Posted: Mar 05, 2023
MC track and field athletes make big strides in Riverside Invitational
The Moorpark College track and field men's and women's teams travelled to Riverside County to compete against some of the best athletes in the state.
Freshman decathlete Jordan Navarro jumped 12'7 1/2" a tremendous 20" improvement to place 7th. Johnny Wotawa, another decathlete, improved 14" with his 9'2 1/4" jump.
Additional field event standouts include Johnny Wotawa's 21-foot improvement in the javelin for his 3rd place finish and Jordan Navarro's 23-inch improvement in the long jump for his 6th place finish. Another freshman, River Stout, improved his javelin throw 10 inches to take 5th with his throw of 127' 5". Nate Ocegueda (42' 10.75") and Hunter Diaz (41' 5.25") placed 4th and 6th, respectively in the shot put.
The women's 1500 had a charged field with some impressive seed times. Sophomore Marlo Lavacude-Klenck, from Newbury Park high school has been running well all season and continued that trend as she took off on the first lap with the front pack. She settled into a rhythm with the ladies and moved her way up the field through 1100 meters. With 400 to go she turned up the heat and closed with confidence finishing in a time of 4:57, a blazing 21 seconds faster than her previous best time this season and just a second shy of her lifetime best! This 3rd place effort earned her the B standard for state qualifying purposes and we are all looking forward to a great season ahead for Marlo.
In addition, Margarita Rosales shaved 11 seconds off her 1500m time to place 9th in a time of 5:25.
On the men's side in the 1500, sophomores Marcus Fehlman (4:04), Johnny Slone (4:08) and Wyatt Tack (4:08) placed 5th, 6th and 7th.
River Stout and Johnny Wotawa made good improvements in their 100m times finishing the sprints in times of 11:53 and 11.87, respectively.
To end the meet, Sean McArthur (9:16) and Liam Pereira (9:29) shaved 42 and 20 seconds off their times in the 3000m race to place 10th and 14th, respectively. \