Pirates battle Tigers to the end at OEC Finals
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's track and field team pushed conference power Riverside City College hard at the 2025 Orange Empire Conference Track and Field championships, with the Pirates taking second overall.
The Pirates finished with a team score of 285.50 points, just behind RCC's 337.50 for the top spot. Saddleback College was a DISTANT third with 53 points, followed by Fullerton (35), Golden West (29) and Santa Ana (8).
Full results of the OEC Championships can be found HERE. Photos from Saturday's finals can be found HERE.
Sophomore distance standout Liberty Miller made it 2-for-2 for her Pirate career in the 1,500 meters after she pulled away early and left the rest of the field in her dust, winning the gold medal for the second straight year with a time of 4 minutes, 44.42 seconds, nearly 22 seconds faster than runner-up Lowyn Pereyda of Golden West (5:06.27). Miller added to her impressive medal collection with a silver in the 5,000 with a time of 18:20.8, just behind RCC's Nadia Munoz's time of 18:18.06. Those two runners really cleared the rest of the field as the third-place runner crossed the finish line over a minute later.
Sophomore thrower Abigail Gavrilovic continued her medal collection as well, earning a gold medal in the hammer throw with a 164-feet, 2-inches ... a mere 24 FEET past OEC runner-up Esra Mor (RCC), who got the silver with a throw of 142-2.
In the 400, Jasmin Trujillo held off RCC's Janel Lugo-Bourbonnias (58.37) all the way to the finish line and earned the OEC title with a time of 56.05.
For Kiarah Palacio, her fifth attempt at the javelin throw was where she put everything together and won the gold medal with a mark of 102-3. OCC's Kendall Chrisman earned the silver in the event with a throw of 85-3.
In the triple jump, Sara Chupinsky found that little extra spring in her step on her third attempt and picked up the gold medal with a jump of 34-11 3/4.
Other top-three performances for the Pirates included the 4x100 relay (Alyssa Bowman, Jasmin Trujillo, Nikki Witana, Chloe Guerena ... 2nd, 49.65), the same foursome in the 4x400 relay (2nd, 4:00.63), Belle Baker in the 800 (2nd, 2:36.81), Ana Chupinsky in the 400 hurdles (2nd, 1:08.17), Palacio in the pole vault (2nd, 9-6 1/4), Guerena in the 100 (3rd, 12.59), Baker in the 1,500 (3rd, 5:11.06), Trujillo in the 200 (3rd, 25.84) and Crisman in the pole vault (3rd, 6-6 3/4).
Up next for the Pirates will be the 2025 Southern California Regional Prelims and Finals, hosted by Saddleback College. The prelims will take place on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. with the SoCal Finals set for Saturday, May 10, also at 9 a.m.
