Five San Bernardino Valley College track and field athletes qualified last Friday to participate in the California Community College Athletic Association's Southern California Regional Finals.
The Wolverines had 17 participants qualify for the preliminary round, which, along with the finals, is at Cerritos College,
Jacob Mendiola was the only men's runner to qualify, and he will be pulling double duty in the finals. He won his heat in the 3000-meter steeplechase, qualifying second overall with a time of 9 minutes, 45.0 seconds. He will also run the 800 meters in the finals, finishing second in his heat, to qualify in the fifth spot with a time of 1:52.72.
On the women's side, Jade Campbell earned a spot in the 400-meter finals, qualifying in the seventh spot with a time of 59.15 seconds. Ximena Martinez will run in the 1500-meter final, posting a time of 5:09.09 to qualify in the 11th position.
Sara Jaquez missed an automatic qualifying spot in the 800 meters by 0.2 seconds, posting a time of 2:23.89. However, she is expected to run in the finals as the first alternate, with another runner planning on scratching from the event. Also hoping to run in the finals as the first alternate is Yoselin Canseco, who had an off day in the 3000-meter steeplechase. She finished with a time of 12:05.78, to land in the 13th position in the field.