Orozco finishes second in the 10,000
Saddleback distance runner Ulysses Orozco wrapped up the opening day of the state track & field meet with a second place finish in the 10,000 meters at San Diego Mesa College on Friday. Orozco improved four spots from his sixth place finish last year.
Orozco is in the final stages of wrapping up a career that some would call the greatest career by a Saddleback distance runner. His performance on Friday was stunning, setting a new personal-best in the 10,000 meters. Orozco's time of 31:20.45 was nearly eight seconds faster than his finish last year at the state meet and bettered his Southern California finish last weekend by 1:08.33. He finished only 0.80 seconds behind Glendale's Vahagn Isayan to finish second in the state, equaling his finish at the state cross country meet in November when he finished second overall. Interestingly, Vahagn finished third at the cross country finals, exactly 0.80 seconds behind Orozco.
Orozco's finish gave Saddleback eight points and leaves the team in sixth place heading into the final day of competition. The Gauchos had one other competitor on day one, Aria Sadeghi, who finished 10th in the hammer throw (46.89 meters). Orozco will finish out the season for Saddleback in the 5,000 meters today in San Diego.
Orozco was part of a pack of 8-10 runners that ran side-by-side for most of the race. One-by-one, runners dropped back in the final 2,000 meters as Orozco and Isayan finally broke away from the pack, making it a two-man sprint to the finish. The top runner heading into the meet was Abdul Hamid of American River College, who finished sixth with a time of 31:50.44.
Congrats Ulysses, and best of luck in the 5,000 on Saturday!