More Pirate Track & Field Athletes Qualify for State

The Ventura College track and field teams competed in the Southern California Regional Finals on Friday at Moorpark with more Pirates punching their tickets for the CCCAA State Championships to be held May 20-21 at Mt. San Antonio College. Six women's athletes qualified for state, led by Stina Johansson's gold in the 300m steeplechase.

Johansson (Sweden) added to her growing list of accomplishments on the track winning the steeplechase in a school-record time of 11:21.22, nearly 30 seconds ahead of the second-place competitor. She will compete in a pair of events at state, the 10,000m run and the 3k steeplechase.

The women's 4x100m relay team was fifth Friday with a season-best time of 48.05, No. 2 all-time at VC. Aubrianna Smith (Foothill Tech), Ariana Vera (Rio Mesa), Citllali Cortez (Rio Mesa), Cassandra O'Reilly (Rio Mesa) qualified for state based on the A Standard and times from Northern California.

Vera and Smith were fourth and seventh, respectively, in the 100m, with both breaking the 12-second mark in a wind-legal sprint. Vera posted 11.93 and Smith 11.99 for the Nos. 2 and 3 times in Pirate history. Vera qualified for state while Smith is an alternate for next week's championships.

Cortez brought home a bronze medal finish in the 400m hurdles, running 1:05.66, good for No. 9 in the Pirate record books, also qualifying for the state championships.

Charlotte Allison (La Reina) finished fifth in the long jump and high jump Friday, punching her ticket to state while she had earlier qualified for the heptathlon. 

O'Reilly (Rio Mesa) qualified for state in the shot put a week ago, and she will also compete next week in the heptathlon.

Meanwhile, Alexandra Sanchez (Rio Mesa) finished eighth in the 1500m, earning an alternate position for state.

Michelle Sanchez (Oxnard) finished 12th in the discus and 19th in the javelin while Jamie Lozano was 16th in the discus for VC.

As a team, the Pirate women finished sixth out of 23 teams who scored points in the regional championships. 

The Ventura men also competed Friday, finishing their season at the Regional Championships.

The 4x100m relay team of Angel Gomez (Buena), Ethan Figlio (Rio Mesa), Isaiah Spence (Oxnard), Julian Gibson (Pacifica) ran a season-best 42.46 to finish ninth. It was the 12th-best time in school history.

Meanwhile, Ramiro Mateos (Oxnard) was 10th in the 3000m steeplechase with the No. 7-ranked time in school history.

The CCCAA State Championships will begin Friday May 20 and conclude Saturday May 21 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.