February 6, 2009

Track & Field Kicks Off Season with Orange Empire Conference Relays at Orange Coast

Complete Results here

COSTA MESA, CA - Under cold, windy and wet conditions, the 2009 Orange Empire Conference Relays were completed on Friday at Orange Coast College and despite the six-team field, both sides were a two-team slugfest between the host Pirates and Riverside College.

On the men's side, the Pirates edged out Riverside with 123 points. The Tigers finished with 117, while Golden West (44), Fullerton (39), Santa Ana (32) and Santiago Canyon (31) rounded out the scoring.

On the women's side, it was the Tigers leading the way with 124 points, while OCC took runner-up with 108 points. Fullerton (40), Golden West (33), Santa Ana (32) and Santiago Canyon (7) complete the order of finish.
 
The Pirate men earned their victory in the field events, highlighted by Eric Grunbaum's double win in the shot put (44 feet, 5 1/2 inches) and the discus (135-8).
 
OCC teammate Stephen Ruby notched a win in the javelin throw (165-2), a second-place finish in the shot put (43-3 1/2) and a third-place mark in the discus (134-2 1/2).
 
On the track, the OCC men's 800-meter relay crossed the finish line first with a time of 1 minute, 32.71 seconds.
 
For the Tigers, they controlled things on the track with wins in the 400-meter relay (43.03), 1,600-meter relay (3:22.29), 3,200-meter relay (8:14.24), 6,400-meter relay (18:45.3) and the 440-shuttle hurdle relay (1:05.81). Individual wins went to Riverside's Samuel Jeter in the 400 hurdles (54.06), Fullerton's David Cummings in the 3,000 (9:30.06), Santa Ana's Luis Guzman in the hammer throw (143-8), Riverside's Xavier Townsend in the triple jump (46-2 1/2) Golden West's Danny Savoie in the high jump (6-0) and Riverside's Chris Benard in the long jump (21-8 1/2).
 
On the women's side, OCC was highlighted by a pair of solid team performances. In the 3,000, the Pirates went 1-2-3 as Kristen Simek (11:55.71), Heather Cannioto (11:57.47) and Meghan Sanchez (11:58.65) finished strong for the hosts.
 
In the high jump it was a 1-2 finish for the Pirates as Brianna Vanderwal and Liana Fuentes each cleared 4-10.
 
In the 3,200 relay, the Pirate foursome of Cassie Mitchell, Andrea Guerra, Heather Cannioto and Heather Thomas was the lone sub-10-minute finisher, hitting the tape at 9:59.73.
 
For the victorious Tigers, they posted wins in the 400 relay (49.92), 6,400 relay (22:08.35), 400 shuttle hurdle relay (1:10.01), the 800 relay (1:45.54) and 1,600 relay (4:11.28).
 
Individual winners for the meet include OCC's Kathryn Karkut in the 400 hurdles (1:09.81), Riverside's Jasmine Peggese in the hammer throw (117-8 1/2), Riverside's Karee Nordby in the javelin (112-5 1/2), Riverside's Lindsay Cano in the long jump (16-9), Golden West's Christina Kim in the shot put (35-5), Riverside's Vivian Ibewiro in the triple jump (33-7 1/2) and Riverside's Tanya Martinez in the discus throw (116-2).

(Article provided by Tony Altobelli, Orange Coast College Sports Information Director)