Ballentine and Buck Claim Conference Titles to Lead Cougars at WSC Prelims

Story and photos by Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

College of the Canyons claimed two individual Western State Conference (WSC) Championships on Friday, as Matthew Ballentine took the top spot in the javelin and Layne Buck won the long jump during the WSC Track & Field Prelims at Cougar Stadium on Friday. 

WSC titles were awarded in the men's and women's javelin, long jump, high jump and hammer throw, with the top seven finishers in each of those events also advancing to the CCCAA SoCal Championships next month. 

Ballentine was the first to be crowned with a throw of 52.01m/170' 8". Perhaps most impressive was that his conference-winning mark was achieved on his first attempt of the day. The freshman fouled on his final two throws but still won the event by more than 22 feet. Mitchell Reading of Antelope Valley College was the runner up at 45.16m/148' 2".

Ballentine, who finished fifth in the SoCal Decathlon earlier in the month to qualify for the state championships, also finished sixth in the 100h with a time of 16.91. He follows in the footsteps of former Cougar Delon Buncio who also won a WSC title in the javelin back in 2019.

Elsewhere inside Cougar Stadium, freshman Layne Buck took his WSC title with a leap of 6.85m/22' 5.75". That mark separated Buck from runner-up Roland Gandy (6.76m/22' 2.25") of Bakersfield College.

Buck's long jump title is the first for Canyons since former Cougar Tim White won the same event back in 2014. That season White also took WSC titles in the triple and high jump events.

COC freshman Milca Osorio was the top performer for the women's team. She posted a fifth-place time of 4:57.94 in the 1500m to begin the day's activities. Later in the day, it was Osorio clocking a pace of 40:04.24 in the 10,000m to automatically qualify to compete at the CCCAA SoCal Championships.

Full results from the WSC Track & Field Prelims are available here.

Upcoming Schedule

Canyons will next compete at the WSC Championships hosted by Santa Monica College on Friday, April 29.

Conference champions will be crowned in all remaining events with student-athletes also competing to qualify for the upcoming CCCAA Southern California Championships on Friday May 13, at Moorpark College. The Southern California Prelims will be held Friday, May 8 at Moorpark.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.