SOCAL REGIONAL PRELIMS

The SoCal Regional Prelims were held at San Diego Mesa College last Friday with great results.

Advancing from the OEC conference is not always an easy task, however, twelve Hornets punched their tickets to the SoCal Regional Championships. This is one of the hardest meets to compete in as there are 27 participants in each event trying to become the top nine competitors for this week's championships.  Some of the field events were prelims, only cutting the field down to the top 12 athletes. Because of venue accommodations, the throwing events were contested as finals only. The ladies had one job to do and that was to compete at their best.

The day started out with the 400-meter relay team of Jocelyn Shuler, Lilyanna Marquez, Hailey Johnson, and Sophia Nagao running their second-best time of the season. They ran 51.19 for 11^th place overall for a good race with clean handoffs and a race to shake off the nerves.   

Next up on the track was Emma Greene and Hailey Johnson running the 400 meters. Emma stood at the line, ready to run, and with a surprised herself running her best race of the season with a time of 1:07.13. Hailey ran 1:04.88 which was a few seconds from her best time of the year.

Sophia Nagao qualified in the 100 and 200-meters dashes known as the most popular events. Sophia ran 13.18 and 27.20 respectively slightly off of her PR's for the season. Lilyanna Marquez joined her teammate Sophia in the same prestigious races. Her 100-meter time was 13.40 and 27.72 for the 200 meters. Again, these times for these athletes were a click off from their best times of the season. 

The FC runners in the 800-meter were Danielle Cervantes and Alex Turner. This race is considered the shortest distance race. Proper pacing and positioning are crucial with running personal-best times. They followed their race plan and Alex ran within a second of her best time at 2:38.02. Looking smooth and strong, Danielle finished within two seconds of her best at 2:29.50.   

Presli Dillon showed her competitiveness in the 400-meter hurdles. Little did she know that when she stood at the starting line, she was about to run her best race. The gun went off and with ease Presli found her tempo. She was running consistently throughout the race and ran with strength over the last two hurdles.  She crossed the line with a time of 1:13.32.  As the season unfolds and the athlete gets down to this part of the championship season, every running technique and consistency becomes important.  She put her race together as she imagined it.    

The surprise ending to a long day on the track happened when Sophia Nagao, Lilyanna Marquez, Danielle Cervantes, and Hailey Johnson who ran a seven-second collectively personal best time of 4:11.68 and finished 10th overall!  

"Every baton exchange was clean, and every athlete ran their best getting their teammate closer to the next team in front", said head coach Gina Bevec.

Teammates were cheering and spectators were on their feet in the stands as they ran almost shoulder to shoulder throughout the race. West Los Angeles College ran 4:11.48 and took the ninth-place lane for this week's championships race.  

"Very proud of these ladies for their determination, they continue to show every time they step forward to compete. Seven seconds is a huge drop in performance, and it was a great venue to see that happen in that race amongst the spectators", said Bevec.   

Jocelyn Shuler started her day off in the long jump and then on to the triple jump. This event was a prelim only and each athlete had three attempts. From the two flights recorded the top 12 were asked to come back for finals this week.  She finished jumping close to her personal bests. After jumping in her previous events, she had the high jump as her last event. She jumped equal to her PR of the season and is amongst the top competitors asked back for the finals on Friday of this week. 

Malila Miranda competed in the hammer as this event was contested as a final only. She had three attempts and unfortunately did not get in to the top 12.  As her friends call her, Maui gave it her all and one last push with the hammer but did not qualify to the finals. Every year the pendulum swings in different directions for the distance to be achieved to get in to the top 12 spots. She keeps the Hornet tradition strong with having Hornet throwers in the championships.

Madyson Rodriguez competed in the javelin and again this event was a final only. Madyson worked on perfecting her technique and rhythm of her throw. She finally put it together and was only a foot from throwing her best throw of the season. Rodriguez finished in 20^th and achieved the experience of throwing the javelin which she never had done before this year.   

Victoria Saldana will have her event this coming week in the women's discus and working for a stellar performance.

Competing in this meet is one of the toughest competitions. Endless preparations and mental toughness are but a few things to get to this event.   

"Very proud of all of the Hornets efforts and their achievements", said Bevec.

Up Next: The SoCal Regional Finals will take place back at San Diego Mesa College this Friday, May 12th. Field events start at 10:00 am, while the track events start at 2:30 pm.