10 SPORTS
SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2018
Baseball
Upcoming
The Dons baseball team is close to
striking out for its chance to be in the
Orange Empire Conference playoffs.
Santa Ana will battle it out against
the Irvine Valley College Lasers for its
last two games of the regular season.
Needing to win both of its games
to be considered for playoffs will be a
difficult task.
Santa Ana has struggled to find any
success against its own conference
owning a record of 8-11.
The top four teams in the OEC are
number one Orange Coast College,
Saddleback, Riverside, and tied for the
fourth spot are Cypress and Fullerton.
The Dons have a tie-breaker advan-
tage over Cypress as they took the
three game series against the Char-
gers winning two of the three games.
The odds are slim for the Dons to
make a run at the playoffs. They will
need some major help as the final two
games come to a close.
— Julian E. Romero
FAST FRESHMAN / Sprinter Alexandria Owens (right) placed in the top three in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.57 seconds.
TRACK / PHOTO AND STORY BY JORDY ESPINOZA
DONS QUALIFY FOR OEC FINALS
After tremendous performances in
Friday’s Orange Empire Conference
prelims at Riverside City College, both
men and women who competed for
Santa Ana qualified for the next round.
The men’s team placed fourth with 11
points. Freshman Lizandro Hernandez
established himself as Santa Ana’s top
runner, placing seventh in the men’s
3000-meter steeplechase with a time of
10:40.92. It was only his second time
competing in the event and he beat his
first attempt by more than 30 seconds.
OWENS
“I wanted to get off those other con-
stant races and try something new, and
I felt like I could do the steeplechase,”
Hernandez said.
Before his attempts at running the
steeplechase, Hernandez had only com-
peted in the 800-meter run.
Making the move from the 800 to the
steeple wasn’t easy.
“The barriers are the hardest part
because you have to jump and there are
certain techniques that you have to do in
order to go good,” Hernandez said.
HERNANDEZ
Freshman Alexandria Owens was
one of the top sprinters at the event for
the women. In the 100-meter dash she
placed third among 21 competitors with
a time of 12.57 seconds.
Head Track and Field Coach Miriam
Mitzel is proud of the way the team
competes and appreciates that students
are willing to take on new challenges.
“We have an amazing group of run-
ners and hurdlers,” Mitzel said. “We are
definitely putting SAC back on the map
so watch out.”
JENKINS
JIMENEZ
IN THE 100 METER PLACED SEVENTH IN THE FINISHED SECOND OUT CLOCKED A TIME OF
DASH SHE PLACED MEN’S 3000-METER STEE- OF EIGHT RUNNERS 32:20.10 IN THE MEN’S
THIRD AMONG 21 PLECHASE AND 16TH IN THE WOMENS 10,000-METER RUN AND
COMPETITORS WITH A OUT OF 21 RUNNERS IN 400-METER DASH WITH A PLACED SECOND OUT OF
TIME OF 12.57 SECONDS. THE 800-METER RUN. TIME OF 1:02.65 SECONDS 18 COMPETITORS.