The Moorpark College track team traveled to Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo Friday afternoon and competed in the 2nd and final conference meet of the season. There were a lot of amazing performances from the Raider athletes. The next conference competition will be at the WSC Preliminaries at Santa Barbara City College April 20th.
The highlights for Friday were the seven 1st place finishes from the women’s team. The women won more than 1/3 of the 18 events while competing in a pool of six teams – Way to go Lady Raiders! This is an exceptional accomplishment considering the team does not have any throwers.
The athlete of the meet was Freshman Sara McDonald. Sara won the 100m (12.57 – a .42 second improvement, 200m (25.24) and 400m (57.81). She also ran on the3rd place 4×100 team (50.64 – a 1 second improvement) and 3rd place 4x400m relay (4:13 – a 3 second improvement). Sara is chasing the Moorpark College record for the 400m race and is on par to break it before the season is over. The current record holders are Kim Hall (1986) and Crystal Denaeyer (1998) who ran the 400m in a time of 56.64. Sara’s season best is currently at 57.55 which she ran at the Riverside College Open last week.
Bailey Schentrup won both the long jump (17’ 5.5”) and the triple jump (35’ 4”) today. Schentrup was also the 3rd leg of the 4x100m relay and placed 3rd in the 100m (13.11) and 4th in the 400m (1:00). Other event winners for the Lady Raiders include Emily Kelly’s 2:20 time in the 800m and Kayla Lindquist’s 5’2 jump in the high jump.
The ladies also ran exceptionally well in the 3000m today against the distance heavy team of Cuesta College. Leading the Raiders was Megan McNally who placed 2nd in a time of 10:45. Another shining star on the team today was sophomore Alexis Pichardo who shaved 12 seconds off her 3000m time to run 10:55 and finish 3rd. Ashley Hamilton improved 16 seconds to finish 5th in a time of 11:09. Way to go ladies!
The highlights for the men’s team today were definitely in the throws. There was a lot of excitement and cheering going on during the final event for the men Friday night – and rightfully so. Patrick Smith and Austin “Dewey” Benson took the first two spots in the shot put, respectively. Dewey also won the hammer throw (139’ 4.5”) with a 9 foot season improvement. Another huge improvement came from Ed Ruhnke in the javelin. Ruhnke threw the javelin 165’ 6 ½” – improving oven 17 feet today! Niko Althaus is back in the game! He cleared 14’ 7.25” in the pole vault to finish 2nd. A jump over 1 foot better than his season best and just inches away from his lifetime best!
The women finished 2nd, behind Ventura College while the men finished 4th.
The Moorpark Raiders look forward to competing at the Orange Coast Invite next Friday, April 6th.