Bobcats turn in top-5 performances in Soka meet

The Saddleback men's track & field team had a chance to show off its new throw's park as part of the Soka University track & field meet on Saturday.  The Bobcats were a part of the Soka Invitational, hosting some of the throws events before heading over to Soka for the rest of the events.

Saddleback managed a number of solid performances, with a dozen top-5 performances on the day.  Sam Gatta (pictured) led the throw's team with a third place finish in the shot put.  Gatta's toss of 12.48 meters on his third throw of the day put him in third place despite fouling on his other three throws.

Joining Gatta with top-5 finishes for the day was Trazler McGrath, Koa Kosco, Dryden LaCour, Grant Karn, Joseph Friske, Marquis Colvin, Jullian Dorantes-Lara and the distance medley relay team. 

Trazler McGrath had the best finish of the day when he placed second in the pole vault with a score of 3.90 meters.  The pole vault ended up being a great event for the Bobcats, with Koa Kosco finishing third. 

Grant Karn had a nice afternoon for Saddleback, finishing tied for third in the high jump finals (3.70 m) along with teammate Joseph Friske while finishing fourth in the triple jump (11.16 m).

Dryden LaCour was also solid in the jumps, finishing third in the triple jump (12.31 m) and fourth in the long jump (6.10 m). 

Back on the track, Saddleback was the only program to run the distance medley relay and the team of Steven Shadell, Kyler Doverspike, Marquis Colvin and Brandon Pizano-Pintor turned in a respectable time of 11:08.30 to win the event.  Colvin also finished fourth in the 600-meter finals (1:25.24) while Joseph Friske was fifth in the 400 finals (52.80) and Jullian Dorantes-Lara was fourth in the 3,000-meter finals (9:13.69). 

Saddleback track & field will be back in action on Friday when it travels to the Riverside City College Invitational.