Sports
Wadeck and Flowers lead Vaqueros
Track and Field: GCC men, women ramp up for SoCal prelims with strong day in WSC finals.
By Gabriel Rizk
GLENDALE — The Glendale Community College men’s and women’s track and field teams’ efforts in Saturday’s Western State Conference finals at Moorpark College resulted in four individual conference titles for the Vaqueros and even more qualifications for the upcoming Southern California prelims.
Amid sweltering heat, Vivien Wadeck captured conference championships in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters to lead the women’s team to a second-place finish with 140.5 points, while Michael Flowers became conference champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the ninth-place men’s team (40 points).
“The women really ran well on the track, it was excellent,” Glendale college Coach Eddie Lopez said. “We have some big points coming up in Southern Cal [prelims] and in the state meet [the women] should do well.
“We did well — we haven’t scored over 100 points in a long time, so 140 was excellent.”
The Vaqueros women started off the day by capturing the top three spots in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, led by new conference champion Zitlalic Ley who won in 12 minutes, 28.21 seconds.
She was followed by Brigette Hernandez (12:50.49) and Brenda Santana (13:22.12).
Wadeck then ran to her first title of the day with a win in the 1,500 meters in 4:39.16, just ahead of teammate Tove Berg (4:41.61).
Glendale college captured the top four spots in the women’s 5,000 meters behind Wadeck (20:11.12), Ley (20:11.27), Berg (20:18.67) and Hernandez (20:21.08).
The women’s 4x400 relay team of Janette Morfin, Manda Pau, Hernandez, and Wadeck qualified for the SoCal prelims by finishing third with a season-best time of 4:13.31. Melani Atoun Livaskin placed third in the 100-meter dash (12.78) and fourth in the 200-meter dash (25.58).
Flowers won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:59.16 and also ran in the fifth-place 4x400 relay team along with Masashi Wada, Alex Love and Damien Fuentes.
“Mike Flowers has a chance to be SoCal and state champ in the men’s steeple,” Lopez said.
Wada placed third in the men’s 800 meters and Alex Murphy qualified for the SoCal prelims, which will take place May 3 at Bakersfield College, with a javelin throw of 173 feet, 4 inches.
GABRIEL RIZK covers sports. He can be reached at (818) 637-3226 or at gabriel.rizk@latimes.com.
Amid sweltering heat, Vivien Wadeck captured conference championships in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters to lead the women’s team to a second-place finish with 140.5 points, while Michael Flowers became conference champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the ninth-place men’s team (40 points).
“The women really ran well on the track, it was excellent,” Glendale college Coach Eddie Lopez said. “We have some big points coming up in Southern Cal [prelims] and in the state meet [the women] should do well.
“We did well — we haven’t scored over 100 points in a long time, so 140 was excellent.”
The Vaqueros women started off the day by capturing the top three spots in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, led by new conference champion Zitlalic Ley who won in 12 minutes, 28.21 seconds.
She was followed by Brigette Hernandez (12:50.49) and Brenda Santana (13:22.12).
Wadeck then ran to her first title of the day with a win in the 1,500 meters in 4:39.16, just ahead of teammate Tove Berg (4:41.61).
Glendale college captured the top four spots in the women’s 5,000 meters behind Wadeck (20:11.12), Ley (20:11.27), Berg (20:18.67) and Hernandez (20:21.08).
The women’s 4x400 relay team of Janette Morfin, Manda Pau, Hernandez, and Wadeck qualified for the SoCal prelims by finishing third with a season-best time of 4:13.31. Melani Atoun Livaskin placed third in the 100-meter dash (12.78) and fourth in the 200-meter dash (25.58).
Flowers won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:59.16 and also ran in the fifth-place 4x400 relay team along with Masashi Wada, Alex Love and Damien Fuentes.
“Mike Flowers has a chance to be SoCal and state champ in the men’s steeple,” Lopez said.
Wada placed third in the men’s 800 meters and Alex Murphy qualified for the SoCal prelims, which will take place May 3 at Bakersfield College, with a javelin throw of 173 feet, 4 inches.
GABRIEL RIZK covers sports. He can be reached at (818) 637-3226 or at gabriel.rizk@latimes.com.
Copyright © 2008 - Glendale News Press