Silvas wins two OEC titles to pace Pirates at conference meet

SANTA ANA -- Led by standout distance runner Karen Silvas, the Orange Coast College women's track and field team finished second overall at the 2013 Orange Empire Conference Track and Field Championships, held at Santa Ana College this past weekend.

OCC finished with 154.5 points. Riverside City College ran away with the team title with 324 points. Golden West (113.5), Fullerton (100), Saddleback (57), Santiago Canyon (35) and Santa Ana (12) round out the team scores.

Silvas battled Coast teammate Raenna Cortez for the top spot in the 1,500 meters, but down the stretch, Silvas was able to pull away and win with a time of 4 minutes, 50.28 seconds. Cortez finished second with a time of 4:52.98, while Golden West's Cynthia Torres (4:54.61) took third. Cortez also took third overall in the 800 with a time of 2:23.08.

It was another 1-2 finish for Silvas and one of her OCC teammates in the 5,000. This time, it was Carmille Garcia who hung tough throughout the event before Silvas ran away with the event with a winning time of 18:42.11. Garcia joined Silvas as the only two runners who clocked in at under 19 minutes with a runner-up time of 18:59.55.

Last week, Garcia earned the OEC title in the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 11:56.26, the only sub-12-minute performance of the event.

Another OEC title for the Pirates went to Leanne Allen, who topped the field in the 800 with a time of 2:20.51.

OCC's relay teams -- the 400 and 1,600 -- each finished third in their respective races. The 400 relay team of Allen, September Rodriguez, Veronika Moralieva and Manasha Arellano clocked in with a time of 50.07. That same Pirate foursome earned the bronze in the 1,600 relay with a time of 4:02.61.

Standout jumper Sabrina Howe earned a pair of top-three marks in the high jump and long jump. She finished second in the high jump with a mark of 5-feet, 3-inches, while in last week's long jump finals, she finished third with a jump of 16-6 1/2.

The Pirates will return to action on Saturday for the prelims of the 2013 Southern California Regional Meet, which takes place at Antelope Valley College. The finals will be on May 11 at AVC, with the State Meet set for May 17-18.