Coach George Green shares an end of season recap with The Coronado Times
April 11: Dual meet with Madison High School:
Victoria Perez broke her own School Record for the shot put with a toss of 36 feet 2 inches. Now that the season is over, except for the state meet, that’s the current record. Nick Dunn clocked a speedy 100-meter dash time of 11.26. Shane Alihan ran the 400 for the first time and finished with 55.78.
Week of 15 April: Three meets – a league cluster with Kearny and Clairemont on April 18, the Mt. San Antonio Relays (MT. SAC), and the Viking Relays on April 20:
Alysah Hickey is the state leader for both the long jump and the high jump, and she won both events at Mt. SAC, one of the top meets in the country with events for top high school, college, and professional athletes. The high school long jump competition came down to the last two attempts in the finals with Hickey jumping behind California’s second-ranked long jumper, Caelyn Harris, who uncorked a leap of 19 feet 8.5 inches on her fifth jump to take the lead. Hickey followed a few minutes later with 20 feet 1 inch to take it back for the win. Hickey and Harris are the only two girls in the state with long jump marks exceeding 20 feet. Hickey’s top mark is 20 feet 9 inches; Harris has jumped 20 feet 2.5 inches. Hickey easily won the high jump with a leap of 5 feet 6 inches, then had the bar raised to 5 feet 9. By then her legs were a bit shot as she also competed in the elite heat of the 100-meter dash, so her winning jump remained at 5-6, well-off her school record and leading State Mark of 5 feet 10.5 inches.
The double dual meet on 18 April at Clairemont High School was the last meet of the season where the entire team could compete. Nick Dunn and Kaiona Potter placed 1-2 for both the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Dunn had a big PR in the former with a time of 11.13 followed by Potter with a time of 11.92. Carson Stewart, David Norris, and Ryan Vo followed. In the 200, Dunn clocked 22.61 followed by Potter in 23.65, Jesse Vernallis, Race Schwartz, David Norris, Stewart, and Vo. Shane Alihan PR’d in the 400-meter dash while placing 3rd with a time of 54.58 followed by Vernallis who placed 5th with 56.23. The trio of Orion James, Noah Wahamaki, and John Cook were the only entries if the 110-meter hurdles and finished in that order.
In the 300 hurdles, Cook and James went 1-2 with times of 46.63 and 46.94 followed by Wahamaki (49.18) in fourth and Alihan in fifth. Alihan, Dunn, Potter, and Jaynes won the 4×100 with a time of 46.02 with Stewart, Schwartz, Wahamaki, and Vernallis following in the “B” team with a time of 48.75. Jack Weisbrod won the shot put with a PR of 37 feet 11 inches followed by Andrew Needham and Asa Valdivia in 5th and 6th. Weisbrod placed 2nd in the Discus followed by Needham in 5th and Valdivia in 7th. Long jumping for only the second time, Dunn cleared 19 feet 2 inches with Schwartz placing 4th with 16-4. In the 1600-meter run, Cole Mullins placed 3rd with 5:05.5 followed by Conor Youngblood (5:36.8) and Xavier Baltazar (5:46.1). Saturday at the Viking Relays, Dunn placed 3rd in the 100 with 11.35 and 4th in the 200 with 23.20. Potter ran 12.03 and 24.13 in those races. Alihan’s time in the 400 was 55.38. Mullins ran a PR for the 1600 of 4:45.21, Cook had a PR in the 110 hurdles of 18.51, and Wahamaki ran a PR for the 300 hurdles of 46.79. Cook’s time for the 300 hurdles was 47.15. In the throws, Weisbrod threw 36-9 in the shot put and 83-6 in the Discus, followed by Joe Whalen in the latter with 69-1. Dunn, Alihan, Potter, and Wahamaki teamed up in the 800-meter Sprint Medley Relay to place 9th. We loaded-up the sprints for the girls’ team at the Thursday meet. Brianna Finnegan won the 100-meter dash with 14.31 with Daniela Rassvetaieff 3rd in 14.46. Jasmine Chaley was 4th followed by Elana Shenas, Samantha Lorr, Skyler Smith, Chloe Cooper, and Sinaia Haskal. Finnegan also won the 200-meter dash in 28.76 with Grace Gehler-Smith placing 3rd with 31.21. Lorr was 6th followed by Smith and Haskal. Sofia Van Arsdale and Regina Czerewko went 1-2 in the 400-meter run with times of 62.24 and 64.86 with Gehler-Smith in 6th. Abigail and Madden Hundley cruised to a 1-2 finish in the 800 with times of 2:30.8 and 2:38.6. Madden won the 1600 with 5:38.0 followed by Samantha Russell in 3rd with 6:14.5 and Maya Haskal in 7th. Czerewho won the 300 hurdles in 52.72 followed by Chaney in 3rd with 58.56. As usual Victoria Perez won the shot put and discus throws with marks of 33-2 in the shot and 116-1 in the discus. Hickey soared to 19 feet 4 inches to win the long jump followed by Lorr, Finnegan, and Shenas. We won the 4×100 in 55.57 with Czerewho, Finnigan, Rassvetaieff, and Gehler Smith. Van Arsdale ran 5:17.57 for the 1600, a PR for her. This was only her second attempt at this distance so she could go quite a bit faster. Czerewko PR’d in both the 400-meter run and 300-meter hurdles with times of 64.64 and 52.11. Perez placed 3rd in the shot put with a mark of 32-2 and 5th in the discus with 104-5.5.
Escondido Invite and the Frosh/Soph meet 26 and 27 April:
Two popular Pre League Finals events, the Escondido Invite on Friday, and the Frosh/Soph meet on Saturday. Entry into each was performance-based. We sent two athletes to the Frosh/Soph meet and six to Escondido. Our top performer at Escondido was Hickey who won both the high jump and long jump with meet record marks in both. After leaving all the other high jumpers behind at 5 feet 2 inches, Alysah had the bar set to 5-7 which she cleared on her first try. Then the bar was set to 5-9 which, she soared over easily. The final height she tried was 5 feet 11.25 inches in an attempt to break the all-time San Diego Section CIF record of 5-11. She came very close on her second attempt, brushing the bar with her calf on the way down. Her competition in the long jump was stronger with three jumpers over 18 feet. However, her winning jump of 19-4 was nearly 15 inches beyond the second-place jumper. Victoria Perez also had a big day while placing third with a Personal Record in the Discus Throw of 125 feet 5 inches. She threw over six feet farther than her previous best which was her school record toss last season of 119 feet 2 inches. Madden Hundley posted a season-best time for the 1600 meters of 5:14.25 while Nick Dunn placed 5th in the 100 with a time of 11.21 and 8th in the 200 with 22.83. The winner of the 100 was Madison’s Kenan Christon who blazed to a time of 10.42 to claim the second-best time in the State this season. At the Frosh/Soph meet, Abigail Hundley posted a season-best time of 5:19.78 in the Soph 1600. In the Frosh races, John Cook placed 5th in the Invite 110-meter hurdles with a time of 17.85 as well as 7th in the 300 open hurdles in 46.13.
May 3, City League Finals:
Our final League Meet of the season was the City League Finals at Kearny High School. The main purpose of this event was to qualify athletes for the CIF prelims, but a secondary purpose was to name the League Champions for each event, as well as the Athletes of the Year for both Track and Field events. The top three athletes in each event won League Championship medals. After all the running and jumping, we advanced 15 athletes to the CIF prelims. There are three ways to advance to CIF: you win your event, you hit a qualification mark, you advance by place. The last method needs a little more explanation. If you don’t advance by winning or by mark, you can still advance by being among the top 27 athletes among all the other league finals in Division-2 on that day. Below I’ll indicate how an athlete advanced by using the short cuts “won,” “mark,” and “place.” I’ll go in order of our events.
Our first race was the boys’ 4×100 meter relay manned by Shane Alihan, Nick Dunn, Zane Delcore, and Kaiona Potter, in that order. They placed 3rd in the league race with a time of 45.21 but placed 19th in D-2 to advance to CIF by place. In the girls’ 1600, Madden Hundley advanced by both mark and place with a time of 5:15.28. Abigail Hundley advanced by place with 5:31.81, and Samantha Russell placed 4th with 6:16.39. Madden’s places were 2nd for both our league and the CIF behind Christian’s Alaina Zamorano. In the boys’ 1600, Brad Busby advanced by place with a time of 4:40.78, followed by Cole Mullins (4:47.04), and Conor Youngblood (5:40.80). In the boys’ 100 hurdles, John Cook advanced by winning with a time of 17.70, followed by Orion James (18.42), Noah Wahamaki (19.02), and Tim Shumaker (20.35).
The girls’ 100 was an extremely fast race with the top two girls in the San Diego section going head-to-head. Madison’s Aysah Shaheed nipped Alysah Hickey at the tape with a time of 11.90. Hickey ran 11.92, followed by Brianna Finnegan (14.13) and Daniela Rassvetaieff (14.18). Finnegan came back in the 200 with a time of 29.14. Dunn advanced by place in the boys’ 100 with a time of 11.19 and came back later in the 200 to advance by place with a time of 23.00. He followed up by placing 4th in the long jump with 19 feet 7 inches. The girls’ 800 was won by Teresa Perez in 2:17.25. She outlasted Christian’s Zamorano in a very close race. The pair are the top 2 seeds in D-2 going into the CIF prelims. Sofia Van Arsdale also qualified by mark with a time of 2:23.50 followed by Madden Hundley qualifying by place in 2:31.14, and Abigail Hundley in 2:32.30. Regina Czerewko picked up the 2nd place medal in the 300-meter hurdles. Her time put her 19th among D-2 hurdlers, so she advanced by place. In that same race, Jasmine Chaney placed 5th with a time of 57.31. Regina also placed 5th in the 400 with a time of 64.81.
The girls put together a last-minute 4×400 team consisting of Teresa Perez, Czerewko, Abigail Hundley, and Finnegan to clock 4:20.47 behind Christian. This time was fast enough to advance to the CIF finals by place. The boys’ 4×400 team consisting of Alihan, Wahamaki, Jesse Vernallis, and Potter placed 2nd behind Madison with 3:48.22 after Crawford was DQ’d for cutting a runner off at their third handoff.
In the girls’ field events, Hickey won both the girls high jump and long jump with marks of 5 feet 8 inches and 20 feet 1.5 inches respectively. Victoria Perez won the discus-throw with a toss of 118 feet 9 inches to advance. She also advanced in the shot-put by place with a heave of 31 feet 9 inches.
In the boys’ throws, Jack Weisbrod was our top performer with a heave of 37-9 in the shot-put and 78-1 in the discus. Joe Whalen, Andrew Needham, and Asa Valdiva were our other shot putters in that order. Needham and Whalen were our next two finishers in the discus.
May 11, CIF Prelims at Mt. Carmel High School:
The Prelims serve as the qualifier for the CIF finals, which, in turn, is the qualifier for the State Meet in Fresno on May 24th and 25th. There are two CIF Divisions for Track, appropriately named Division 1 and Division 2, with Division 2 comprised of schools with an enrollment under 2000. The top nine athletes per division per event advanced to the CIF finals, also at Mt. Carmel. We advanced seven athletes in six events. The day started with field events at 9:00 A.M. Because last Saturday’s meet was the preliminary event to next week’s finals, the horizontal jumpers (long and triple jumps) took only three attempts to cull the field down to the final nine. Alysah Hickey cleared over 19 feet on all three of her attempts. Her best jump was her second where she cleared 19 feet 10.25 inches to set a new CIF Championship meet record. The former record was by Olympian Gail Devers who jumped 19 feet 6.5 inches in 1983. Hickey also advanced in the high jump with a clearance of 5 feet 4 inches. If you’ve been following her exploits, you’ll know that this is way under her normal performance. At the prelims, she stopped when she surpassed all the other jumpers because the take-off area was wet and slippery from the rain that persisted until early afternoon. In the girl’s discus throw, Victoria Perez advanced with the third best throw in our division with 115 feet 8 inches. Teresa Perez won the D-II 800-meter run in 2:16.05 followed by Sofia Van Arsdale who also advanced in eighth place with a time of 2:22.88. In the girls’ 1600-meter run the Hundley sisters both advanced with Madden clocking 5:19.43 to win her heat and Abby placing third with 5:22.88 in the same heat. In the last girls’ event of the day we placed eighth in the 4×400 relay with a time of 4:11.30 to move on to the finals. That team consisted of Van Arsdale running the lead leg followed by Abby Hundley, Regina Czerewko, and Teresa Perez running anchor. Czerewko also competed in the 300 hurdles with a time of 51.25 but didn’t advance to the finals.
We had one qualifier for the boys, Nick Dunn, who ran a personal best time of 11.01 seconds. Unfortunately for Nick, there was a 2.6 meters per second tailwind which kept him from setting a new school record. The maximum allowable wind for records is 2.0 meters per second. Our current record is 11.06 seconds set in 2008 by Kyle Brown at this meet. Brad Busby almost advanced in the boys’ 1600-meter run with a time of 4:38.15.
Also running, but not advancing, were John Cook who clocked 18.17 for the 110-meter high hurdles, and the boys 4×100 relay team of Dunn, Shane Alihan, Kainoa Potter, and Zane Delcore with a time of 45.93.
May 11, CIF Finals:
At the CIF Track Finals at Mt. Carmel High School, it was no surprise that Coronado’s Alysah Hickey would win both the High Jump and Long Jump to advance to the State Meet in Fresno on May 17-18 and Teresa Perez would advance in the 800-meter run. Alysah won both of her events easily, clearing 5 feet 8 inches in the high jump, and spanning 19 feet 7.5 inches in the long jump. Teresa had to work a bit for her ticket to State as only the top three finishers go on. After a fast start in the 800, Teresa was at the back of a tight pack at the 200-meter mark. She ran the first lap (400 meters) in around 67 seconds. By then, she had moved up to mid-pack. With 250 meters left to go, she started passing other runners. At the top of the last curve, she was in second place, where she stayed until the finish. Her final time was 2:13.71.
Although Alysah and Teresa were our only two State Qualifiers, a few Islanders made the podium trip to pick-up a CIF medal for finishing in the Top-6 for Division II. Sofia Van Arsdale placed 5th in the 800, Madden Hundley placed 5th in the 1600, and Victoria Perez placed 3rd in the Discus.
Because they posted the top marks in our division (D-II), Alysah and Teresa are both D-II section champs for this year. Team-Wise we placed 4th among the 66 Girls D-II schools.
Although he missed the podium by a couple of places, Nick Dunn had a great race in the 100-meter dash with an 8th place time of 11.18.
The girls 4×400 had a shot the top 6 but came up a little short in 8th place with a time of 4:11.44. All but one of that team had already run a race. Van Arsdale ran the first leg. She handed off to Abigail Hundley who had previously run the 1600. Regina Czerewko ran the third leg, and Teresa Perez the anchor leg.
The State Meet is a two-day affair, held in Fresno at Buchanan High School. The Prelims are on Friday, May 24, the Finals on Saturday, May 25. Saturday could be interesting as thunderstorms are in the weather forecast.
