The boys’ and girls’ track and field teams competed in three meets last week. On Thursday they had a league cluster meet with three other schools. Then, on Saturday, the team split with a small group of the top girls running at the Mt. SAC (Mount San Antonio) Relays and the rest of the team at the Jaguar Invite hosted by Valley Center High School. Head coach Cameron Gary covers the cluster meet and Mt. SAC below, and I’ll cover the Jaguar Invite as I was the coach in charge at that meet.
April 17 League Meet vs. Crawford, Madison & Morse
The Islanders were in action for a City/Central League meet on April 17 versus Crawford, Madison and Morse high schools. This meet took place at Morse High School. Central league teams compete in a “cluster” format, where three or four teams compete on the same date, at the same venue. However, the meets are scored as “dual” meets (each team versus the other). As a result, teams may face each other multiple times. However, only the LAST meeting counts toward league standings.
In this meet, the Islanders were matched up (re: scoring) versus Morse and Crawford. The Islander varsity boys’ squad defeated Crawford by a score of 87 – 21. They also defeated Morse by a score of 81 – 28. The Islander varsity girls defeated Crawford by a score of 51 – 32. However, the Islander girls fell to Morse by a score of 53 – 45. Both Islander junior varsity teams also prevailed over their opponents.
The Islanders were led by the distance crew. On the boys’ side, junior Vincent Russo won the 800m run, with a time of 2:12.82. Junior Nathan Ayan won the 1600m run with a time of 4:56.62. On the girls’ side, senior Olivia Monette won the 1600m run with a personal record (PR) time of 7:10.47.
(L-R) Anton Youngblood, Oscar Alicandri, Ziggy Raunig, Nathan Ayan
Photo by George Green
Other event winners at the meet included sophomore Maya Wilson, who scored victories in the girls’ 400m dash (62.61 seconds) and 200m dash (27.49 seconds). Junior Summer Little won the girls’ 300m hurdles with a time of 54.95 seconds. The girls’ 4×100 Relay of freshman Claudia Wagner, freshman Emily Albin, Wilson and Little, prevailed with a time of 52.37 seconds. Little, Wilson, and freshmen Olivia Barker and Ella Petersen combined to win the girls’ 4×400 Relay with a time of 4:37.68.
Photo by George Green
On the boys’ side, junior Davin Collins won the 200m dash with a time of 23.40 seconds. Sophomore Emiliano Marquez notched double victories in the 110m (18.24 seconds) and 300m (44.02 seconds) hurdle races. Sophomore Trey Stallworth won the Triple Jump with a leap of 37’4”. And the 4×400 relay team of junior Mason Gibbs, Ayan, Russo, and Collins combined to run 3:35.41 to take the victory there.
The Islanders will be in action again for their final Central League meet on April 24 at Madison High School. If the boys emerge victorious, the Islanders will be the 2025 Central League champions.
April 19 Mt. SAC Relays
The Islanders took part in the 65th Annual Mt. SAC Relays, held at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA. The Mt. SAC Relays meet is one of the largest track & field meets in the world. The meet features competitions from the youth level all the way up through the elite professional ranks. The Mt. SAC meet has been the site of 21 World Records. This is a very high-quality meet, so it is an honor and a privilege to compete there.
The Islander girls’ Sprint Relay (4×100 meters) consisting of juniors Micaela Gistaro, Summer Little, sophomore Maya Wilson, and senior standout Lauren Gilhooly made the trek to Walnut for this competition. In addition to the 4×100, Gilhooly also competed in two individual sprint events.
The Sprint Relay team competed in the “Seeded” section, which is the second-fastest of all the sections. The Islanders recorded a time of 48.51 seconds to finish seventh. This was not their fastest performance of the year, however it was commendable considering the fact that a couple members of the team were recently hampered by illness and injuries. Although this was not their fastest time, the time would still rank among the top five performances in San Diego this season. The Islander girls are (by far) the Central League leaders and remain the third fastest relay squad in the San Diego CIF section.
Gilhooly competed in the Invitational (fastest) sections of the 100- and 200-meter dash events. She is returning to competition after missing the last meet due to injury. Although she was not in her best form, she was able to record respectable performances in the 100m (7th place, 11.84 seconds) and 200m (4th place, 24.75 seconds) dash events. Gilhooly is the San Diego CIF section leader in both sprint events. And her 100m performance is second (in San Diego) only to her own prior sprint performances this season. And her 200m performance would rank third behind only her prior performances and a time recorded by one other athlete in San Diego this year.
This will be the Islanders’ last invitational meet for the 2025 season. Hereafter, the Islanders have one more League meet, and then they enter into championship season, which includes the Frosh/Soph Championships, the JV Conference Invitational, Central League Varsity Championships, and the CIF Divisional and Sectional championships. The latter serves as the qualifier for the California State Track & Field Championships at the end of May.
April 19 Jaguar Morning Invite
While Coach Gary was at Mt. SAC with his group of girls, I took a group of athletes to the morning session of the Jaguar Invite. As usual, Collins was our top sprinter clocking times of 11.38 and 22.93 for the 100 and 200-meter sprints. Marsh notched a PR in the 200 with 23.64. Gibbs pulled out a PR in the 400 with 54.72. In the 800 Ayan took the lead from the gun and never looked back. His time of 1:58.93 was a season-best. In that race, Andrew Buck placed third with a PR of 2:03.97. Russo PRd in the 1600 with a time of 4:45.04. In both hurdle events, Marquez ran PRs with a time of 17.01 in the 110 hurdles and 42.94 in the 300 hurdles. Lily Humphrey and Peterson PRd in the 100 with 14.46 and 14.76 respectively. In the throws, Eddie Gonzalez picked up a pair of medals in the shot put and discus with tosses of 37’-8” and 104’-9”.
