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Moorpark can throw itself into title mix
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The Moorpark College men's track and field team will again rely on its throwers this weekend as the Raiders hope for a sixth straight top-five finish at the Community College championships at Cerritos College.
"In all honesty, that is due to the throwers," said Moorpark head coach Keith Kephart. "Those guys just score a bunch of points.
Moorpark is sending eight competitors, including seven throwers, to the event. It has finished in the top three in four of the past five years, including the 2003 state title and runner-up finishes in each of the past two seasons.
"We'll focus on getting (personal records) and we'll let the cards fall where they may," said Kephart.
As usual, coach Bob MacKay's band has all the throwing events covered.
Jimmie Pacifico is the top seed in the shot put (54 feet, 11 inches), Alex Hoffman-Ellis is the second seed in the javelin (197-6), Colin Dunbar is the third seed in the hammer throw (170-1) and Pacifico is the fourth seed in the discus (163-3).
Moorpark has four of the top seven seeds in MacKay's signature event, the men's hammer throw, including Dunbar, Guat Vallejo-Howard (fourth, 163-1), Brandon Dutton (sixth, 158-2), and Pacifico (seventh, 158-2).
"They're just awesome," said Kephart. "(MacKay) does a great job of getting them ready."
Pacifico, Karl Gehrke (seventh, 156-6) and Donald Romero (eighth, 155-3) will compete in the discus, as will Moorpark's Kyle Elsea in the decathlon.
In basketball player-boxer-ultimate fighter Randi Hicks, Ventura College has a potential state champion in the women's javelin. Despite picking up the javelin for the first time in March, Hicks won the Western State Conference title, finished second in the Southern California meet and enters today's competition seeded third (128-2).
Ventura also has Brandon Johnson in the steeplechase and Nicholas Karam in the triple jump.
Oxnard has qualifying two athletes. Sophomore Miguel Cisneros is a top seed in the 10,000 meters (31:51.24) and Francisco Ambriz in the steeplechase.
Cisneros finished third in the event as a freshman.
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