On the strength of 11 individual Western State Conference gold medals, including five from Stina Johansson, two each from Ariana Vera and Charlotte Allison along with golds by Cassandra O'Reilly and Citllali Cortez, the Ventura College women's track and field team captured its first WSC team championship in 38 years Friday in Santa Monica. The VC men finished seventh in the conference finals as both teams turn their attention to the SoCal Preliminaries coming up May 6.
Stina (Sweden) was superhuman on Friday. After winning the 10k a week ago, she proceeded to capture four golds in an impressive an individual performance. She conserved her way to a win in the 3000m steeplechase in 11:44.56, winning by nearly 15 seconds, before capturing the 1500m with a mark of 4:50.57 less than 30 minutes later. The UC Santa Barbara signee then won the 800m with a time of 2:22.14, the eighth fastest time in school history. She capped off the day with a win in the 5k, breaking the tape in 18:35.37, besting the competition by over a minute. Stina will pursue the 3k steeplechase, 5k and 10k at the SoCal Regionals.
Vera (Rio Mesa) was a double winner Friday. She won the 100m dash with a time of 11.94, the second-fastest mark in VC annals before capturing gold in the 200m in 24.66, the third-best time in the Pirate record books.
Cortez (Rio Mesa) ran a lifetime best of 1:06.05 in the 400m hurdles to cross the finish line first with the No. 9-ranked time in VC history. She also ran sixth in the 100m hurdles.
O'Reilly (Rio Mesa) also brought home gold in the shot put with a winning throw of 38' 3 1/4" and finished fourth in the 100m hurdles.
Allison captured golds in the high jump and long jump last week.
Aubrianna Smith (Foothill Tech) was third in the 100m and sixth in the 200m, running 25.93 in the latter to move into the No. 11 spot in the records.
Jamie Lozano (Oxnard) and Michelle Sanchez placed sixth and seventh, respectively, in the discus while Anissa Cason (Pacifica) was seventh in the 400m.
The women's 4x100m relay (Smith, Vera, Cortez, and O'Reilly) dropped to third in the finals, but will be back hungry at SoCals. Meanwhile the 4x400m relay (Cason, Nicole Rivera Cortez, Cortez, Vera) were fourth overall, bettering their season's best by nearly seven seconds.
For the Pirate men, Ramiro Mateos (Oxnard) earned a bronze in the 3k steeplechase, good for No. 13 all-time at Ventura, and Sahit Jimenez (Santa Paula) was fifth.
Isaiah Spence (Oxnard) ran a lifetime best in the 400m to place fourth, ranking No. 15 all-time. Christian Alejandre (Pacifica) finished fourth in the discus.
The 4x100m relay (Angel Gomez, Ethan Figlio, Spence, Julian Gibson) won silver in a season-best time. The same quartet then ran another season-best in the 4x400m relay to claim bronze.
The Pirates will next focus on the Southern California Preliminaries which will be on Friday May 6 at Moorpark College.