TRACK & FIELD: The 2014 Ventura College Pirates men's & women's track and field teams traveled to Bakersfield for the annual "Battle of the Regions" Friday, featuring teams from the Northern and Southern California community college sections. The men's team place fifth and had some encouraging performances with Connor Neary led the way placing in four events. Meanwhile, the women's team placed seventh as dual sport athlete Brittnee Jones led the effort, also placing in four events.
The men's team place fifth out of nine teams with conference foe Canyons taking the overall title. Neary showed his versatility by placing in the shot put (7th), long jump (2nd), pole vault (5th), and the high jump (7th). Both the 4x100m (2nd) and the 4x400m relays (6th) showed that they could be impact squads in April as neither team ran all of their No. 1's. Other scorers on the day included: Ruben Juanillo, 6th in the 1500m and 7th in the 800m; Jake Herbold, 6th in the 800m; Rolandon Marigny, 6th in the 400m; Michael Brown, 5th in the 200m; Devin Hartman, 4th in the 100m; Montre Lee, 5th in the 100m; Dylan Roberts, 3rd in the triple jump and 4th in the long jump; Arnulfo Vargas, 8th in the triple jump; and Keenan Davis, 8th in the long jump.
"The early meets don't normally produce the best marks," said head coach Tony Veney, "but you want to see focus and some competitive intensity."
The women were seventh of the 10 competing teams, and Jones finished 3rd in the javelin, 3rd in the discus, 3rd in the shot put, and 6th in the hammer throw. Danielle Colvin (3rd in the 400m), Emily Stevenson (3rd triple and 4th long jumps), Andisha Steward (7th shot put, 4th discus throw), and the 4x400m relay (6th) rounded out the team scoring.
"I was glad we had this early season test," said Veney. "The young people have been running against each other since August and you can get a false sense of comfort. Well there was nothing comfortable about what we saw Friday, and hopefully we will grow from the results."
The Pirates next compete at home when they host the Western State Conference Relays Friday Feb. 21 at the VC Sportsplex. Field events start at 11:00am and the first running event is scheduled for 12:00 noon.