MEN'S TRACK & FIELD: LAST CHANCE OEC MEET

The Fullerton College men's track and field team competed in their last Orange Empire Conference meet of the year as Orange Coast hosted Riverside and Santa Ana.

Braxton Word put a big stamp in his first season of competition with the Hornets throwing the discus with a state qualifying mark of 44.61meters putting him 10th on the Southern California Regional list. Word has qualified in all four of his throws, and will compete at the conference championship in all four.

Cameron Burks moved to number 38 on the SoCal list as he jumped 1.78 in the high jump. He and his his teammate Zedric McGee will both continue to jump into post season as both FC jumpers have qualified for conference in the Long Jump, High Jump, and Triple Jump. The other field event athletes that will be participating in the post season are Carlos Luna in the Shot Put and Hammer Throw, while Michael Salmeron will also compete in the hammer throw.

Track side, Fridays meet produced many personal records (PR) as athletes try to land a conference qualifier. Doug Fernandez ran a couple PR's in the 200(24.21)400m 53.25, Doug will be representing Fullerton College at the conference championships as a member of the 4x 400m relay team.

Other PR performances were Julio Sanchez and Matt Donaldson in the 100 and 200 meters. Donaldson will represent FC at the OEC Championships running the 110 High Hurdles. Another member of the 4 x400m relay team running well last meet was Ray Farr, running at seasonal best of 2:07.86 in the 800 meters.

The FC freshman middle distance runners had a good day as they set PR's in the 1500 meters. Ramiro Espinoza and Johnny Nava both ran solid races running 4:23 and 4:30 respectfully. They both will be going to the OEC Championship running the very tough 3000meter steeplechase.

Rounding out those that will compete for the Hornets at the conference championships will be distance ace Brandon Velasco who will be running both the 5k (12.5 laps) and 10k (25 laps).

The OEC conference championships will begin April17th at Orange Coast College and conclude April 24th at OCC as well.

*Photo by Wade Watkins