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E-mail StoryBC women's team has 7 in running for state berths
| Friday, May 9 2008 6:25 PM
Last Updated: Friday, May 9 2008 9:20 PM
From Bakersfield College's perspective, today's Southern California Track and Field Championships will be an all-women affair.
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The Renegades have seven women competing today at Memorial Stadium, hoping to finish with solid enough marks to qualify for next weekend's state junior college championships at Cerritos College.
The BC men's team did not advance anyone into Saturday's SoCal Finals from last week's SoCal Preliminaries.
Today's meet starts at noon with the women's javelin. The first running event begins at 4:15 p.m., the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children.
The Renegades are guaranteed one athlete at the state meet: Anikia Jackson, a sophomore who ranks No. 1 in the nation among all community college heptathletes.
Jackson easily won the SoCal heptathlon held several weeks ago, but Jackson will be busy today. She's entered in both hurdles races, the long jump, the javelin and will compete on BC's 4x100-meter relay team.
BC has one other athlete with a solid chance to advance to the state meet: javelin thrower Haylee Varner.
Varner had the best mark at last week's preliminaries, a 146-6 that was the best mark in Southern California this season. She must place in the top six today to advance to the state meet.
Jackson's 128-4 last week was the third-best mark in the prelims, so she figures to have a great chance to advance.
BC pole vaulter Holly Moseley-Raymond has a unique situation in her event.
California junior college guidelines call for the top six from today's SoCal Finals and the top six from the Northern California Finals to advance. But Northern California has only five entrants, which should allow the South to go seven-deep in qualifying for the state.
"We had 27 vaulters compete in the SoCal prelims," BC women's coach Pam Kelley said. "Ten are in the finals. Holly has vaulted 10-6, but again, it all depends on what happens on a given day."
For Jackson in the 100 and 400 hurdles races, and for BC in the 4x100 relay, a top-four finish ensures a berth at the state meet. The fifth-place finishers' times are compared with the NorCal fifth-place finishers, with the best mark getting the final state meet berth.
Also competing for BC are Shalisha Harris in the long and triple jumps, Stefany Baker in the javelin, Emnet Habebo in the 1,500 meters and Rachel Johnson, who will team with Jackson, Moseley-Raymond and Harris in the 4x100 relay.
The BC men had one athlete in contention for a berth today, middle distance runner Cesar Mirales, who placed one spot out of the finals in both the 800 and 1,500 meters.
He needed someone to scratch from one of those events to get into today's meet, but that didn't happen.