Track & Field Battles Winds, Stiff Competition at Moorpark Open

The VC men's and women's track and field teams battled crazy Santa Ana winds and stiff competition Friday at the Moorpark Open. Jeremiah Penny led a strong showing in the 100m for the Pirates and the men's 4x100m relay of Makaio Thompson, Max Daniel, Ja'Varien Salter and Penny posted the fastest time for VC since 1993. Brianna Richards led the Ventura women with a strong race in the 800m.

The men's 4x100m relay started the day running in third place with a time of 41.69, the fourth-fastest time in VC history and the fastest mark since 1993. 

Penny came in fifth in a strong wind-aided 100m run while Salter was seventh, Daniel was 10th and Thompson was 25th with .35 seconds and 20 runners in between the quartet of Pirates. 

Ty Brown came in sixth in the 400m hurdles and Alex Giron finished 10th in the same race. Julian Arena placed 10th in the 3000m steeplechase.

Mateo Chavez had a strong day in the field with a seventh place finish in the discus, 10th place throw in the shot put and 15th place mark in the javelin.

Richards came in fourth in the 800m as the VC women's lone Top-10 finish.

Leia Ludy and Jessica Davison came in 13th and 17th in the 100m hurdles, respectively.  Ariel Montejano was seventh in the javelin, 18th in the shot put and 20th in the hammer throw while Alyna Renteria placed 18th in the hammer and 19th in the shot. Kelsey Crist finished 19th in the long jump.

The Pirates next compete at the Western State Conference Preliminaries on Friday Feb. 17 at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita.