Women finish third at OEC Finals

The Saddleback women's team finished up strong at the Orange Empire Conference Finals on Friday in Fullerton.  The Bobcats had a couple of first place finishes in finishing third overall.

Esther Parrish (pictured) and Chelsea Kerr (pictured below) both won their events on Friday.  Parrish was a winner in the 100 hurdles when she crossed the finish line in 16.16.  It was a season-best time for Parrish who had a previous-best time of 16.20 at the Orange Coast Classic.  Kerr was a winner in the triple jump when she went 11.47, which was just an eyelash from a previous-best of 11.49 at the Occidental Distance Carnival in March.  The Bobcats also had a win from Isabelle Teh last weekend at the prelims when she won the pole vault (3.35m).

Saddleback had two second place finishers on Friday with Christina Bernik and Rachel Whitten.  Bernik was second in the 800 meters when she finished the race in a season-best time of 2:27.33.  Whitten was second to Kerr in the triple jump when she had a season-best leap of 11.02.  It moved Whitten into 12^th in the state this season and achieved the state "A" qualifying status.  Whitten wasn't finished, placing fourth on the track in the 400 meters (1:01.84).

Saddleback had two others top-5 finishers in Shaelynn Barbieri and Amanda McFadden.  Barbieri was third in the 400 hurdles when she crossed the finish line in 1:12.98.  McFadden was fourth in the discus with a toss of 36.22 meters.  Barbieri was also fifth in the 100 hurdles with a time of 17.66.

Saddleback finished third in the 4x400 relay (4:16.71) and fourth in the 4x100 relay (51.75).

Saddleback had 108 team points to finish third overall out of five teams present at the finals.

Saddleback will compete again at the SoCal Finals next week at San Diego Mesa College.