Battling last year’s champion Long Beach Poly along with rainy conditions, the Redondo girls track and field team claimed the title of the 2nd annual Redondo Nike Invitational hosted by the Sea Hawks.
Redondo’s 185 points bested Long Beach Poly (167) and Simi Valley (69) in the girls competition. Bay League schools West (51) and Mira Costa (49) finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Long Beach Poly captured the boys championship with 116 points ahead of Mira Costa (80) and Culver City (68.5). Redondo’s boys finished sixth with 56 points.
The two-day event began Friday evening with a Distance Carnival where strong distance teams from Redondo put the host school in strong contention for the overall team championship.
Despite losing the distance medley relay – an event is was geared up for – the Redondo girls team earned 33 points on the opening day surpassing Simi Valley (26) and Bay League rival Mira Costa (17).
Redondo kicked off the varsity competition running the third fastest time in the nation in the 4×800 relay. Even with usual member Lyndsey Mull – who was coming off a bout with tonsillitis – competing on the “B” team, Redondo’s foursome of Cara Ulizio, Amber Gore, Kayla Ferron and Rachel Bush dominated the race with a time of 9:22.16.
After Anique Villegas earned five points for the Sea Hawks with a 6th-place finish in the 3,200 meters, Redondo’s girls were anxious to show what they could do in the highly-competitive distance medley that featured Nike Cross Nationals champion Sarah Baxter of Simi Valley.
Redondo enjoyed a comfortable lead after Bush ran the first leg of 1,200 meters, Erin South the second leg (400) and Gore the third leg (800). But Mull’s health issues were evident as she faded in the final leg of 1,600 meters with Baxter and Mira Costa’s Kelli Sugimoto passing the Sea Hawk.
Simi Valley captured the event with a time of 12:13.84 that ranked second in the nation in this year’s outdoor competition.
Mira Costa finished second with Jenna Tong, Carolyn Massey, Claire Barnett and Sugimoto combining for a time of 12:30.68. Redondo finished with a mark of 12:32.30.
In the boys competition, Loyola earned 32 points at the Distance Carnival with a performance that included the fastest time in the nation of 7:53.33 in the 4×800 relay. Redondo placed second at 7:57.63 just ahead of Beverly Hills at 7:58.66.
A strong showing by Redondo’s distance medley team gave Redondo 19 points for the evening, followed by Warren (17) and Mira Costa (15).
After Will Tait opened the distance medley running the 1,200 meters, Isaiah Madison ran the 400 and Dagmay Demsas completed the 800. But it was Evan Malone-White’s burst during the anchor leg of 1,600 meters that gave Redondo a victory with a time of 10:41.84.
Warren (10:45.69) placed second and Mira Costa (10:47.66) finished third.
With heavy rain forecasted for Saturday, some teams opted to stay home for the second day of competition. Nevertheless, the event proved to be one of the most competitive in the state this season with 66 DyeStatElite marks recorded during the two days of competition.
South turned in a strong performance for Redondo’s girls team, winning the 400 (59:02) just ahead of Mira Costa’s Ashlee Dotson (59.70). South also ran the anchor leg in the 4×100 relay (3rd) and 800 sprint medley (4th).
Bush finished second in the 1,600 with a time of 5:08.94 and Gore (2:17.99) and Ferron (2:19.07) took second and third, respectively, in the 800 meters. Shelby Bassman placed fourth in the 100 meters with a time of 12.73.
Redondo finished 1-2 in the pole vault with Jasmine Freeman vaulting 9 feet, 6 inches and Katie Parkinson reaching 9 feet. Parkinson also tied for third in the high jump with teammate Fumie Reyes who also jumped 4 feet, 4 inches.
Haley Miller placed third in the triple jump (34-08.5) and long jump (15-05) to help the Sea Hawks’ cause.
Mira Costa’s Chelsea Tatum placed fourth in the shot put with a toss of 32 feet, 10 inches.
Malone-White continued to show his distance-running prowess on Saturday, winning the 1,600 meters with a time of 4:19.54.
Mira Costa was led by Kyle Hubbard hurdling skills. Hubbard set a personal best while winning the 300m hurdles with a time of 39.67. He placed second in the 110m hurdles posting a time of 15.17.
Daniel Golubovic won the high jump for the Mustangs with a leap of 5 feet, 10 inches and Reed Scale led a strong Mira Costa team of pole vaulters.
Scale won the competition with a vault of 14 feet, 6.25 inches while teammates Sean Griffin (13-06) and Christian Ritchie (12-06) placed third and fourth, respectively.
Mira Costa will be competing in the California Relays on Friday and Saturday at Cerritos College. Redondo will split its team this Saturday with the sprint and fields teams attending the Beach Cities Track and Field Invitational at Huntington Beach High School and the distance runners competing at the Distance Meet of Champions at Azusa Pacific University.
