Runner-up finish for Pirates at OEC Finals
RIVERSIDE -- The orange and blue were well represented on Friday as the Orange Coast College women's track and field team earned a second-place team finish at the 2026 Orange Empire Conference Championships, hosted by Riverside City College.
Sparked by 13 top-3 finishes and four conference champions, the Pirates placed second with 144 team points, followed by Saddleback (70), Fullerton (57) and Golden West (33).
Coast earned a 1-2 finish in the 400-meter hurdles, led by sophomore Ana Chupinsky, who earned the gold medal with a time of 1 minutes, 6.5 seconds, just ahead of teammate Nikki Witana's silver medal time of 1:08.51.
Witana earned her own gold medal by topping a pair of RCC Tigers to win the heptathlon with 3,840 points, edging out Mable Gonzalez (3,761) and Madyson Esqueda (3,061).
OCC distance runner, Jocelyn Alba earned herself and gold AND a silver on Friday. Winning the 5,000 with a dominating time of 19:08.63, 24 seconds ahead of OEC runner-up Payton Love of Saddleback College (19:32.8). Alba also earned herself a silver in the 10,000 with a time of 42:28.78.
High jumper, Sara Chupinsky earned a spot on the top step of the podium with a winning jump of 5-3.
Other top-three performances for the Pirates were turned in by ...
SECOND PLACE
4x100 Relay -- 50.52
1,500 -- Belle Baker, 5:01.6 ... just over one second from GWC's Lowyn Pereyda 5:00.49
Pole Vault -- Paige Hasegawa, 8-0 1/2
THIRD PLACE
100 Hurdles -- Nikki Witana, 15.5
400 -- Jasmin Trujillo, 56.69 ... top three runners within a half second ...
800 -- Isabel Ramirez, 2:30.5
4x400 relay -- 4:20.86
Long Jump -- Sara Chupinsky, 17-4 1/4
Hammer -- Sahara Pulido, 121-10
Several more quality performances earned the Pirates several more spots at next week's Southern California Regional Meet, which will take place on May 2 (prelims) and May 9 (finals) at Cuesta College. OCC qualifiers include ...
- 4x100 Relay (Sara Chupinsky, Alicia DeLeon, Nikki Witana, Jasmin Trujillo, Ana Chupinsky)
- 1,500 -- Belle Baker
- 1,500 -- Jocelyn Alba
- 100 Hurdlers -- Nikki Witana
- 400 -- Jasmin Trujillo
- 800 -- Isabel Ramirez
- 800 -- Belle Baker
- 400H -- Ana Chupinsky
- 400H -- Nikki Witana
- 200 -- Jasmin Trujillo
- 5,000 -- Jocelyn Alba
- 5,000 -- Mariana Hernandez
- 5,000 -- Isabel Ramirez (alternate)
- 4x400 Relay -- (Jasmin Trujillo, Nikki Witana, Isabel Ramirez, Alexa Zeledon)
- 10,000 -- Jocelyn Alba
- 10,000 -- Mariana Hernandez
- 10,000 -- Belle Baker
- 10,000 Cassandra Garcia (alternate)
- Hammer -- Sahara Pulido
- Hammer -- Kylie Valerio
- Pole Vault -- Paige Hasegawa
- Long Jump -- Sara Chupinsky
- Long Jump -- Nikki Witana
- Javelin -- Nikki Witana
- Javelin -- Alexa Zeledon (alternate)
- Triple Jump -- Ana Chupinsky
- High Jump -- Sara Chupinsky
