Don’t look now, but Orozco’s back at it

The Saddleback men's track & field team was back in action on Friday in Riverside, winning a total of five events.  Sophomore Ulysses Orozco was back at it, blowing away the competition in the 5,000 meters.

Orozco is one of those rare athletes that only comes around once in a decade.  He finished second in the state in the cross country finals in November and hadn't ran a race for the Gauchos in nearly over a month.  Orozco laced them back up on Friday and torched the competition despite being nowhere towards the top of his game.  His time of 16:15.82 was nearly 80 seconds off his personal best, but was good enough for a 24-second win in Riverside on Friday.

Joining Orozco as a winner on Friday was fellow distance runner Antonio Moralez in the 800 meters (1:59.67).  The sprints were guided Nick Van Vliet, who won the 400 meters with a personal-best time of 48.96.  John Pease ran a personal-best time in winning the 400-hurdles (58.56) and the team stunned the competition by winning the 4 x 100 relay with a season-best performance (43.13).

Saddleback will compete again at the SoCal Prelims at Orange Coast on Friday.