The Islander Track and Field Team had a great day at the Viking Relays on March 14. Head Coach Cameron Gary supplies the details.
Viking Sunset Relays
The Islanders were in action on Saturday, March 14 at the Viking Sunset Relays, held at La Jolla High School. This was an invitational meet, featuring teams from 28 schools throughout the San Diego CIF section. This meet featured “standard” Track & Field events featured at most high school competitions, in addition to an 800-meter Sprint Medley Relay (SMR), a 4000-meter Distance Medley Relay (DMR), Ambulatory events for paralympic athletes, a 4x100m “Throwers Relay” for athletes who regularly participate in throwing events, and a Mixed-Gender 4×400 Relay.
The Islanders had a strong showing, featuring many athletes who were heat winners. Below we feature Islander athletes who were overall event medalists (top three overall finishers in their respective events).
Beginning with the sprint events, senior Islander sprinter Summer Little finished second overall in the women’s 100m Dash event with a time of 12.75 seconds. It was Little’s first race of the year. Little’s time currently ranks her an equal second in the Central League, alongside her teammate, senior Micaela Gistaro (who ran the same time at the Elmer Runge Invite two weeks prior).
Senior sprinter William Heyen ran a personal best (PB) time of 23.73 seconds to finish second in the men’s 200-meter Dash. This time currently ranks him 7th in the Central League.
Islander distance athletes swept the top two places in the “Metric Mile” (1600-meter Run). Seniors Nathan Ayan and Vincent Russo ran PB times of 4:32.34 and 4:33.10, respectively, to finish first and second. Those times rank them third and fourth, respectively, in the Central League. They also rank 27th and 34th in the San Diego CIF section (985 athletes with times recorded thus far).
Islander sprinters performed admirably in the relay events as well. The Islander men’s 4×100 Relay team of junior Xavier Marsh, sophomore Noah Jones, Heyen, and sophomore Ah’Mahn Oliver ran a season’s best time of 44.67 seconds to finish third overall.
The Islander Sprint Medley Relay teams turned in outstanding performances. The men’s 800 SMR team of Heyen, Oliver, Marsh, and senior Davin Collins recorded a time of 1:36.91 to take home the championship. This time is a meet record and is currently the top 800 SMR time in the San Diego CIF section (36 schools have posted times thus far) and ranks 32nd in California (265 schools).
The women’s team of freshman Keanna Prentiss, Little, junior Maya Wilson, and Gistaro also took first place, with a time of 1:51.97. This is the second-fastest women’s 800 SMR time in the San Diego section so far this year (33 teams). It also ranks as the 20th fastest time in California so far (255 teams).
In the field events, Islander horizontal jumpers turned in fine performances. They were led by sophomore Noah Jones, who finished second with a PB leap of 21’3” in the Long Jump, and junior Trey Stallworth, who leapt a PB distance of 40’5” in the Triple Jump. Stallworth is currently ranked second in the Central League.
Jones’s long jump performance was particularly notable, as it is the top ranked performance in the Central League and the 14th ranked jump in the San Diego CIF section (643 jumpers). Jones is currently the top sophomore long jumper in the San Diego section, and the 16th ranked sophomore in California (1737 jumpers).
