Riverside Sweeps OEC Postseason Awards
After winning its 16th-straight Orange Empire Conference title, Riverside City College swept the postseason awards.
Jim McCarron was named the Coach of the Year, Ernesto Ruiz grabbed Men's Track Athlete of the Year, Edward Ta'amilo picked up Men's Field Athlete of the Year, and Samuel Willis was named the Men's Multis Athlete of the Year.
McCarron led the Tigers to their 16th consecutive and 27th overall conference title. Riverside ran away with the championship after posting 452 points – almost 300 more points than the runner-up – after 17 Tigers grabbed individual titles.
Ruiz won three individual championships, including his second consecutive 3K steeplechase and 5K titles, along with the 10K championship. The sophomore opened the meet with the fastest time in the steeplechase at nine minutes, 18.02 seconds, and followed with the 10K championship in 31:24.31. Ruiz then defended his 2023 5K crown on the final day of the OEC meet with a time of 14:36.99.
Ta'amilo swept the throws events, winning the hammer, shot put and discus events at the championship meet. The sophomore posted two championships on the first day, winning the hammer with a throw of 53.98 meters and the shot put at 16.57 meters. Ta'amilo capped the OEC meet with a dominating performance in the discus, finishing with a mark of 55.57 meters to beat out his competition by 11 meters.
Willis won the OEC decathlon championship with a score of 5,665 points. He took first in the 100-meter dash (11.31 seconds), long jump (6.23m), high jump (1.71m), discus (30.99m), and pole vault (4.00m) to help secure his championship.