Riverside Track & Field Acts as Favorite in OEC Finals
After dominating the preliminary rounds of the 2018 Orange Empire Conference (OEC) Track & Field Championships, the Riverside City College track & field program is set to host the finals on Friday, April 27th at Wheelock Stadium.
The Tigers enter into the finals with a combined 36 top marks with 19 coming on the men's side and 17 on the women's side.
For the men, freshman Antonio Mitchell paves the way as they fastest set of legs in the conference. He holds the top 100M time with a mark of 10.31, while also pacing the conference in the 200M with a mark of 10.99. Freshman Keylan Dennis holds down the top spot in the 400M with a mark of 47.14.
Sophomore Alec Hall holds a set of top marks coming in the 800M with a time of 1:52.05 and a 1500M clip of 3:54.54.
Riverside owns the distance times highlighted by a one-mile mark of 4:38.75 from sophomore Tyler Lufkin. Freshman Enrique Villa holds a clip of 8:41.17 in the 300M, while sophomore Michael Robinson paces the conference in the 5000M with a time of 14:59.25 and the 10,000M with a mark of 31:33.27. Furthermore, sophomore Jeffery Robbins clocked a conference-pacing mark of 9:40.20 in the 3,000M Steeplechase.
Freshman Dillon Lay and sophomore Anthony Butts earned top times in their respected hurdle events. Lay holds the strongest time in the 100M Hurdles with a clip of 14.93, while Butts comes in with a 54.45 mark in the 400M Hurdles.
Freshman Carter Baylee continues to hold the best time in the High Jump with a clip of 6' 6" which he set in early February. Sophomore Anthony Garcia paces the OEC in the Long Jump with 22' .75", while sophomore Ellis Glover earned a 44' 6.75" in the Triple Jump to lead the conference.
For the women, sophomore Sarah Hollis has been a staple for the Tigers in four distance events. She owns the top time in the 3000M (10:24.67), 5000M (18:40.20), 10,000M (38:44.62), and the 3,000M Steeplechase (11:31.21). In three events, she holds at least a one-minute or better time. In the 10,000M, she holds approximately a four-minute advantage over the second-best item.
Freshman Maryjane Smith leads the way in two events. She paces the conference in the 200M with a mark of 25.60 and the 400M with a time of 56.82. Sophomore Tia Parrish carts the fastest time in the 100M with a mark of 12.32.
The hurdling events are led by Riverside with freshman Sha'quan Matthews earning a 15.42 time in the 100M Hurdles and a 400M sophomore Dehjiah Joseph owning a 1:05.56 time in the 400M Hurdles.
Highlighting the field events is sophomore Javany McDermott who holds a 5' 1.75" mark in the High Jump. Sophomore Valentina Sanabria owns a 16' 11.25" mark in the Long Jump, while sophomore Katelyn Baker worked towards a conference-pacing 36' 10.5" in the Triple Jump.