Huskies Track & Field team opens season

WALNUT,CA — The Huskies women’s track and field team competed at the Mt. San Antonio College Season Opener on Feb. 5 with sophomore Viridiana Hernandez (South Gate HS) leading the way.

Six Huskies competed in the 3,000-meter run with Hernandez taking fourth place in the second heat.

Guadalupe Yanez (Bell Gardens HS) took 6th, Luz Badillo (Alhambra HS) finished 11th, Melissa Preciado (Bell Gardens HS) took 12th and Ruby Padilla (Montebello HS) finished in 15th place. Freshmen Jazmin Ortiz (Bell Gardens HS) had a 17th place finish.

“The distance runners looked good at Mt. SAC,” said ELAC Head Coach Louis Ramirez, who expects many points from them this season.

“Viridiana (Hernandez) and Luz (Badillo) will do well in the 3,000-meter steeplechase this year,” said Ramirez.

Both Huskies competed in the event at the Southern California Championships, Hernandez in 2014 and Badillo in 2015.

Yanez looks very good in the long distance events according to Ramirez, “Especially in the 10-000-meter run. Yanez competed in the event at last year’s SoCal Championships,” said Ramirez.

Hernandez, Badillo, Yanez and Padilla took fourth place and edged Glendale Community College in the 4 x 800-meter relay race.

Yanez ran the final leg and increased the slight lead the Huskies had against Glendale to outdistance them by 9.2 seconds.

Freshman Claudia Reyna (Garfield HS) edged Francine Contreras of Long Beach City College, in the shot put, 5.92 meters to 5.82.

ELAC is at the Cerritos Opener on Saturday, Feb. 27, beginning at 10 a.m.