Pirates take runner-up at OEC Preview Meet
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's track and field team hosted this year's Orange Empire Conference Preview Meet on Friday, with the Pirates earning a solid second-place team finish.
Led by several top-3 performances, the Pirates finished with 194 points, trailing only Riverside City College (300). Fullerton College took third with 59 points, followed by Saddleback (53), Santa Ana (25) and Golden West (19).
Two of the more impressive performances came during the field events. In the javelin throw, OCC's Brendan Clark took care of business in a big way, throwing 154-feet, 2-inches for the top throw of the meet, clearing the rest of the field by over 23 feet.
In the long jump, Alijah Ratliff saved his best for last, winning the event with a mark of 20-3.
Coast had a pair of 1-2 finishes in the running events. In the 1,500, Caden Guardino set the pace and won race with a winning time of 4 minutes, 10.6 seconds, followed by OCC teammate William Dang at 4:13.49.
In the 100, Clark earned his second gold medal of the meet with a winning time of 11.22 seconds, followed closely by teammate Josiah Meggs at 11.26. Meggs also earned the runner-up spot in the 200 with a solid time of 22.24.
Other top-3 performances for the Pirates were turned in by Ratliff in the high jump (2nd, 5-9), Luke Lastra in the 400 (2nd, 51.76), Mark Lutke in the hammer throw (2nd, 151-10) and shot put (3rd, 45-6 3/4), OCC's 4x100 relay (2nd, 44.1) and 4x400 relay (2nd, 3:26.29), Alan Martinez in the 400 (3rd, 51.83), Josh Miller in the 400 hurdles (3rd, 58.48) and Javelin (3rd, 128-7) and Sean Artest in the hammer throw (3rd, 150-6).
The Pirates will return to action on Saturday up at the UC Santa Barbara Invitational, beginning at 9 a.m.
