Saratoga News

Sports

Despite bad hand-offs, West Valley relay team claims third at NorCals

By Kevin Sparrer

Kyle Ricks, Ben Mullen, Darren Barrera and Nick Gancayco almost missed taking a trip to the community college state track and field finals.

A pair of poor hand-offs--one of them, according to coach Lisa Renteria, nearly disqualifying the group--proved costly for the West Valley College 4x100 relay team at the Northern California finals at American River College in Sacramento.

Still, the quartet of speed was fast enough to run 42.31, good for third place in the NorCal meet and a place in the state meet. The top four finishers in each event advance to state.

Brittany Wise also qualified for state after finishing fourth in NorCal in the women's high jump. She finished fourth after barely nicking the bar on a jump of 5-1, which is only an inch above her season best. Wise, a freshman, is third on the all-time list for West Valley in the high jump and only 2 inches behind the school record.

Freshman Josh Hernandez was third in the men's 1,500 meters to qualify for state.

Ben Mullen battled his way to state after finishing fifth in the men's 110 high hurdles. On a nine lane track, the fifth place runner has a chance to make it to state if his time is better than the fifth-place finisher in the SoCal meet.

Mullen had a tough break in the men's 400-meter intermediate hurdles, though. After leading for the majority of the race, Mullen caught the final hurdle with his foot and fell. The fall cost him a qualifying time.

Freshman Robin Yoo joined his teammates at state after his performance in the long jump at the NorCal championships. Yoo finished sixth at 22-1.

Angel Gonzalez finished sixth in the men's 5,000 meters.

In the women's 4x100 relay, the Vikings were unable to place high enough to make it to the state meet, notching the fourth-best time in school history in 50.15. Brianna Hagen, Yareni Carrasco, Melissa Prestano and Wise finished sixth in the event and did not continue.