Western State Conference Championship Finals Hosted At Santa Monica College

Luken Galvan and Gabriel Schaeffer during the 4 x 400 Meter Relay at the Santa Monica College Corsair Stadium on Friday, April 29, 2022, in Santa Monica, Calif. (Nicholas McCall | The Corsair)

[NAME] arrives early at the track meet on Santa Monica College's Corsair Field on Friday, April 30, 2022 in Santa Monica, Calif. [NAME] was here to participate in the Men's 4x400, alongside [NAME, NAME, NAME], where they would [PLACEMENT] ( Marc Federici | The Corsair ).

[NAME] arrives early at the track meet on Santa Monica College's Corsair Field on Friday, April 30, 2022 in Santa Monica, Calif. [NAME] was here to participate in the Men's 4x400, alongside [NAME, NAME, NAME], where they would [PLACEMENT] ( Marc Federici | The Corsair ).

Santa Monica College Corsairs' Juan Hernandez lies collapsed on the track after completing the men's 5K race at the SMC Corsair Stadium on Friday, April 29, 2022, in Santa Monica, Calif. (Nicholas McCall | The Corsair)

On Friday, March 29, Santa Monica College (SMC) hosted the Western State Conference (WSC) Championship Finals for Track and Field. The WSC Finals is a track meet competition where schools in the Western State Conference of the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) compete for regional qualification.

All events during the finals are single heat, and the top six winners in each event advances to the Regional Championship Preliminaries. SMC students competed against other student-athletes from 11 inner-conference rival schools: Allan Hancock, Antelope Valley, Bakersfield, College of the Canyons, Cuesta, Glendale, Moorpark, Santa Barbara, Ventura and West LA.

"Today's kind of the best of the best and somebody here one day might be in the Olympics." said Freshman Malin Hoeijer. Hoeijer, in her first year on the SMC Women's track team, did not qualify to participate in the WSC Finals but was there to support her teammates.

The WSC Finals began at 12:00 p.m. with field events and running events taking place simultaneously.

SMC Freshman distance runner Juan Hernandez competed in his first ever 10,000 meter run several weeks ago during the WSC Preliminaries on Friday, April 22, at the College of Canyons. Placing second, Hernandez commented on his placement.

"It was a great experience. I was really proud of myself."

Hernandez has rapidly become a solid contender for regionals. Aiming to qualify in the Men's 5K event during the WSC Finals, Hernandez posted a time 15:37.20 in fourth place. Hernandez was seven milliseconds (00:00.07) from placing third.

The day concluded with the men's 4x400, SMC runners Luken Galvan, and Oscar Mendez, Balmore Montes, and Gabriel Schaeffer.

Successfully qualifying in the 5K, Hernandez is on track to participate during the WSC Regional Finals on Friday, May 6, 2022 at Moorpark College.