By Tadzio Garcia
The Huskies moved up in the state individual rankings after improving their times in recent meets. The team has one final meet before postseason play, which is the Cal State LA Twilight this Saturday.
The South Coast Conference prelims are at LA Trade Tech College next Tuesday with the finals on April 26.
Huskies that are favored to advance out of the SCC finals to the Southern California Championships next month based on state rankings include Olivia Reyes, Rose Arellano and Gonzalo Ceja in the steeplechase.
Also, Ceja in the 10,000 meter-run, Avanti Armendariz in the long jump, triple jump and Megan Magdaleno in the 5,000-meter run.
Four Huskies are ranked in the SCC’s top-ten in the 10,000-meter run, Ceja, ranked No. 3, Oscar Jasso (No. 5), Aaron Jasso (No. 6) and Kris Chacon (No. 7). Vanessa Moore is favored in the long jump to advance.
The women’s 4 x 400 relay team is on the cusp of advancing. Moore, Lee Pee, Magdaleno and Kattie Padilla have on of the fastest times in the SCC.
“Huskies that shined at the Arnie Robinson Invitational at San Diego Mesa College last Saturday were Ceja and Armendariz,” Head Coach Louis Ramirez said. Armendariz placed third in both the long and triple jumps in the meet that included four-year university competition.
Even so, the Huskies took the top three places in the men’s 1,500-run with Ceja edging Aaron Jasso for first followed by Michael Vallejos. “Leading from start of the race, Ceja had to use a vicious finish over the last 400 meters to capture victory,” Ramirez said.
Ceja placed second in the 5,000 meters. “He battled fatigue from his previous race, yet he unleashed a powerful sprint over the last 100 meters to place second overall,” Ramirez said
Armendariz’s lean at the 100-meter finish gave him a win over Paris Kinsey of Southwestern College. Fernando Sandoval ran a personal record in the 200-meter dash. Jose Arreola also ran a personal record in the 100 dash.
The Huskies continued to impress with Ryan Angel who placed third in his heat in both the 200 dash and 400-meter run.“Kristopher Chacon ran a personal best in the 5,000 run as did Vallejos in the 1500 meters.
The women are also peaking at the right time of the season. “Megan Magdaleno returns to the form that made her an All-American on 2nd-Team All–State in Cross Country finals in November, 2012.
“She placed second in both the 1,500 and 5,000 runs in San Diego.” Ramirez said. Magdaleno used a big finish with 200 meters left to take control of the race only to let it slip by with five meters left to place second.
In the 5000 meters, she followed pace with Hannah Sawatski of San Diego State, finishing with a lifetime best. Jessica Herrera’s toss in the discus was also a personal best in the discus 25.57 meters placed second among Community College athletes, edging teammate Adriann Crespo by two centimeters.
“Lee Pee placed first in the triple jump while Moore placed third in the long Jump. Both athletes felt their performance suffered due to the fatigue of competing in the Southern California Heptathlon last Tuesday and Wednesday,” Ramirez said.
Moore and Pee placed fourth and sixth respectively in the Heptathlon among SCC competition. This was also the SCC finals, which they placed fourth and sixth, respectively.