Posted: Jul 30, 2018

OCC's Brown heading to Long Beach State; Morse to Lewis & Clark

COSTA MESA -- A pair of Orange Coast College track and field standouts will be continuing their athletic and academic careers at the four-year level, according to head coach Jennifer Williams.

Austin Brown, who finished fourth in the state in the 400-meter dash last year for the Pirates, will be attending Long Beach State University in the fall, while former teammate and state qualifier in the decathlon, Alixander Morse, will be transferring to Lewis and Clark state College in Lewiston, Idaho.

"I want to go as far in this sport as I can and at Long Beach State, I'll be coached by LaTanya Sheffield, who made it all the way to the 400-meter finals at the 1988 Olympics, so who better to learn from," Brown said. "I really enjoyed my time at OCC and I'm excited about competing at the next level at Long Beach State."

As a freshman, Brown won the Orange Empire Conference title in teh 400, by edging out Saddleback College's Nicholas Van Viet with a winning time of 48.47 seconds, just ahead of Van Viet's time of 48.98. As a sophomore, Brown finished second in conference in the 400, before qualifying for the State Meet with a third-place time of 47.5 in the finals of the Southern California Regionals. He bettered his time at the State Meet with a mark of 47.39 seconds, good enough for fourth overall.

Morse (pictured left), who qualified for the State Meet back in March 7 with a strong showing at the Southern California Regional Decathlon/Heptathlon, finished 10th in the state with 5,328 points, earning a second-place time in the 400 (51.73), a third in the 1,500 (4:32.82), a third in the 110 hurdles (15.57) and a fourth in the javelin throw (135-feet, 9-inches).

According to Williams, several other Pirate track and field athletes will also be transferring to four year colleges, including ...