Pirate women finish fourth overall at SoCal Finals

CERRITOS -- It was a solid top-five performance for the Orange Coast College women's track and field team as they finished fourth overall with 63 points at this year's Southern California Track and Field Finals on Friday at Cerritos College.

In all, six individuals and OCC's 4x100 relay squad will represent the orange and blue at this weekend's 3C2A State Meet at Saddleback College as the Pirates earned spots in 13 different events.

Leading the way for the Pirates was Esmeray Demirbas, who won two SoCal Regional titles and earned a spot in the State Finals in two other events as well. In the 400-meter hurdles finals, Demirbas and Moorpark's Ava Ball had the top two prelim times and it was more of the same in the finals as the duo left the rest of the field behind. Heading into the finish, Demirbas outlasted Ball at the tape and won the regional with a time of 1:02.86, just ahead of Ball's 1:03.49. Mt. San Antonio's Emely Gonzalez was well behind in third with a 1:07.5.

In the high jump, Demirbas finished tied for the top spot with Cerritos College's Taylor Zharia by clearing 5-feet, 5-inches, but Demirbas earned the top spot by clearing the bar in fewer attempts.

Demirbas also earned the bronze medal by taking third in the 400 with a time of 55.76 seconds and helped the Pirate 4x100 relay team, joining Chloe Guerena, Dagmar Wong and Annabelle Low for a 5th-place time of 49.03.

Low earned a pair of finals spots herself, finishing 6th in the heptathlon with 3,569 points and 7th in the high jump with a mark of 4-11. In the heptathlon, Low's top moment came in the 800, where she topped the field with a winning time of 2:30.54.

Guerena had a strong showing in the 200 by finishing fifth overall with a time of 24.87.

Standout thrower, Abigail Gavrilovic, continued to showcase her talents by earning a pair of top-5 performances in the hammer throw and discus throw. In the hammer, Gavrilovic earned the bronze with a throw of 150-8, while in the discus, she finished fourth overall with a 139-2.

Pole vaulter Paityn Watkins earned herself a pair of finals spots with a fourth-place performance in the javelin (111-4) and a sixth-place jump in the pole vault (10-2).

Liberty Miller used her distance running skills to great use, earning two spots in the State Meet with ninth-place times in the 1,500 (5:02.32) and the 5,000 (15:35.48).

Be sure to log onto www.cccaasports.org for the latest dates and times for each event as they become available.