Despite a strong performance in the Southern California Finals, the track and field team wasn’t able to finish within the top 10, but still managed to have six of its athletes qualify for the state finals.

The Warriors’ next meet will be their last of the year when they travel north to Sacramento for the California State Finals at American River College.

Last Saturday, the Warriors went to Saddleback College to compete in the Southern California Finals, where the Warriors finished in 11th place with 24 points, finishing with just one point less than the 10th place team.

Among the the top 10 teams were Riverside with 88 points; Mt. San Antonio (84.5); Cerritos (75); Moorpark (74); Long Beach (65); Saddleback (59); Orange Coast (42); Golden West (33); San Diego Mesa (29), and Oxnard (25).

“We were hoping for a top ten finish, but we just missed it by a few points and finished in eleventh place overall,” coach Dean Lofgren said. “Which was fair considering that we were competing against fifty-two colleges.”

In the team competition, Emmit Karlay, Roy Alugbue , Lamar Taylor and Marcus Davison finished in fifth place in the 400-meter relay with a group-best time of 41.55.

This new time beats their group’s previous best time of 41.63, obtained during the South Coast Conference Finals, SCC, in Compton two weeks ago.

In the 1,600-meter relay Kyle Montgomery, Alugbue, Karlay and Taylor finished in sixth place with a time of 3:17.56.

In the individual events, Alugubue finished second in the 100-meters with a time of 10.51. Alugbue also competed in the 200-meters and finished fifth overall with a time of 21.46.

“We could have done much better in both of the relays,” Alugbue said. “We are satisfied that we qualified for the four-hundred meter relay for the state final.”

In the field events, Amir Fisher finished in third place in the high jump with a leap of 6-8, improving his previous personal best record of 6-4, which he had set during the SCC finals.

Fisher will also be heading to Sacramento for the state finals to compete in the men’s high jump.

Alugubue, who also competed in the high jump, finished in eighth place with a jump 6-4.

Alugbue will be among the six athletes heading north for the Warriors and will compete in the men’s 100- and 200-meters.

Karlay, Taylor and Davison along with Alugbue will also compete in the 400-meter relay.

“It is going to be very intense because it is going to be the last meet of the season. For most of the athletes it would be the very last meet they will compete in,” Alugbue said. “Everyone is going to be at their very best.”

After This weekend’s meet, some of the athletes will begin considering what to do once the season is over.

“I will probably take a long break after the season ends,” Alugbue said. “I’m just gonna rest, it’s been a long season. We have been practicing since August.”

Still, athletes try not to get distracted and continue to focus on doing well during the state final.

“We are going to give it all we have,” Alugbue said.