Artist's silver medal shines bright at 3C2A State Meet
SAN MATEO -- Orange Coast College thrower Sean Artist capped off his Pirate career in style, saving his best hammer throw attempt for the right time and earning a silver medal at the 3C2A Track and Field State Championships this past weekend at the College of San Mateo.
After the fifth round of competition, Artist saw his place in the standings drop from second to third place after Yuba's Yuchua Yang threw 169-feet, 8-inches. Artist's best throw through five rounds was 165-5, which occurred on his fourth throw.
After fouling on his fifth attempt, Artist made the right adjustment and let it all out on his sixth-and-final attempt, launching the hammer an even 170 feet to earn the silver medal. Yang's final throw ended up 5-feet shorter than his fifth, giving him the bronze, while OCC's Mark Lutke came through with a fourth-place throw of 163-7, giving the Pirates two of the top-four spots on the podium. San Joaquin Delta's Jake Todden earned the gold with a winning throw of 194-7.
All-around athlete, Brendan Clark, earned a solid fourth-place state finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.86 in a race that saw the top five runners all finish within a second of one another. Cerritos' Terence Williams won with a time of 47.93, followed my Merritt's Finn Gohlke (48.26) and East L.A.'s Fernando Valenzuela (48.56). In the javelin throw, Clark claimed fifth place overall with a throw of 174-9, while teammate Deuce Frierson placed 11th in the state with a 143-11.
In the 4x400 relay, the foursome of Frierson, Clark, Josiah Meggs and Alan Martinez earned a spot in the state finals and finished sixth with a time of 3:18.07.
Sophomore Caden Guardino competed in the 10,000 and placed 11th in the state with a time of 32.52.94.
