Morales, Lawson highlight OCC's performances at OEC meet
FULLERTON -- Led by the performances of distance runner Luis Morales and all-purpose athlete Winston Lawson, the Orange Coast College men's track and field team finished in second place at Friday's Orange Empire Conference Championships, held at Fullerton College.
Morales, a sophomore standout out of Fountain Valley HS, showed his ability to lead the pack at various distances. Already qualified for the Southern California Regionals in the 10,000 meters, Morales competed in the 800, 1,500 and 5,000 and went a perfect 3-for-3. He crossed the tape first in the 800 with a time of 1 minute, 57.47 seconds, he won the 1,500 with a time of 3:57.79 and completed the trifecta with a winning time of 15:07.6 in the 5,000.
The top six performances in each event advance to the Southern California Regionals, which begin on Friday at Riverside City College.
Morales will have lots of familiar faces joining him in his three events. In the 800, Cesar Galvaz finished third with a 1:59.08, while teammate Yadir Perez finished sixth with a 2:01.87.
In the 5,000, Morales will be joined by a trio of Pirates -- Brandon Ferguson (2nd, 15:19.9), Lucio Ramirez (3rd, 15:36.85) and Jorge Jeronino (6th, 15:59.99) -- all of whom qualified for next week's regionals.
In the 1,500, Galvaz (3rd, 5:05.33), Ferguson (4th, 4:06.79) and Ramirez (4:06.79) gives the Pirates another four spots at regionals. The same can be said in the 10,000, where Morales, Ferguson, Ramirez and Valdez earned spots at regionals.
Lawson earned regional spots in the 110 hurdles, high jump and javelin throw and turned in a solid performance in the decathlon.
In the high hump, Lawson finished third with a mark of 6-feet, 3 1/2 inches and will be joined by Wyatt Dobrick (5th, 6-3 1/2). In the javelin, Lawson placed third with a throw of 165-7, joining teammate Drake Leonard (6th, 149-2). Lawson's 110 hurdles time of 15.23 was good enough for fourth place.
Led by victories in the 110 high hurdles and the high jump and five second-place performances, Lawson finished the decathlon second overall with 6,557 points, trailing only Riverside's Phillip Bailey (6,690).
Other top-six performances by the Pirates were turned in by Demauria Stewart in the 100 (6th, 10.99), George Petsas in the 200 (6th, 22.56), Marcel Smith in the 400 (6th, 51.85), Ryan Collier in the triple jump (5th, 44-5 1/2), Chris Henderson in the triple jump (6th, 42-6 1/4), OCC's 4x100 relay team (2nd, 42.97) and 4x400 relay team (2nd, 3:26.74).
