SBCC’s Stephen Scrafford broke away from the pack with a mile to go in the men’s 5,000 meters on Saturday and went on to capture the race in the Southern Cal Track & Field Finals at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. Scrafford, the WSC champion in the 5,000 and 10,000, was clocked in 15:05.93 — the seventh-fastest time in school history.
“It was a personal best for Stephen and he easily won by 10 seconds,” said coach Scott Fickerson. “The only down side is that we were hoping other athletes would also run faster and push him to a 14:50 or faster time. He’s really looking forward to going to the state and trying to bring home the title.”
Five Vaqueros competed on Saturday and four posted lifetime bests. The one who didn’t, Ronnie Dudley, recorded his second-best javelin mark ever (176-7) and placed sixth, earning a trip to next weekend’s State Finals at Antelope Valley College. The top six in each event advanced.
SBCC’s men placed 15th with 16 points while the women were 28th.
There were heartbreaks for two Vaqueros, who finished seventh, one spot shy of qualifying. Chase Lee was seventh in the javelin (171-3, PR and SBCC No. 9) and Erika Schaeffer was seventh in the women’s steeplechase. Her time of 11:31.77 was an 18-second improvement on her race from the week before, which was No. 3 in the SBCC record books.
Johan Lindqvist was eighth in the men’s triple jump with a season-best 46-10.
“Johan jumped his season best in the first meet of the season and then didn’t improve on it again until last week with his 46-0,” noted Fickerson. “Now he improves it again to 46-10. He jumps his best when it matters the most. What a clutch performer! That’s the kind of athlete I love to have on my teams.”
