Seven SBCC athletes punched their ticket to the State Track & Field Championships on Saturday in the Southern Cal Finals at Antelope Valley College.
The Vaqueros broke school records in the men’s and women’s 4 x 400 relay races on a hot day (95 degrees) in Lancaster.
Freshman Aaron Mateski had the highest finish for the Vaquero men, taking third in the javelin with a personal-best 55.36 meters (181 feet, 6¼ inches) that was No. 6 in school history.
SBCC’s men finished 17th in the 27-team field with 14 points. Riverside was the winner with 225 points.
The men’s 4 x 400 relay improved on the school record they set in the WSC Championships by 2.16 seconds with a 3:14.41 clocking. Tristan Lake, James Herb, Geoff Brown and Cliff Lekas finished fifth in Southern Cal.
The top four places in running events automatically move on to the State Finals. The last spot is determined by the faster fifth-place time in the South and North Championships. Halfway through the bus ride home, the Vaqueros got the good news — they were 28-hundredths of a second faster and earned a spot in the State meet.
Lake, a sophomore from San Marcos High, placed sixth in the 400 hurdles in 53.47. That’s the No. 2 time in school history, missing the record by .08 seconds.
In the women’s meet, Kathryn Rucker cleared 5-2½ to tie for fifth in the high jump and Kodie Hebert was sixth in the javelin with a PR of 35.84 (117-5¾). The top six athletes in the field events moved on to the State Championships.
The 4 x 400 relay unit had been chasing the school record all season and finally broke the 35-year-old mark by a mere .06 seconds. Sara Jungersten, Amy Connor, Kalina Rock and Emily Walker took eighth place in 4:00.38.
Emily Bernath, the top qualifier in the Southern Cal Prelims, finished seventh in the 800 in 2:22.36.
The Vaquero women were 20th with 12.5 points.
The State Finals will be held next weekend at the College of San Mateo with field events on Friday and running events on Saturday
