In a tune-up meet two weeks out from the Western State Conference Championships, a skeleton crew of Pirates competed at the 3rd Annual Vaquero Invitational hosted by Glendale College Saturday. Kimora Pooler and Cynthia Tuzak distinguished themselves at the meet in the shot put and discus, respectively, while Darius Johnson had a strong showing in the discus throw for VC.
Despite having half the team resting in preparation for the conference championships, two Pirate women distinguished themselves on the second of the two-day event. Pooler, already having hit the automatic shot put qualifier of 38-feet 7-inches, launched a new lifetime best in the third round measuring 41-feet to win the competition. This marked regained her WSC lead, moved her to the No. 2 mark in Southern California and No. 5 in the state and a tie for the sixth-best performance in VC history. Tuzak, meanwhile, won her sixth straight discus competition with her second best throw of the season, solidifying her No. 1 mark in the conference, No. 2 in SoCal, No. 6 in the state and No. 8 all-time by a Pirate woman.
On the men's side, Johnson continues to be a consistent performer in the discus throw, just missing his personal record with a third-place finish.
The Pirates get a WSC preview Friday April 12 when they compete in the Santa Barbara Easter Open. They will return to SBCC on Friday April 19 for the WSC Preliminaries before the finals at Moorpark College on Friday April 26. Field events Friday are scheduled to start with the hammer and javelin at 12:30 pm, and the first running events begin at 3:30 pm at La Playa Stadium.