Bobcats third at OEC Finals
Saddleback impressive heading into regional finals
The Saddleback men's track & field team finished third at the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) Finals on Friday at Riverside City College. The Bobcats had a dominating finish in the pole vault.
Saddleback finished with 103 team points and just an eyelash behind Orange Coast College in the OEC standings on Friday. The Bobcats did outstanding work at the pole vault, finishing 1-2-5 in the event.
Connor Hutchison, Canyon Hadsall and Harrison Baker all picked up points for the team in the event. Hutchison won the event when he cleared 4.35 meters. It was about eight inches off of his personal-best for the year when he cleared 4.55 meters at the Cerritos Invitational, which was the fifth best score in the state this season. Hadsall finished second in the event on Friday when he cleared a personal-best height of 4.05 meters. Baker rounded out the team points when he finished fifth on Friday (3.90m), which was also a personal-best score.
Saddleback received an electrifying finish from Mikey Schinstock in the 400 hurdles as Schinstock won the event in 53.08, which was the second fastest time in the state this season. Schinstock moved into fifth all-time in Saddleback history while achieving the "A" standard in the event.
Saddleback had another strong finish in the 4 x 100 relay when it finished second in a time of 41.76. The Bobcats have the 12th fastest time in the state this season after going 41.62 at the Cerritos Invitational earlier in the month.
Kendall Jones had another solid performance by finishing third in the triple jump. Jones leaped 13.23 meters to pick up six points for the team.
Saddleback had three athletes pick up points in the high jump in Rylan Edrosolano, Malachi Hiers and Griffin Schwab. Edrosolano and Hiers both cleared 1.85 meters to finish 4-5 while Schwab cleared 1.80 meters for a seventh place finish. Schwab also finished fifth in the 100 hurdles (15.70).
Saddleback will be back in action on Saturday at the 3C2A Southern California Regional Prelims at Bakersfield.