Conditions were great in Lancaster Friday as the VC men's and women's track and field teams opened their 2022 campaign at the Western State Conference Relays hosted by Antelope Valley College. Cassandra O'Reilly, Charlotte Allison and Stina Johansson all claimed golds for the Ventura women while Jaedon Rogers picked up a win for the men as a number of athletes turned in solid performances on opening day.
With the relays format for the opener, there were limited individual events on the track, along with field events and relays. The Pirate had a good number of notable individual and team performances in the opener.
O'Reilly (Rio Mesa) and Allison (La Reina) had busy days tuning up in multiple events and trying new ones as they prepare for the heptathlon. O'Reilly won the shot put with a throw of 37'11.5" and claimed individual silver in the 100m hurdles and the 200m. She also was third in the long jump and ninth in the high jump. Allison, meanwhile, claimed bronze in the high jump, was fifth in the 100m hurdles and 15th in the shot put.
Johansson (Katedralskolan, Sweden) ran an easy race in the 5k to win gold and hit all SoCal and state automatic qualifying marks. Her 18:08.25 was nearly 50 seconds ahead of second place and was the third best time in the VC record books.
VC's 4x100m relay team of Anissa Cason (Pacifica), O'Reilly, Nicole Rivera Cortez (Channel Islands) and Ariana Vera (Rio Mesa) came in second with Vera running a strong anchor leg while the 4x200m relay quartet of Cason, Vera, Rivera Cortez and Allison also claimed silver. The distance medley relay team of Alexa Hernandez (Oxnard), Johansson, Leslie Cervantes (Oxnard) and Brenda Garcia (Buena) finished in third place.
In other field events, Michelle Sanchez (Oxnard) was second in the discus, eighth in the javelin, ninth in the shot put and 11th in the hammer and Cason placed fifth in the high jump. Denise Cardona threw sixth in the javelin and hammer, and 10th in the discus. Meanwhile Hallie Talbott (Buena) jumped fifth in the long jump, and also competed in the 200m and shot put.
For the VC men, Rogers (Ro Mesa) claimed gold in the triple jump with a mark of 42'2".
Isaiah Slagboom (Channel Islands) was edged out to take silver in the 5k and Josh Weinerth (Rio Mesa) came in fifth.
Kyle Morrissey (Ventura) started his quest to become a decathlete, breaking the tape fifth in the 110m hurdles, and competing in the javelin, shot put, discus, and long jump. Yoy Vasquez (Pacifica) placed seventh in the discus and also threw the shot, hammer and javelin, while Michael Chester (Pacifica) came in fifth in the 200m, ninth in the triple jump, and competed in the long jump. Danilo Juarez (Pacifica) came in sixth in the javelin, eighth in the hammer and also competed in the discus and Mathew Cortez (Oxnard) was busy throwing the shot, javelin, hammer and discus. Allen Walton (Buena) and Anthony Deutinger (Channel Islands) both competed in the long jump for the Pirates.
The men's relay teams were also busy Friday with the 4x400m quartet of Isaiah Martinez Spence (Oxnard), Angel Gomez (Buena), Ethan Figlio (Rio Mesa) and Julian Gibson (Pacifica) finishing third. Ventura's 4x800m relay of Mathew Siroky (Newbury Park), Alex Canales (Fresno), Ramiro Mateos (Oxnard) and Sahit Jimenez (Santa Paula) finished in fourth place, as did the 4x200m (Gomez, Figlio, Rogers, and Gibson) and distance medley (Siroky, Jimenez, Spence and Canales) relay teams. VC's 4x100 relay quartet of Rogers, Figlio, Gomez and Gibson crossed the finish line eighth.