GCC Track and Field Athletes Kevin Gomez and Kaylyn Guerra capture conference titles at WSC Prelims Aprl 28

The GCC track & field team began post-season competition with the Western State Conference Preliminaries this past Friday in Antelope Valley. In the 400m, Renee Cedeno ran a personal best 49.98 to finish 8th and qualify for the finals next week. Both Julius Largaespada and Ezequiel Soto were able to qualify in the 800m with a time of 1:56.70 and 1:58.01, respectively. Largaespada was able to qualify in the 1500m with a time of 4:03.96. Jeremiah Galloway was also able to advance to the finals in the 1500m with a time of 4:09.10. For the women, Destiny Lopez continues her dominance with a personal best in the 800m with a time of 2:17.88 to advance to the finals. She also qualified in the 1500m with a time of 4:45.20 along with Samantha Medrano who ran a 5:03.60 to advance.

The field events did have finals this week to determine who advances to the Southern California Regional Championships in two weeks, which included the hammer throw and the shot put. Kevin Gomez captured his second consecutive conference title in the hammer with a throw of 46.20m, with Lincoln Guerrero finishing as runner-up with a toss of 40.42m. In shot put, Kevin Gomez finished in 6th place with a throw of 12.55m. In the women's hammer, Kaylyn Guerra captured her first conference title with a personal best of 37.49m, with Vanessa Portillo (37.42m) tossing a personal best and coming in 3rd place. The qualifying runners and throwers will travel to Moorpark College on Friday April 28 for the Western State Conference Finals.

Recap by Assistant Coach Matthew Osherow