Track and Field headed to SoCal Preliminaries

With modest winds and temperature in the sixties Santa Monica College men's and women's track and field traveled north for the Western State Conference Finals in Bakersfield.
Coming into the competition strong and healthy, SMC looked to advance to Saturday's Southern California Preliminaries, which will determine what schools or individual runners advance to the So Cal Finals, and ultimately to the State Championship on May 13.
Both the men and the women competed hard as several members qualified for the So Cal Preliminaries. To advance to the preliminaries athletes must finish in the top six positions in order to qualify for next week's meet.
"The team members all performed well, which is exactly what one wants to see at this point in the season," said Women's Head Coach Eric Barron.
The women placed sixth in the final WSC standings for the season, which is home to 13 schools, finishing in the top half of the conference.
Taking first place in the 4 x 100m relay with a time of 49.34, Zora Golcevska, Sandra Hendricks, Lisha Burch, and Frances Jones ran away with the event, making them the WSC Champion in that event.
The same four women competed in the 4 x 400m relay and placed third with a time of 4:10.80.
Other notable times were Jones in the 100m with a time of 12.83 and second place finish, and Hendricks coming in sixth at 13.32.
In the 200m, Jones who competed in numerous events that afternoon came in fourth with a time of 26.86. Burch took part in the 400m coming in fifth place with a time of 1:00.16.
In the 100m hurdles Golcevska placed fourth with a time of 15.99. She also competed in the Long Jump and came in second with a jump of 17'5". In the Shot
Put, Golcevska had a throw of 34'5", good for fourth place.
Golcevska, who all season long has been a great asset to the women's squad, took part in several events, as did fellow team member Jones.
On the men's side the team finished ninth in the final WSC standings.
Individual runners who qualified for next week's meet were Marcel Biggers in the 100m race with a time of 11.21 and eight place finish, and in the 200m he posted a time of 22.69 and a sixth place finish. Mike Ruiz qualified in the 400m with a fifth place finish and a time of 50.42.
Both relay teams also qualified posting fourth place in both the 4 x 100m with a time of 42.90, and a time of 3:26.68 in the 4 x 400m.
Standout Mo Elmi also qualified in the 1500m with a second place finish and a time of 4:06.52 in the competition. Dorian McClain in the high jump at 6'2" and second place for the competition.
"I believe that all of our entrants have a good chance of making it to the Southern California Finals," said Barron.
SMC will look to advance to the So Cal Finals and send several Corsairs to the State Championship that will be held in Sacramento.