Bobcats second at OEC Finals
The Saddleback women's track & field team finished second at the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) Finals on Friday at Golden West College. The Bobcats won nine events at the finals, with Jolie Robinson capturing five.
Saddleback has had a historic season in track & field. A number of program records have fallen and the Bobcats have a handful of opportunities to win individual state titles and perhaps have one of the greatest team finishes ever at the state meet next month.
Robinson will be instrumental if Saddleback is going to have team success at the state meet in mid-May. She was a dominating force again at the OEC Finals, capturing conference titles in the heptathlon, long jump, triple jump, javelin and 100 hurdles.
Robinson (far right) cruised to the heptathlon title in early March and had an opportunity to get as many as six individual titles over the weekend. She finished with four, having to settle for third place in the high jump and fifth in the shot put. Robinson set a personal-best in the 100 meter hurdles when she crossed the line in 15.66 seconds. It was good enough for the 12th fastest time in the state this season. Robinson was her normal dominating self in both the long jump (5.38 meters) and triple jump (11.14). She also had a quick rise in the javelin throw towards the end of the season and won that event on Friday with a toss of 38.21 meters, which was the longest throw in the state this season. If that wasn't enough, Robinson helped both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay teams to second place finishes at the meet.
Robinson wasn't alone in collecting multiple titles as Maliyah Medley won both the 200 meters and 400 meters at the finals on Friday. Medley (far left) tied her best time in the state in the 400 meters when she ran a 55.31 to win by over three seconds. Earlier in the day Medley finished the 200 meters in 24.22, which was the fastest time in the state. Medley also participated on both of the relay teams.
In addition to Robinson and Medley, Saddleback had two more conference champions at the OEC Finals and Isabelle Teh and Olivia Knobbe captured conference championships. Teh (second from left) was a winner in the pole vault when she cleared 3.51 meters to win comfortably. Knobbe (second from right) was a force in the middle distance races, finishing with a win in the 1,500 meters (4:59.89) while finishing third in the 800 meters (2:29.60).
Saddleback had a number of other top-5 performances at the finals. Esther Parrish finished second in the 100 hurdles with a personal-best time of 15.94. Shaelynn Barbieri was second in the 400 hurdles with a personal-best time of 1:09.48 and fourth in the pole vault finals (finished second in the heptathlon last month). Chelsea Kerr finished second in the triple jump and third in the long jump, setting a personal-best in the triple with a leap of 11.02 meters. Rachel Whitten was a third place finisher in the triple jump as the Bobcats finished 1-2-3 in the event. Danielle Lister finished in second place in the discus while finishing fourth in the hammer throw. Kianna Turner finished second in the hammer when she set a personal-best with a toss of 40.23 meters.
Saddleback will compete again at the Southern California Prelims next Saturday.