By Fernando Alcantara
Sun managing editor
Six athletes either qualified for the Southern California track and field championships or posted personal records in Friday’s Orange Empire Conference track and field preliminaries, April 23 at Orange Coast College.
Qualifying for the finals depends on the athlete’s time and place during the prelims. In the 800 meters, the top two finishers in each heat or flight automatically advance. Events 400 meters or shorter only automatically advance the top finisher.
In field events, the top nine will qualify with three attempts and are allowed three additional attempts.
Golden West’s field-members did the team proud with three members placing in the top five of their events. Vanessa Brown placed first in her flight for the women’s javelin throw and Trevor Engel and Miles Davy placed third and fourth, respectively.
Miles Davy along with Chris Yates qualified for the championships in the hammer throw; Davy placed second in his flight throwing for 145 feet, two inches and Yates placing third in his flight with a 139 foot, six inch throw.
Josh Ellertson qualified and posted a personal record while placing fourth in the men’s 1500 meters with a time of 4:15.66 as did Ryan DeSantiago in the same event, placing sixth. DeSantiago’s time was 4:17.27. They both move onto the So. Cal Championships.
Drusilla Stillinger moves onto the championships as well with a fourth place finish in the 400 meter hurdles with a qualifying time of 1:11.48.
Other Southern California championship contestants include Macy Lindsay-Clinton in the women’s pole vault, posting a qualifying and personal best jump of eight feet, one inch. Austin McGroaty qualified in the men’s pole vault with a 14-foot jump, placing fifth.
Coach Sonny Duong was proud of his pole-vaulting team’s efforts. “Getting past the conference prelims is the key,” Coach Duong commented.
As for Lindsay-Clinton’s qualifying pole-vault at eight feet one inch, it was her best ever in college. “It feels great,” she said of her results. “I haven’t gone eight feel all year and today I went over it by an inch.”
But for Coach Don Turnbull, it was difficult for him to see Trevor Engel, Golden West’s decathlete, not qualify for the championships. “I’m really disappointed for Trevor,” Coach Turnbull said about his finish.
“Not disappointed in him, but what happened to him. He was the top in the conference and really had a good chance going for State.”
Engel missed qualifying by 16 points which equates to barely a second or barely an inch in certain meets.
The Orange Empire Conference Track and Field championships continue on Friday, April 30 at Orange Coast College where these athletes will continue to attempt to break current records if not post personal bests in hopes of moving onto the State Championships.
MACY LINDSAY-CLINTON of Golden West College took fifth in the women’s pole vault Friday at the Orange Empire Conference prelims at Orange Coast College.
KEVIN EDWARDS of Golden West College competes in the 3000-meter steeplechase event Friday at the Orange Empire Conference prelims at Orange Coast College.
Good job Golden West!! I miss my track and field days in high school. I’m glad to see Golden West compete with the best.
Whoever wrote this article needs to get their FACTS straight. Totally left our 2 qualifiers Alejandra Sifuentes for her discus throw, and Angel Togafau for her hammer throw. And one of the people mentioned in his article didn’t even qualify?!
Mr. Smith,
Publishing the FACTS is definitely what I had intended here. All I can do is report what I’m told and corroborate those facts through the sources I speak with. If my facts are wrong, I can only apologize and regret that I had not done my job properly. I had gotten my initial information from Coach Turnbull and through the Saddleback College Sports Information Director, the school that hosted the event at Orange Coast College. If I had reported incorrect information, I only sadly regret that it was not corrected in time due to deadline constraints. Mr. Smith, we can correct this here, if you’d like to help with the correct reporting of information by inserting the names of everyone who qualified and their results if you have that information. It is only greatly appreciated. As for Alejandra Sifuentes and Angel Togafau, Miss Togafau was featured in our last issue regarding her performance during the Southern California Regional Chapionships as well as Sifuentes who was given honorable mention. The Western Sun staff, although a student publication, strives for excellence in journalism and only excels when held to higher standards by our staff, advisers and especially our readers.
Your attention to my mistakes is only greatly appreciated.
Thank you for reading.
-Fernando-