Orange Coast College

Track & Field: Several top marks put forth by Pirates

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

LONG BEACH - Looking at the top JC track and field marks, it's not hard to find several athletes from Orange Coast College.

Some of those top times and distances were accomplished at last weekend's 66th Jack Rose Long Beach Relays, where the Pirates hung tough with some of the top two-year and four-year track teams in the western states.

The biggest highlight from the weekend's action came from freshman Brandon Babiracki, who won the 1,500 meters with a state-best time of 3 minutes, 54.64 seconds.

Another winner for the Pirates came from Andres Rossini in the discus with a throw of 151 feet, 4 inches (seventh-best in the state).

The top JC long jump mark came from OCC's Chris Macke, who leaped 22-6 1/4 (8th-best in the state).

On the women's side, Erin Uriostegui ran the 1,500 in 4:51.82 (fifth-best in the state), while teammate Kristin Glen crossed the tape with a time of 4:57.01.

Pole vaulter Jade Leblanc jumped 10-6, the seventh-best in the state this year.

At the Ben Brown Invitational on March 10, several strong performances were on display for Coast.

Women's hammer thrower Hester Chang came within a foot-and-a-half shy of the all-time OCC record with her throw of 133-0.

Brenda Finney ran a personal-best time of 16.33 in the 100, while teammate Madison Empting hit her personal-best time of 27.87 in the 200.

For the men, top marks included Clint Parga in the 400 (49.63), Josh Strickland in the 200 (22.63) and the 1,600 relay freshmen foursome of Clint Parga, Brian Bennett, Justin Parga and Chris Pfeifer, who came in with a time of 3:22.68.