Orange Coast College

Track and Field: MITCHELL SETS SCHOOL RECORD, WINS STATE STEEPLECHASE TITLE!

Monday, May 19, 2008

NORWALK -- It was a number that had not been conquered this year in women's track and field and it's a number that has NEVER been posted in the history of Orange Coast College women's track -- an under 11-minute performance in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Mission accomplished for freshman standout Cassie Mitchell as she further blazed an already-scorched track at the California State Championships by winning state steeplechase title with a school-record time of 10 minutes, 59.39 seconds this past weekend at Cerritos College.

For Mitchell, her time was nearly 30 seconds faster than anyone else in the field (runner-up Megan Adams of El Camino, 11:29.94) and her time shattered the school's record of 11:17.86, set by Lindsay Allen in 2002.

"It was a dominating race for Cassie," OCC head coach John Knox said. "She pretty much had the race under control right from the opening lap."

Mitchell's performance highlighted the OCC women's fifth-place team finish at the meet with 48 points. Host Cerritos won the women's state title with 101 points, while Riverside took the men's title with 112 points. OCC (10 points) finished 22nd overall.

In addition to her steeplechase title, Mitchell also cracked the top-3 in the 800 with a third-place time of 2:18.89. Teammate Rachel Ronquillo was close behind and placed fifth with a 2:21.33.

Defending state cross country champion Crystal Reed earned a pair of second-place finishes in the 5,000 and 10,000. Glendale's Tove Berg won both events, but not without a fight from the Pirate freshman as she came in with a time of 18:07.81 in the 5K and 39:16.29 in the 10K, respectively.

Sophomore hurdler Brenda Finney capped off her standout career with a fourth-place showing in the 400 hurdles, coming in at 1:03.19.

Finney also helped the women's 1,600 relay team to a fifth-place performance with a time of 3:55.4.

In the 400, sophomore Ashley Rodriguez finished sixth overall with a time of 57.66, while teammate Brianna Vanderwal placed ninth overall in the heptathlon with 4,022 points.

On the men's side, a pair of fourth-place performances highlighted the Pirates' weekend.

Sophomore Andres Rossini reached 166 feet, 8 inches in the men's discus throw, while teammate Stephan Ruby hit 190-1 in the javelin throw.