ELAC women’s track and field shines in the sun

SANTA BARBARA, CA — The Huskies women’s track and field team competed at the 2016 Santa Barbara Easter Relays on a hot day at Santa Barbara City College and finished with strong results.

Three East Los Angeles College sophomores placed in the top seven of the 1,500-meter run.

Sophomore Viridiana Hernandez (South Gate HS) placed second with a personal best time of 5:07.26 minutes. Teammate Ruby Padilla (Montebello HS) placed fourth with a time of 5:11.75.  Padilla has the fastest Huskies 1,500 run time this season (5:06.34).

ELAC sophomore teammate Guadalupe Yanez (Bell Gardens HS) took eighth place in the 1,500 run with a personal record of 5:31.29. By less than two seconds, Yanez outsprinted Ventura College freshman Amanda Wendt (La Reina HS) from around the last bend to the finish line.

College of the Canyons sophomore Amanda De Jesus won the event in 4:59.46.

De Jesus placed seventh in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in last year’s state championships behind 2015 state champion then ELAC sophomore Laura Aceves, who is now an athlete at California State University, San Bernardino.

Huskies sophomore Alease Wilson improved in the 100-meter dash with a 2016 personal record. Wilson ran 13.91 seconds, fast enough to edge two Ventura freshman by just 100th’s of a second.

Wilson matched her personal best, 13.85 feet, in the long jump.

“Alease is working hard to build on the progress she made last season,” said Assistant Coach Yannick Alain, who coaches Wilson. “We have some goals for her this season that we feel she can get to by the time conference comes around.”

Sophomore Luz Badillo (Alhambra HS) and Melissa Preciado (Bell Gardens HS) ran their first steeplechase events this year, an event they both competed in last year.

“Luz Badillo (finished in) 13:44.53 and Melissa Preciado (in) 14:04.26 (personal best) and both overcame early season jitters to post the 4th and 5th best marks in conference…,” said ELAC Head Coach Louis Ramirez.

In the 4,000-meter distance medley, the ELAC team of Hernandez, Badillo, Yanez and Padilla ran a personal record good enough to edge Santa Monica College for seventh place.

The Huskies compete at the Fourth Annual Arnie Robinson Track & Field Invitational on Saturday, April 2 at San Diego Mesa College. Mesa will host the state championships in late May.

submitted by Tadzio Garcia