The Ventura College women's and men's track and field team placed third and fourth, respectively in the Western State Conference Championships that concluded Friday in Bakersfield. Sophia Godina continued her strong season winning the 1500m and placing in the 800m and 3000m to lead the Pirate women and Cassandra O'Reilly claimed gold in the shot put. Erick Tienda paced the men with a 1500m win and by earning points in the 800m and 5k events.
Godina (Rio Mesa) broke the tape in the 1500m in 4:49.93, edging out the second-place runner by less than a second. She also claimed silver in the 800m and won bronze in the 5k. Brianna Torres (Oxnard) finished fourth in the 5000m, just behind her teammate.
O'Reilly (Rio Mesa) provided the VC women with another first-place finish by winning the shot put with a throw of 36'1.5". She also came in fifth in the 100m hurdles. Meanwhile, Stephanie Alanis won a silver medal in the hammer throw and placed eighth in the shot put.
Charys Pyle (Foothill) added to the effort placing third in the pole vault along with a fourth-place finish in the 400m hurdles and a sixth-place result in the 100m hurdles. Sister Brooke Pyle (Foothill) secured fifth place in the 100m and seventh in the 200m. The Pyle sisters also ran key legs in the 4x100m relay with O'Reilly and Ashley Crist (Foothill) to finish fourth, and with Godina and Torres to claim sixth in the 4x400m relay. Crist also jumped to a fifth-place finish in the triple jump.
Savannah Sprinkle (Buena) finished sixth in the triple jump and crossed the finish line in eighth in the 100m. Addy Cornell (Newbury Park Adventist) placed eighth in the 400m hurdles and sixth place in the 3k steeplechase while Yesenia Molina (Oxnard) secured eighth place in the 3k steeplechase and ninth in the 400m hurdles.
Tienda (Rio Mesa) emerged as the 1500m champion with a mark of 3:59.83. He also won bronze in the 800m and placed fourth in the 5k run. Adrian Valdez (Oxnard) finished on his teammate's heels in the 1500m to claim silver and he came in fifth in the 800m and 14th in the 5k. Mason Jekogian (Ventura) finished in second in the 3k steeplechase and came in ninth in the 800m. Meanwhile, Carlos Oregel (Oxnard) ran fifth in the 3k steeplechase.
Thomas Dore (Oxnard) crossed the finish line in fourth in the 100m and anchored the fifth-place 4x100m relay team with Joseph Moore (Fillmore), Angel Cano (Oxnard) and Andrew Stuart (Buena).
The Pirate track and field teams will continue their season on Friday May 3 at the Southern California Preliminaries at Cerritos.