Pirate men capture second at OEC Championships
FULLERTON -- The Orange Coast College men's track and field team finished second overall at the 2023 Orange Empire Conference Track and Field Championships, hosted by Fullerton College, on Friday.
The Pirates finished with a team score of 174, topping Saddleback (110), Fullerton (33) and Golden West (21) and trailing only Riverside City College (448).
Sophomore Ashton Fegel kept himself very busy at the meet, competing and finishing in the top three in one individual and two relay events.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Fegel topped the entire OEC field and came in first with a time of 55.56 seconds, well ahead of runner-up Victor Martinez of Fullerton (57.04).
Fegel joined Ke Deng, Max Knudson and Jeff Hass and helped the Pirates take second in the 400 relay with a time of 42.94. Finally, in the 1,600 relay, it was Fegal, Hass, Anthony Gibbs and Elijah Davis as the Pirates finished second with a time of 3:18.94.
Cayden Loth earned a pair of top-three performances for the Pirates, taking second place in the pole vault, along with teammate Zachary Young (11-4 3/4) and third place in the 110 hurdles (16.17).
In addition to his 400 relay performance, Deng earned a third-place time in the 100 with a 11.02, while Knudson finished third in the 200 with a time of 22.47.
Other third-place performances for the Pirates came from Carlos Ramos in the 1,500 (4:09.32), Ryan Welton in the 800 (1:57.11), Hector Espana in the 10,000 (33:02.47) and Joshua Mejorada in the javelin throw (171-feet, 5-3/4 inches).
In all, several Pirates earned a trip to the Southern California Regional Meet, which kicks off with the prelims on Friday at Cerritos College, beginning at 9 a.m., with the finals set for May 12 at Cerritos, also at 9 a.m.
