Three Top 20 Marks at Occidental Distance Carnival

In Pasadena, sophomore Eduardo Orozco made huge strides in his development with a lifetime best 1:53.77 to place second overall among community college students. The mark is a state automatic qualifier and moves Orozco to sixth all-time in school history just ahead of local legend Dick Casper. Fellow sophomore and former King City High School teammate Edgar Bonilla also earned a state qualifying mark running a lifetime best 3:57.45 to be the fastest community college finisher of the competition. Jorge Sanchez joined the exclusive sub 15:00 5000 meter run club with his 14:57.05. The mark is the seventh best in school history and puts Sanchez into the state championship. He was a state finalist and eighth place finisher at 10,000 meters last spring. Joining him in the 5000 meters, Edgar Bonilla returned to the track later in the evening to dip under the State "B" mark with his 15:17.17 pulling Oscar Mora, Jr. (15:19.99) also under the standard.  Andrew Martinez (15:25.35), and Patrick Olson (15:27.02) were all close behind. Yvette Felix highlighted the ladies efforts with a lifetime best 18:21.06 that improved on her state qualifying time from the previous week by 17 seconds. Felix is now ranked third in Northern California and eighth all-time in school history. Beatriz Duarte (19:19.34), Jocelyn Cervantes (19:20.87) and Olivia Jimenez (19:37.14) all enjoyed significant season bests moving them up the conference rankings. Adam Alnazer (2:00.33) and Elizabeth Hernandez (2:28.83) had season bests in the 800 meters with Sergio Coronel (4:08.71) lowering his best in the 1500 meters. Williams Ordaz (15:47.60), Eduardo Orozco (15:49.34), and Jonathan Saldana (15:52.09) all dipped under the 16:00 mark in the 5000 meters.