Bas van Leersum set a new school record in the 400 hurdles and the women’s 4 x 100 relay team did the same at the WSC Relays on Friday at Ventura College.
Olivia Loy, Dominique Hinds, Marla Bonser and Jessica Escalante were clocked in 48.89, breaking the 2013 SBCC mark by one-hundredth of a second. “They won handily and I wasn’t surprised,” said coach Scott Fickerson. “I think they’ll break 48 seconds by the end of the year.”
Escalante, a sophomore from Dos Pueblos High, was a four-time winner, running on three relay teams and taking the javelin throw.
The 4 x 400 team of Hinds, Alyssa Garrett, Bonser and Escalante also took first in the competition that featured 11 schools. They ran 4:05.38, the ninth-fastest time in school history.
The Vaqueros won a third relay in the 1600 sprint medley (200, 200, 400, 800 meters). Loy, Escalante, Hinds and Dean Roell were clocked in 4:18.91.
Juliette Alliaume captured the high jump in a season-best 1.51 meters and the Vaqueros went 1-2 in the javelin. The left-handed Escalante was first at 31.95 meters, followed closely by Hailey Brundy at 30.65.
“We did a good job of carrying over our momentum from the first two meets,” noted Fickerson. “We worked well together and we’re moving forward in the right direction.”
The Vaquero women open conference play on Friday in the WSC North meet at Bakersfield.
The sophomore from the Netherlands ran 53.32 to beat the 2006 school record of Chad Freeman by .07 seconds. The Vaqueros posted four victories in the track and field meet at Ventura College that featured 11 schools.
“Bas got out well in the first 200 and he’s been struggling on the second turn,” explained Fickerson. “Today his mechanics were much smoother and that made all the difference.”
The Vaqueros won three field events with Luke McAllister taking the high jump in 1.95 (6-5), Aaron Mateski taking first in the javelin (51.69) and Marvin Magg topping the field in the shot put with a PR of 13.8 meters (45-3¾).
It was a banner day for Magg, a sophomore from Germany, who won the shot put, took second in the javelin (51.28), fifth in the hammer with a PR of 39.33 and sixth in the discus (38.39), all on his birthday.
“Our field events showed up today and showed off our depth,” said Fickerson. “We had a lot of good marks on the track as well but just couldn’t pull out a victory. This was a good final tune-up for our first conference meet.”
The Vaquero men open conference play on Friday with the WSC North meet at Bakersfield.
