Track: Mt. Carmel (24 March) and Christian-Crawford (22 March)

For the second week in a row, the Islander track team had back-to-back meets on Thursday and Saturday. Thursday's meet was a league cluster with Christian and Crawford; Saturday's meet was the Mt. Carmel Invitational. For the cluster meet we kept out, or lightly used, the athletes who competed at Mt. Carmel. The Mt. Carmel Invite has been around for 39 years and has developed into one of the top meets in California with entries from all over the country. As usual, Alysah Hickey excelled by winning the High Jump with a Personal Record of 5 feet 8 inches, the Long Jump with a leap of 18 feet 10.25 inches, and she placed 2nd in the 100-meter dash with a school record time of 11.87 to Jasmine Frost's winning time of 11.74. Normally a time of 11.87 will easily win the 100, but Jasmine Frosh from Serra in the Southern Section is one of the top sprinters in the state. Frost is currently ranked third in the state and Hickey seventh based on the times run at Mt. Carmel. Statewide, Hickey is ranked second in the high jump and first in the long jump. Her long jump PR of 19 feet 5.25 inches ranks her seventh in the US for that event. She also anchored the 4x100 team to a new school record of 48.91. Ruthie Grant- Williams ran the lead-off leg, followed by Madison Shanks who ran second, and Abby Whittemore, who ran the third leg. Grant-Willams currently leads the county in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.39 but in her race at Mt. Carmel she was running so fast that she got too close to the last three hurdles and didn't go over cleanly enough to place. She also placed third in the high jump, and long jumped 16 feet 8.5 inches. In the girls' 1600 meter races freshman, Abby Hundley, was only a couple of seconds off her PR with a time of 5:33.3, while her sister PR'd by a second in 5:17.92. Freshman Sofia Van Arsdale gets faster with each race. At Mt. Carmel she easily won her 800-meter heat with a time of 2:20.69.  In the girls' Distance Medley Relay, we were a bit off our best time and placed eighth with a time of 13:03.64. Madden Hundley ran the 1200 leg followed by Abby Hundley, who ran the 400 leg; Van Arsdale, who ran the 800 leg; and Teresa Perez, who ran the 1600 leg.

 

 For the boys, Ian Hurlburt continued his string of 800-meter wins by taking the fast heat with a time of 1:56.28. He remains at the top of the San Diego leaderboard for the 800.  After a bout with flu, Luke Klingenberg made a nice comeback in the 1600-meter run with a respectable time of 4:31.18. He should be back to his old self pretty soon.

Thursday's cluster meet was an opportunity for those who didn't have the required marks to get into Mt. Carmel to face some good competition and obtain marks for the Athletic.net database that will serve as seed times for future events. We entered 14 boys in the 100-meter dash with nine running times under 13 seconds.  The fastest of the lot was Nicholas Dunn who clocked the best time of the day in the fast heat with 11.46. Others under 13 seconds were Shane Alihan (12.02), Leo Adams (12.38), Ryan Meachum (12.39), Ben Cahill (12.62), Coltin Cline (12.69), Hayden Dunlap (12.69), Kainoa Potter (12.80) and Jesse Vernallis (12.89). In the boys' 200-meter dash three of this group run under 26 seconds with Dunn tying for first overall with a time of 23.60 followed by Alihan (25.11), and Cahill, who ran 25.74. In the 400-meter run Hurlburt wanted something fast to prime himself for his 800-meter run on Saturday, so he ran the at 400-meter dash which he easily won with a personal record of 51.38, followed by Maxwell Fuller in 55.36, Potter in 57.50, and Meachum in 57.81.  Klingenberg, also getting in a bit of speed, won the 800 with a time of 2:05.3.  Danny Mineo placed third in the 1600-meter run with 4:55.1 followed by Chris Russell (5:07) and Nicholas Inzunza (5:08). In the boys' throwing events River Paquin was impressive with wins in both the shot put (36-6) and the discus throw (112-0). Dunlap placed third in the shot put with 35-5 with Joseph Whalen also over 30 feet with a toss of 31-8. Kobuk Van Houten and Liam Casey tied for third in the high jump at 5 feet 2 inches. Jayden Ferrer placed third in the long jump with 17 feet 9 inches. Casey and Van Houten also had marks over 16 feet in that event.

Because of Mt. Carmel we entered very few girls. Hickey won both the 100-meter dash and long jump with marks of 12.38 and 17-7. Grant-Williams won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.93 and was second in the long jump with 16-7. In those events, Laura Wiese placed third in the hurdles and eighth in the long jump. Van Arsdale and Annie Holland clocked 63.1 and 64.2 in the 400-meter run.  Natalya Gomez placed third in the 800 with a time of 2:42.5 with Holland fourth in 2:42.8. Regina Czerewko won the pole vault with 6 feet even and placed sixth in the long jump. Brianna Finnegan was seventh in the long jump and sixth in the 100-meter dash. Still learning the event, Sydney Zoehrer placed third in the high jump. As a practice run for the 4x100 at Mt. Carmel, Grant-Williams, Shanks, Whittimore, and Hickey won the 4x100 relay in 50.41.