The Ventura College men's and women's track and field teams traveled to Lancaster Friday to run in the Antelope Valley Spring Classic and the sprint relays returned with a bumper crop of fast times. Both the men's and women's 4x100 meter relay teams posted top-10 times in school history. Additionally a host of athletes posted top-5 finishes in the event featuring 12 men's and 12 women's teams.
The women's 4x100 team of Miranda Rodriguez, Alisa Houston, Dejahnae Brown and Aiyana Brown came in first of five competing teams with a time of 49.63, .07 seconds faster than conference rival Bakersfield. The run around the oval was the ninth-fastest time in school history.
The men's 4x100 relay faced a similar uphill battle as they finished second on Friday. The team of Jason Mesa, Tristan Griffith, Terrance Nunnery and Isaiah Batis were beaten at the wire by Bakersfield by a scant .01 second. Dispite the narrow loss, the finish resulted in the 10th fastest relay all-time for the Pirates.
Overall, women's top 5 finishes included Aiyana Brown (2nd in the 100 meters and triple jump), Rodriguez (4th in the 200 meters), Houston (3rd in the 400 meters), Jordyn Vassaur (4th in the 800 meters), Kenna Perez (5th in the 1500 meters), Macy Schmidt (4th in the 3k), Karen Reyes (4th in the 400 hurdles), Dejahnae Brown (4th in the high jump), and Alyssa Carrillo (5th in the Discus and 4th in the Hammer).
The men followed suit with Griffith (2nd in the 100 & 200 meters), Mesa (5th in the 100 meters), Francisco Erazo (5th in the 800 meters), Nunnery (5th in the long & triple jumps), Steven Nolasco (5th in the long jump), and Daniel Alejandre (2nd in the Discus) as the top men's finishers.
"We did a pretty good job competing this week," commented head track coach, Tony Veney. "The relay success was a very encouraging and showed how hard these quartets have been working perfecting their handoffs. It should also be noted that Karen Reyes (400 hurdles), Miranda Rodriguez (200 meters), Alyssa Carrillo (Hammer), Tristan Griffith (100 meters), Francisco Erazo (1500 meters), and Daniel Alejandre (Discus) are all within striking distance of the top-10's in their respective events."
With the threat of poor weather in Bakersfield March 25, the team may by-pass the Bakersfield Relays to ready themselves for the Western State Conference Coastal at Cuesta College on Friday March 31. Check the website for further updates.