Pollok, Hinesly lead Pirates to runner-up finish at OEC Meet
SANTA ANA -- Thanks to a pair of first-place performances, the Orange Coast College men's track and field team earned a second-place score at the 2013 Orange Empire Conference Track and Field Championships, held at Santa Ana College this past weekend.
The Pirates finished the meet with 132 points, behind only the Riverside Tigers, who dominated action with 441.5 points. Saddleback (102.5), Fullerton (54), Santiago Canyon (46) and Golden West (33) round out the team scores.
OCC's Austin Pollok came through with a huge mark in the hammer throw, winning the OEC title with a distance of 173 feet, 11 inches, a full three FEET farther than runner-up Patrick Geers from Saddleback (170-8).
At last week's 3,000-meter steeplechase, distance runner Jace Hinesly clobbered the field with a title-winning time of 9 minutes, 33.04 seconds. Hinesly was the lone sub-10-minute runner in the field, topping runner-up Scott Davis of Riverside (10:03.97) by a full 30 seconds.
Coast turned in several top-three performances at the meet as well, including 400 relay team of Thomas Testini, Evant Orange, Ellon Orange and Colin Steinbroner, who finished second with a time of 42.07.
Other top-three marks for the Pirates included Kevin Russell in the 1,500 (3rd, 4:01.97), the men's 1,600 relay of Emmuel Valencia, Christian Long, Cincent Castrejon and Evant Orange (3rd, 3:21.1) and Cameron Pizzica in the pole vault (3rd, 14-7 1/4).
The Pirates will return to action on Saturday for the Southern California Regional Meet preliminaries, which will take place at Antelope Valley College. The finals will be on Saturday, May 11 with the State Meet set to take place May 17-18.
