Costa, Redondo track teams making runs for Bay League titles
Mira Costa freshman Dalia Frias is an emerging star in distance running setting a personal record of 5 minutes, 3.22 seconds in the 1600 meters at the APA Distance Meet of Champions. Photo by Ruth Grau
Athletes are preparing to make their runs – along with jumps and throws – for Bay league championships and entries to the CIF meets as track and field competition begins to heat up.
Redondo will compete at the Trabuco Hills Invitational Friday and Saturday. Athletes who qualified will compete in the Arcadia Invitational on Friday and Saturday Apr. 5-6.
Mira Costa will participate in the South Bay Championships at West High on Friday and Saturday.
“We ran very well as a team,” Mira Costa boys coach Jeff Atkinson said of last weekend’s competition. “Our goal is always to run well at League Finals and beyond. These results show that we are on the right path, but we have much work to do. The South Bay Championships will be another stepping stone towards gaining the skills to compete at our best when it counts most.”
Last weekend at the Azusa Pacific University Distance Meet of Champions, a number of personal records were set including those by Redondo girls Isabella Landry (9th, 1-mile, 5:06.54 and 18th, 1600, 504.57), Peyton Heiden (11th, 1-mile, 508.66), Domenica Villegas (15th, 800, 2:16.50) along with Mira Costa 1600 runners Dalia Frias (17th, 5:03.22) and Lucy Atkinson (20th, 5:05.62).
Mira Costa also had two boys set personal records with Cy Chittenden (8th, 3200, 9:23.38) and Cole Gamble (15th, 1600, 4:18.00).
At the Mt. Carmel/Asics Track Invitational, Redondo had Division 1 top-ten performances by Eve Divinity (1st, long jump, 17-04.5), Mahkaia Lee (8th, 100, 12.94) and its 4×100 Relay team of Julia Ausland, Amber Autrey, Mahkaia Lee and Amari Turner (3rd, 48.04).
In Division 2 competition, Lee (3rd, 18-02) and Katherine Kluver (5th, 18-00) fared well in the long jump while Justin Yaskowitz captured the high jump title with a mark of 6-01.
At the Woodbridge Invitational, Mira Costa’s girls had six top-three finishes and the boys had two.
Amari Frasier won the 100 hurdles (15.47), placed 2nd in the 300 hurdles (45.96) and 7th in the 100 (13.07).
Sara Mooney captured the 100 (12.61) just ahead of teammate Kali Masheyekhi (12.84) before running a personal best for a 2nd-place finish in the 200 (25.75). Masheyekhi also set a personal best in the 200 with a 4th-place finish (26.49).
The Mustang’s 4×100 relay team finished 2nd at 4:02.17 while 4th-place finishes went to Natasha Cervantes (330 hurdles, 47.80) and Katelyn Lowry (triple jump, 33-01).
Lowry also placed 6th in the long jump (14-08) and Alyssa Toyooka was 9th in the shot put (26-08).
Andrew Sandberg was runner-up in the boys pole vault (13-03) and Brent Boone was 3rd in the triple jump with a personal best mark of 42-00.
Personal bests were also set by James Gooch (5th, 51.97) and Shane Schwartz (10th, 52.90) in the 400 along with Jules Barrieu (6th, 45.52) and Nicholas Liou (9th, 45.41)) in the 300 hurdles.
Other boys with top ten finishes were Aidan Purcell (4th, pole vault, 13-03), Maximillien Pean (7th, 300 hurdles, 44.58), Nicholas Parsons (7th, pole vault, 11-09), Boone (7th, long jump, 19-01.75), Roger Craig (7th, triple jump, 40-00.5) and (8th, long jump, 19-01.5), Liou (10th, 110 hurdles, 18.91) and Jacob Elson (10th, shot put, 38-00).