ELAC women runners blaze on track at Cerritos

NORWALK, CA — The East Los Angeles College women’s track and field team sent a team of several women to the two-day 2016 Cerritos Invitational with four Huskies that qualified from to the final round.

ELAC sophomore Ruby Padilla (Montebello HS) placed sixth in the 800-meter run finals today among community college women. Padilla outsprinted San Diego Mesa freshman Kiera Booth by 36/100’s of a second at the finish line.

Teammate sophomore Viridiana Hernandez (South Gate HS) placed fourth in the 800 qualifying heats on Friday. She ran a personal record, but fell just short of a qualified time for the finals.

In the 3,000-meter steeplechase run final round, two ELAC sophomores placed in the top 10 and ran personal records. Luz Badillo (Alhambra HS) finished sixth in 13:24.62 minutes, 22.34 seconds faster than teammate Melissa Preciado (Bell Gardens HS) who took seventh.

Badillo and Preciado have the fourth and fifth best times among South Coast Conference women in the steeplechase with Hernandez having the second best. Their respective times could land them in the SoCal prelims next month.

In the 1,500-meter run qualifying heats, Padilla placed fourth, Hernandez fifth against community college competition in the first heat. In the second heat, sophomore Guadalupe Yanez (Bell Gardens HS) ran a personal record.

Yanez sprinted the last 150-meters and placed third over Riverside City College freshman Nicole Cordero by almost five seconds with the ELAC contingent overpowering the crowd noise in the exciting finish.

Sophomore Alease Wilson (Alhambra HS) ran a 2016 personal record in the 100-meter dash for the second-consecutive meet. Wilson placed fifth in the fourth preliminary heat in 13.71 seconds. She edges Long Beach City College freshman Erin Wilber by 3/100’s of a second at the tape.

In the 200-meter dash fourth heat, Wilson took eighth place with a time of 29.27 just slipping by Moorpark College freshman Sophia Peniche who finished in 29.42.

The Huskies have a bye next week and compete in the SCC Prelims on Tuesday, April 26 at Long Beach City College. The top nine in each event advance to the SCC Finals on Friday, April 29 also at Long Beach City.

submitted by Tadzio Garcia