|
Track & Field: Over 400 in attendance at Coast Open T&F Classic
|
Friday, April 06, 2007
|
|
|
| |
COSTA MESA - At last year’s Coast Open Track and Field Classic, there were 150 participants. This year, that number equaled the men’s and women’s 100- and 200-yard dashes.
With 450 collegiate and independent runners competing, this year’s event brought some of the top athletes in California and Arizona to Orange Coast College for Friday’s event.
“I wasn’t sure we could pull off a meet this size, but everything was great,” OCC track coach John Knox said. “It’s nice to know we can host a meet this big in the future.”
For the Pirates several solid times and marks were posted.
On the men’s side, Keneti Faagata prevailed in the shot put with a winning throw of 46 feet, 7 ½ inches.
In the 1,500, Brandon Babiracki was just off of his conference-best time, taking first with a time of 3 minutes, 54.88 seconds, nearly 7 seconds ahead of runner-up Jose Garcia of Moorpark (4:01.74).
Leading from start to finish, Jesse Ramirez placed first in the 800 with a time of 1:56.86.
Other top-five times for the Pirate men include Kyle Peterson in the pole vault (3rd, 15-0), Trevor Schuesler in the pole vault (4th, 14-6), George Prior in the javelin (177-11), Chris Macke in the long jump (3rd, 22-9 ½), Andres Rossini in the discus (161-9), Alex Drum in the triple jump (5th, 40-0 ½), Martin Bernard in the 3,000 steeplechase (2nd, 9:57.41), Erik Lopez in the 3,000 steeplechase (10:16.24) and the men’s 1,600 relay team of Justin Parga, Brian Bennett, Chris Pfeifer and Erik Donohue (4th, 3:23.01).
The highlight of the meet came from the pole vault where standout Giovanni Lanaro cleared an Olympic-esque 18-4 ½ and would have had 19-0 ¼ if not for grazing the bar on his second attempt.
On the women’s side, perhaps the most dominating Pirate performance came from javelin thrower Brittany Ickes. The conference’s top thrower dominated Friday’s competition with an impressive throw of 112-10 ½, over 35 feet better than second-place thrower April Caddell of San Bernardino Valley (87-7 ½).
Hester Chang, who placed third in the javelin (86-5), also finished fourth in the hammer throw (130-7) and fifth in the shot put (30-5 ¼).
Brenda Finney was the lone high jumper to clear 5-0 to win the event for OCC.
In the 3,000 steeplechase, Melinda Rackliffe (12:38.77) and Claire Fleming (13:13.38) finished 1-2 respectively, while pole vaulter Jade Leblanc cleared 10-6 for a first-place mark.
Other top-five finishes for the Pirates include Erendira Uriostegui in the 1,500 (2nd, 4:55.57) and Brenda Finney in the 100 hurdles (3rd, 16.41).
Complete results of the meet will be online at www.directathletics.com
|
|