Men's Track Left Out Of Winner's Circle In SCC Finals

With no event wins and only a second place by sophomore high jumper Miles Johnson in the high jump, the Pasadena City College men's track and field team settled for fifth place out of six scoring colleges at the South Coast Conference Prelims and Championships held April 23/27 at Cerritos College.

The Lancers scored only 34 points as a team, helped by Johnson, who tied for second and earned seven points with a 6-foot, 2.75 inches leap in the HJ event. While it matched his season best, Johnson did not reach his best jump from last year (6-4.25) and is 19th in the state after being among the top 10 in 2018.

It was a tough meet for Jared Whitt, who went from event favorite to settling for fourth place in the triple jump (44-10.75) after being tied for state best all season at 48-6.25. Whitt placed fifth in the long jump at 21-4. 

Asher Smith took fourth in the 100 meters (11.01 seconds) and placed eighth in the 200 meters (22.44 seconds). Mohammad Halin scored seventh in the 10,000 meters in 35:31.21. 

The 4x100 relay of Uri Mafate, Whitt, Smith and Justin Campbell finished fourth in 43.50 seconds while the squad of Mafate, Whitt, Smith and Dylan Che was fifth in the 4x400 relay in 3:38.06. Neither times approached season bests. 

Cerritos won the men's team title with 250.3 points, followed by El Camino 223, Mt. San Antonio 206.3 and Long Beach City with 78.3. 

It's been lean times for the program, which has produced only one SCC champion--Brennan Doyle in the 400 meters last year--in the past four seasons. The team has not placed higher than fifth since 2013 when it scored third place.