Pirates open season with wins over Cuyamaca, El Camino
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's track team came out victorious against El Camino (89-72) and Cuyamaca (100-58) in a season-opening tri-meet on Friday at OCC.
Showing the depth of the 2013 men's track team, eight different Pirate competitors finished in first place in their specific events.
In the 3,000 meters, Jay Bonthius took home the top spot with a time of 8 minutes, 58.12 seconds, edging out ECC's David Rosales (8:59.39).
In the 110 hurdles, Andy Bardine was the lone runner to break 16 seconds, winning with a time of 15.83.
In the 400 hurdles, Pat Baker outlasted a pair of sub-minute competitors to win the event with a time of 58.61. El Camino's Reginald Desmond (59.59) was second, while Cuyamaca's Dushawn Johnson (59.64) took third.
The most dominant performance came in the 3,000 steeplechase, where sophomore Jace Hinesly won with a time of 9:59.73, over one minute faster than runner-up Alex Guzman of El Camino (11:04.29).
In the high jump, Geoff Kruki used the fewest attempts to clear 5-feet, 10-inches to win the event.
In a tie for first place, a pair of OCC pole vaulters -- Darrin Halliday and Cameron Pizzica -- each cleared 12-11 3/4 in the same number of attempts.
Pizzica was dominant in the long jump, where he won with a mark of 22-3/4, almost two feet further than teammate Emanuel Valencia's second-place mark of 20-4 1/2.
In the hammer throw, Austin Pollock dominated the field with a throw of 155-10, clearing the field by over 11 feet.
The Pirates will return to action on Friday when they host three other Orange Empire Conference schools -- Fullerton, Santiago Canyon and Golden West -- beginning at 1 p.m.
