Pirates earn second-place team totals at OEC Finals
RIVERSIDE -- The Orange Coast College women's track and field team finished second overall as a team on Friday at the 2024 Orange Empire Conference Track and Field Championships, hosted by Riverside City College.
Coast earned the runner-up team spot with 221 points, trailing only host Riverside's total of 344 points. Fullerton College was a distant third with 60 points, followed by Saddleback (42), Golden West (16) and Santa Ana (4).
With several first-place performances to highlight, OCC's Esmeray Demirbas picked up three gold medals throughout the finals. In the 400, Demirbas edged out RCC's Cierra Ellis with a winning time of 56.04. In the 400 hurdles, she took the top spot with a time of 1:04 and in the high jump, she cleared 5-feet, 4 1/4-inches to take the top podium spot there as well.
The closest race of the event took place in the 1,500 where OCC's Liberty Miller and Saddleback's Danna Ibarra Canales pulled away from everyone and had themselves a one-on-one dash to the finish, where Miller won by .04 seconds with a time of 5:02.26. Miller had a bit of an "easier" time in the 5,000, taking the OEC title with a time of 18:24.82.
Standout thrower, Abigail Gavrilovic earned a pair of OEC titles, winning the shot put (38-4 3/4) and the discus (137-4), while placing second overall in the hammer throw (147-9).
In the javelin throw, Paityn Wilkins out-threw the rest of the field with an OEC-best throw of 102-2. She also led a 1-2 OCC finish in the pole vault with a winning jump of 9-8, followed by teammate Kiarah Palacio's mark of 8-4 1/4).
It was another 1-2 finish for the Pirates in the heptathlon, with Annabelle Low taking the gold with 3,777 points, ahead of fellow Pirate, Kimberly Renteria, who earned the silver with 2,356 points.
Low earned a third-place time in the 800 (2:27.46), while Renteria also earned a bronze in the 100 hurdles (18.47).
Sprinter Chloe Guerena battled an elite field of runners and earned a bronze medal in the 100 with a time of 12.76. She also finished third in the 200 with a time of 25.29.
Both of OCC's relay teams -- the 4x100 (49.95) and 4x400 (4:29.46) -- earned silver medals for their performances.
Up next for these Pirates and several more will be the 2024 Southern California Regionals, which take place at Cerritos College, beginning on Friday.
