Baloun cleans up at opening OEC meet

The Saddleback men's track & field team finished in third place at the opening Orange Empire Conference meet of the season at Riverside City College on Friday.  Sophomore Blake Baloun guided the Gauchos in the field events.

Baloun made headlines last month when he signed a national letter of intent to attend Northern Arizona next year.  Now back on the battlefield, Baloun is making good on his progress as he won two events on Friday and finished second in another.

Baloun captured both the hammer throw and shot put on Friday while finishing second in the discus.  He entered the final round in the hammer throw having fouled on his three previous throws when he launched the hammer 48.44 meters to win the event.  Earlier in the day he went to work early, heaving the shot put 15.23 meters in his first attempt to blow away the field.  He also finished second in the discus with a fling of 41.96 meters on his final attempt to finish just 0.70 meters off the lead.

Sadleback had a handful of other top-5 finishes on Friday.  Conner Buwalda had a solid day in finishing fourth in the 800 meters (2:01.37).  Brandon Hough had a sensational performance in the 1,500 meters with a third place finish (16:21.52).  Collin Hurd proved to be a standout in the hurdles when he finished second in the 400-meter hurdles (57.25) and third in the 110-meter hurdles (16.10).  The Gauchos were also successful in the jumps, with Collin Sample finishing second in the long jump (21'10) and Airrien Smith finishing  fifth in the triple jump (42'4.75"). 

Saddleback will be back in action next week at multiple events.  The decathlon/heptathlon athletes will compete at the OEC Heptathlon/Decathlon at Riverside City College on Wednesday and Thursday while the entire team will be in action at a meet at Cal State Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday.