settling for an alternate position.

Richards, a freshman from Oxnard High School, ran a personal best of 4:45.08 in the 1500m to claim the fifth and final automatic qualifying position for next week's state championships at Mt. San Antonio. She finished less than four seconds off the winning pace in a race in which the top six finishers were separated by 3.93 seconds. 

Meanwhile, the men's 4x100m relay team ran a 42.28 to finish in sixth place, just .39 seconds away from the automatic qualifying spot. The quartet of Thompson, Daniel, Salter and Penny must now wait to see if they will move forward to the state championships. The exciting race had a margin of 1.75 seconds between first and ninth place.

The 2026 3C2A Track and Field Championships will be held Friday and Saturday May 15 and 16 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.