American River Men Win 6th Straight Conference Crown
The American River College men's track & field team won their 6th consecutive Big 8 Conference championship on Thursday and are now in pursuit of getting back the NorCal crown they lost last year, after a 4-year run at #1 in the North. The Beavers scored 297 points easily outdistancing runner-up Modesto who scored 200.5. The wind played a big factor for everyone as it played havoc all day long.
Austin Collier of ARC won the MVP for the men's field events after winning the Long Jump (24' 0.75"), Javelin (165') and High Jump (6'-1.5"). He also placed 2nd in the Triple Jump (44' 3.25"). Donnie Plazola won the both the 10,000m (34:17.94) by running just fast enough to make the NorCal qualifying time and then came back and won the 5000m in 15:10.85. Ozzie hassen of ARC was 2nd in the 10k in 34:20. Conor Wells won the 1500m in 4:02.60 then doubled back to take 3rd in the 800m in 1:55.57 to help the Beavers sweep the top 3 spots in the 800m (Steven Hill won in 1:54.08 – Stephen Gibson 2nd in 1:55.37). In the 1500m the Beavers took 5 of the top 6 places.
The men's team also swept the 400m with Richard Finical winning in 48.49, Martino Falls 2nd in 49.41 and D'Mitre Jones 3rd in 49.68. Richard was also 2nd in the 200m in 21.83. Treshon Woods won the 400m Hurdles by over 3 seconds in 54.86. Casey Aguirre won the steeplechase in 10:05.67 as the Beaver took 3 of the top 4 places – Matt Morris 3rd and Joe Shanahan 4th.
The 4th ranked conference 4x100m relay placed 2nd in a time of 41.87, while the 4x400 pulled of a big come from behind win in the 4x400m. Watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAlf3fhT3n4
ARC had a 3 place sweep in the Long Jump – Collier 1st, Alex Skondras 2nd, and Lenny Nelson 3rd.
Full Results https://www.directathletics.com/results/track/45465_m.html#2833135