The VC men's and women's track and field teams competed in the Southern California Preliminaries on Friday at Moorpark College with a handful events holding finals. The Pirate women finished the day in fifth place including points form The SoCal heptathlon event held last month. Stina Johansson, qualified for state in the 10k while Cassandra O'Reilly qualified for state with an 'A' standard throw earlier in the season in the shot put. O'Reilly and Charlotte Allison had previously qualified for state in the heptathlon. The SoCal Championships will be held Friday May 13, also at Moorpark.
A week after her stellar performance at the Western State Conference Championships, Johansson (Sweden) had an off day on the track, finishing third in the 10k, but still qualifying for state. She will run the 3000m steeplechase and the 5000m at the SoCal Finals.
O'Reilly (Rio Mesa) finished seventh in the shot put, but an 'A' standard performance earlier in the season qualified her to throw in the state championships. She will be part of VC's 4x100m relay team at the regional finals.
Jamie Lozano (Oxnard) finished 10th in the hammer finals and 23rd in the shot put. She will compete in the discus at the SoCal Finals.
Michelle Sanchez came in 15th in the shot put and will compete in the javelin and discus.
Other qualifiers for Friday's finals include Ariana Vera (Rio Mesa) in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay and Aubrianna Smith (Foothill Tech) in the 100m and the 4x100m relay. Citllali Cortez (Rio Mesa) will run in the 400m hurdles on Friday and also compete with the 4x00m relay and Allison will be in the long jump and high jump. Alexandra Sanchez will run in the 1500m final at Moorpark Friday.
For the Ventura men, Ramiro Mateos (Oxnard) came in 18th in the 10,000m and will race in the 3k steeplechase final on Friday. Josh Weinerth (Rio Mesa), meanwhile, crossed the finish line 19th in the 10k and will compete in the 5000m Friday.
Christian Alejandre (Pacifica) was 22nd in the hammer final at the prelims and will compete in the discus final on Friday.
VC's 4x00m relay team of Angel Gomez (Buena), Ethan Figlio (Rio Mesa), Isaiah Spence (Oxnard) and Julian Gibson (Pacifica) will also run in the SoCal Finals on Friday.
The Southern California Finals will be held Friday May 13 at Moorpark College. Field events start at 12:00 pm and running events begin at 2:30 pm. The CCCAA State Championships are Friday and Saturday May 20 and 21 at Mt. San Antonio College.