The Bakersfield College men’s track and field team placed second at the Western State Conference Finals on April 23 with 144 1/2 points, behind conference leader Moorpark, which had 219 points.
Robert Gomez won the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 54.34 seconds after dropping the 400 to run in the event. He also anchored the 400-relay team, in which BC finished third.
“I think it was a good run, and I kind of felt tired,” said Gomez of his first-place finish in the hurdles. “I felt like I could win, but I haven’t been running as well as I did last year (53.1).”
Rickey Sims finished second behind Gomez in the 400 hurdles as the Renegades went one-two in the event.
“It was my best (run) of the year,” said Sims of his performance. “Last week I ran a 58, but I ran a 54 today, four seconds better. I just gave it all I had.”
Sims credits his performance to his teammate Gomez for switching his blocks in practice.
BC’s Jeremy Miller won the 110 high hurders, and was on both of the relay teams, including the third place 400-relay team, as well as the 1,600 relay team, which placed second.
Miller placed fourth the state meet last year.
“Out of all the guys, Miller and Gomez really came through,” said coach Bob Covey.
“If you go down the list, we just had personal record after personal record, and that’s what you work for all year,” he said.
“The whole point of developing athletes in any sport is to get them to perform at their best level.”
Shannon Odom scored in three field events, including a sixth-place finish in discus and a seventh-place finish in the hammer throw.
There were also several unexpected surprises for the BC team as far as individuals go.
Benny Flores finished sixth in the 1,500, a four-second improvement on his personal record.
“Taj Smith also came through above expectations,” said Covey.
“He ran as well as I was hoping he would. He really did a good job.”
Smith placed second in the 100 and third in the 200.
“The Renegades kind of have a history of stepping it up in conference meets, and we did it again,” said Covey.
“Except for a couple of cases, I was really pleased.”
BC’s next meet is the Southern California Preliminaries this Friday and Saturday at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, which is the qualifying meet for the Southern California Championships.
The State Championships are scheduled May 13-14 at American River College in Sacramento.
– Sports Editor Victor Garcia contributed to this story.