Pirates roll to three victories in opening meet

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's and women's track teams performed well in their opening meet of the season, posting victories over visiting Palomar, El Camino and Cuyamaca, on Friday afternoon.

The OCC women topped Palomar (101-47), El Camino (87-65) and Cuyamaca (102-38), while the OCC men did the same to the Comets (141-0), Warriors (78-68) and Coyotes (88-66).

On the women's side, several Pirate competitors earned first-place marks and times and some earned multiple wins throughout the meet.

The 400-meter relay team of Penny Barnes, Hannah Heising, Taylor Sims and Fatemeh Javadi Tabarroki picked up a hard-earned win, edging out the El Camino foursome with a time of 51.35 seconds. Barnes, Heising, Sims and Bethani Heising later teamed up for the 1,600 relay and again, edged out the Warriors with a winning time of 4:16.66.

Sims was on fire on Friday, winning four individual events as well. The sophomore standout topped the podium in the 100 hurdles (15.13 seconds), the 200 (26.71), the long jump (16-feet, 5-inches) and the high jump (5-2).

It was a 1-2 finish for the Pirates in the long jump, thanks to Lauren Delgadillo's second-place mark of 16-feet, 2-inches.

The Heising sisters both earned lots of points for the Pirates, with Bethani Heising taking first in the 800 (2:25.11) and 3,000 (11:00.09), while Hannah cleared the field in the pole vault (14-5 1/4) and placed second in the 100 hurdles (16.71).

In the 1,500 Alyssa Allen was dominate, taking first place by over 14 seconds with a time of 5:00.35. She also fared well in the 3,000 with a runner-up time of 11:10.76.

Sprinter Decontee Ayers was the fastest runner in the 100 on Friday, crossing the finish line with a time of 13.26.

On the men's side, Coast earned first place in four events, led by sophomore Eamon Smythe, who was the lone sub-2 runner in the 800, winning the race with a time of 1:59.85.

In the 110 hurdles, Noah Rogers was tops for the Pirates with a time of 15.71.

It was a clean sweep for the Pirate sprinters as Jonathan Clayborne matched Ayers' performance in the 100 with a winning time of 11.5.

Freshman Tommy Duong was tops in the javelin throw, clearing the field with a mark of 154-feet, one inch.

The Pirates will return to action on Friday at Saddleback College against the Gauchos, Fullerton and Golden West colleges, beginning at 12 p.m.