On Friday, May 3, the City League Championships were at Madison High School. Head Coach Cameron Gary details the results below. All photos were taken by me (George Green).
5/3 – Varsity City League Finals
The Islanders were in action this past Friday at the City League (Varsity) Championships, held at Madison High School. The participants were Christian, Clairemont, Crawford, High-Tech (San Diego), Kearny, Lincoln, Madison, and Coronado High Schools. This meet decides the championship qualifiers for the three divisions within the San Diego CIF Section. Coronado is in Division 3. League champions automatically qualify for the CIF Division championships, in addition to the top 18 – 27 qualifiers in each event, within the Division, throughout San Diego. Division 3 Championships will be held on Saturday, May 11th, at Valley Center High School.
The Islanders produced several championship-level performances, led by senior Lindsey Balsley, who won four league championship gold medals. Balsley began the day with a victory in the Long Jump, with a leap of 17’0.50”. This is Balsley’s second consecutive league championship in that event. She followed that up with a victory in the 300 Hurdles, finishing in a season’s best time of 47.97 seconds. This is Balsley’s second time winning that event, as she was the 2022 City League champion. Balsley also ran legs on the victorious Islander 4×100 and 4×400 Relays. More about the relays later. Balsley is among the top four CIF qualifiers in the Long Jump and the 300 Hurdles.
Sophomore standout Nathan Ayan continued to impress with his victory in the 800m Run. He clocked a personal record (PR) time of 1:58.89, narrowly edging out senior teammate Rafael Roos, who finished in 1:59.12. Ayan and Roos were the only athletes to break two minutes, and they are the top two qualifiers for CIF.
The Islander relay teams emerged victorious in three races. The Boys 4×400 team of Rafael Roos, senior Marco Velarde, junior Jace Larson, and Nathan Ayan clocked a season’s best and City League leading time of 3:32.55. The Islanders scored a decisive victory, beating the second-place team by nearly eight seconds. The Islander Boys 4×400 relay is the #4 ranked qualifier for CIF.
The Islander Girls relay team of Lindsey Balsley, senior Tatiana Potter, junior Lauren Gilhooly, and sophomore Summer Little won championship gold medals in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. They began the day by edging out Madison with a season’s best time of 48.63 seconds. The same quartet finished the day with a victory in the 4×400 relay, again edging out Madison with a time of 4:14.67. The Girls 4×100 relay is the #1 ranked qualifier in CIF Division 3. The 4×400 relay is the fifth ranked qualifier.
Other Islander medalists from the League Championships included Lauren Gilhooly, who finished second in the Girls 100 and 200m Dashes, with times of 11.95 and 24.95 seconds, respectively. It should be noted that the event winner in those events also happens to be the defending CIF champion and #1 ranked sprinter in the state. She and Gilhooly have been far and away the top two female sprinters in the San Diego section all season.
In addition to her relay exploits, Tatiana Potter also finished third in the Girls 200m Dash, with a time of 26.98 seconds. Sophomore Micaela Gistaro finished third in the Girls 400m Dash with a PR time of 62.69 seconds. Senior Emily Fernandez finished second in the Girls Long Jump with a leap of 15’2.50”.
Finally, the Islander Boys 4×800 quartet of junior Jack Letcher, senior Jack Shumaker, sophomore Oscar Alicandri, and junior Austin Litteral finished third with a time of 9:36.08. All the above medalists qualified for CIF.
