Saratoga News

Sports

Phillips coasts to NorCal win in steeplechase for Vikings

By Kevin Sparrer

Steven Phillips was so far ahead of the pack that he all he had to do was just coast in.

Phillips, a member of the West Valley College track and field team, cruised to an easy first-place finish in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Northern California championships.

Phillips, the Coast Conference champion in the event two weeks earlier, entered the NorCal meet as the top-seeded runner in the race, and knowing that he had to run the 800 later in the day, went for the win instead of the time.

Phillips hung with the majority of the pack for the first mile. Eventually Jason Prado from American River attempted a bit of a breakaway from the group, but Phillips was able to react and keep up with him. With less than 800 meters remaining, Phillips caught and passed Prado and then proceeded to create a good 40-meter distance between him and the rest of the pack. He cruised in for the victory and was crowned the Northern California champion.

Later in the day, Phillips competed in the men's 800 meters, but was not as successful due to a sore ankle. He was still able to finish fifth in the race, just behind Jeffrey Paneda of Modesto.

Christine Nguyen also had some success at the NorCal championships for the Vikings.

Nguyen entered the women's 100-meter hurdles as the third seed. She was able to focus and run a clean race, which ended up in her favor because Christina Hibbert of ARC, who was also the NorCal heptathlon champion, hit the final hurdle and fell to the ground. Nguyen finished second in the event, running a season best 15.85 seconds to claim All-NorCal honors.

Sophomore Stevie Odle overcame huge boundaries. In fact they were 10 feet, 7 seven inches high to be exact. Odle cleared the high wall in the women's pole vault competition and was able to take home third place after a judge's decision.

The women's 4x100 meter relay was a little disappointing, with only the top four teams advancing to the state meet and the Viking group finishing fifth. However, the team posted a season's best effort. The foursome includes Emma Asiyo, Michelle Mitchell, Nguyen and Odle.

Asiyo entered the women's 400 meters as the No. 5 seed and was rightfully seeded. Asiyo finished fifth in the event.

In the women's 4x400 meter relay, West Valley entered the race seeded in the No. 5 spot but had to make it in the top four in order to advance to the state finals. The Vikings were only able to finish fifth, despite a great comeback attempt by the anchor, Asiyo.

The Vikings were able to finish the NorCal champions with a champion and three entries into the state meet as well as recording many personal bests for the season. The state meet is in Bakersfield on May 26.

The top four finishers in each event at state win all-State honors.