Pirates dominate track at home opening meet
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's track and field team came out strong at the 2022 OCC Invitational, posting several first-place performances on Friday against Cuyamaca, El Camino, Palomar and Southwestern colleges.
Coast posted dual-meet victories over all four of the competing schools, thanks in large part to first-place marks in nine different events.
In the 1,500 meters, Bernardo Moreno came right down to the wire with Cuyamaca's Angel Arredondo and in the end, the Pirate runner claimed victory by the slimmest of margins with a winning time of 4 minutes, 19.36 seconds, just .02 seconds ahead of Arredondo's 4:19.38.
OCC sprinter Paul Domingue came out flying in the 100 and notched a convincing victory with a time of 11.14 seconds, just ahead of El Camino's Jaylen Allen (11.35).
It was a 1-2 finish for the Pirates in 800 as Ryan Rivituso crossed the finish line first with a time of 2:01.82, slightly ahead of Pirate teammate Nicolas Felix, who finished second with a time of 2:06.65.
Coast dominated things in the 3,000 as the trio of Cole Ridenour, Kade Franco and Moreno highlighted a 1-2-3 finish. Ridenour topped the field with a time of 9:20.2, followed by Franco (9:22.52) and Moreno (9:28.02).
The OCC 4x400 relay foursome of Riuituso, Felix, Maximus Knudson and Anthony Gibbs got after it and topped the field with a time of 3:25.66.
Coast picked up several points on Friday in the field events, thanks in large part to the performance of freshman Joshua Mejorado, who earned four first-place marks. Mejorado won the hammer throw with a mark of 120-feet, 8-inches and also claimed first in the javelin (154-8 1/4), shot put (41-1) and discus throw (118-9 1/4).
Pirate teammate Adrian Moreno was close behind Mejorado in three of those events and took runner-up in the hammer (81-8 1/4), javelin (98-4 1/2) and shot put (41-0).
Coast will return to action on Friday, Feb. 25 at Riverside City College at the Orange Empire Conference Invitational, beginning at 12 p.m.
