Track titles close at hand
Bay League track championships will be decided Thursday when Mira Costa’s boys attempt to capture their third league title in four years in a meet at West, and Redondo’s girls look for their first league crown in more than 30 years with a home victory over Leuzinger.
Redondo hosts the Bay League Prelims on Tuesday at 1 p.m. and the Finals next Thursday at 3 p.m. The Lady Sea Hawks defeated defending champion Mira Costa 74-62 in their showdown last week. Chloe Curtis (800, 1600) and Haley Miller (long jump, triple jump) were double winners for Redondo.
Earlier this season, Curtis posted the fastest time in the nation this year for high school girls with a time of 2:09.07 in the 800 meters and the Sea Hawks’ 4×1600 relay team of Rachel Bush, Laura O’Neill, Lyndsey Mull and Curtis broke a meet record two weekends ago at the Mt. SAC Relays with the state’s best time of 20:03.48. The national record is 19:59.
Redondo showed the depth of its program with a strong showing, particularly in field events, at the South Bay Championships last Saturday. Cara Ulizio placed 2nd in the 1600 (5:11.09) and 3rd in the 800 (2:24.08), Miller finished 3rd in the triple jump (34-1), Melanie Wells was 3rd in the pole vault (8-8), Aundrea Yancy placed 3rd in the high jump (5-0), Nadia Basich finished 3rrd in the shot put (31 feet, 7 ? inches) and Michelle Lowery placed 3rd in the discus with a toss of 97-8.
Mira Costa had three girls with second-place finishes. Laura Wellbaum finished the 300 hurdles with a mark of 45.96, Kari Shannon reached 9 feet, 2 inches in the pole vault and Britanny Collins hurled the discus 98 feet, 8 inches.
El Segundo’s Allison Reaser was named Female Athlete of the Meet after winning the 100 hurdles in 14:55 and setting a meet record in the 300 hurdles with a time of 44:41.
After being upset by Redondo last season, the Mira Costa boys team got revenge last week defeating its rival 98-38. Brett Douville (800, 1600), Michael Koger (200, 400) and J.R. Tavai (shot put, discus) were double winners for the Mustangs. Joe McMahon set a new school record winning the 100 in 10.72 seconds.
The team had an impressive outing at the South Bay Championships winning five events. Koger won the 110 hurdles (15:15) and set a meet record in the 300 hurdles (38:52).
Also setting a meet record with a time of 3:24.33 was the Mustang’s 1600 relay team of Douville, McMahon, Rico Wright and Koger.
Anthony Holden won the pole vault with a mark of 14-2 and Jonathan Matson won the high jump at 5-10.
Not be outdone, members of Redondo’s boys team also set two meet records. Remington Besnoin captured the 800 with a time of 1:57.12. The Sea Hawks’ 400 relay team of D.J. Smith, Brandon Boyd, Christian Bassman and Ryan Hyman earned a spot in the record books with a meet-best time of 43:19.
Bassman also won the 100 with a time of 11.0 seconds.
Redondo’s 4×800 relay team of Besnoin, Dezhan Bland, Evan White-Malone and Simon Schermerhorn ran the second fastest time in the state at the Mt. SAC Relays. The team’s mark of 7:52.4 is also the eighth fastest in the nation this year. ER