Girls track and field: Mesa runs into a wall

Joseph Boo

COSTA MESA - Thursday’s Pacific Coast League girls track and field

dual meet between Costa Mesa High and visiting University seemed closer

than the score indicated.

But considering the score was 95-39 in Uni’s favor, that still meant a

sizable distance between the two.

The Mustangs got some solid performances and won six of 15 events. But

what affected the outcome were the second and third-place finishes, most

of it going to Uni. The Trojans swept four events and had 26 top three

finishes, excluding two relay races they won.

On the other hand, Mesa only had 10 individual top three finishes, and

the Mustangs forfeited nine points from the pole vault because it doesn’t

field a squad.

“We’re a young team,” Costa Mesa Coach John Carney said. “We’ll get

better as the year goes by.”

Senior Julie Kroening racked up the most points for the Mustangs (1-1,

0-1 in league), accounting for 13 of Mesa’s 39 points. She won two

events, the 300-meter low hurdles (49.5) and the long jump (14-11).

In a tight race that ended in a photo finish among the top three runners,

Kroening was edged out in the 100 sprint with a time of 13.05, which was .33 seconds off the winning time.

“Julie got two wins and ran well for us,” Carney said.

Her teammate, senior Candace Nicholson was third in the 300 hurdles with

a time of 53.1. She won a close 100 intermediate hurdles, finishing in

17.8, which was .34 second faster than Uni’s runner-up. She placed third

in the long jump with a leap of 13-4.

Freshman Sharon Day was the other two-time winner for the Mustangs.

Emerging out of a pack, Day blasted down the home stretch in the 200 and

won with a time of 27.35, half a second better than Uni’s second-place

runner. She took the 400 race comfortably with a time of 1:03.93, almost

two seconds faster than the runner-up.

Mesa’s other win came from Lisa Weeks. She easily captured the discus

with a throw of 97-9, almost 10 feet better than Uni’s best throw. She

was second in the shot put with a toss of 29-2.

The only other top three finish for the Mustangs came from Eileen Bello,

who was third in the 1,600 with a time of 6:16.

But that as it for Mesa. Uni easily avenged a dual meet loss from last

year. It was an inconsistent performance for Mesa, with several

disappointing results from a young team.

“Kids will be kids,” Carney said with a shrug. It was the only way he

could explain his team’s performance.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Girls

University 98, Costa Mesa 45

100 - 1. Ehrman (U), 12.78; 2. Kroening (CM), 13.05; 3. Bailey (U),

13.43. 200 - 1. Day (CM), 27.35; 2. Ehrman (U), 27.82; 3. Bayley (U),

28.39. 400 - 1. Day (CM), 1:03.93; 2. Howard (U), 1:05.09; 3. Schaefer

(U), 1:06.19. 800 - 1. Morofian (U), 2:32; 2. Howard (U), 2:37; 3. Kovc

(U), 2:52. 1,600 - 1. Chan (U), 5:54; 2. Kovc (U), 6:06; 3. Bello (CM),

6:16. 3,200 - 1. Morofian (U), 12:28; 2. Chou (U), 12:44; 3. Alexander

(U), 13:48. 100 relay - 1. University, 54.66; 2. Costa Mesa, 55.61. 400

relay - 1. University, 4:35. 110 HH - 1. Nicholson (CM), 17.8; 2. Hsi

(U), 18.06; 3. Van (U), 18.31. 300 IH - 1. Kroening (CM), 49.5; 2.

University, NT; 3. Nicholson (CM), 53.1.

HJ - 1. Paulick (U), 5-1; 2. Mauliouf (U), 4-0. LJ - 1. Kroening (CM),

14-11; 2. Fitzgibbon (U), 13-8 1/2. TJ - 1. Maliouf (U), 31-4; 2.

Fitzgibbon (U), 30-0. SP - 1. Williams (U), 32-9; 2. Weeks (CM), 29-2; 3.

Beverly (U), 28-5. DT - 1. Weeks (CM), 97-9; 2. Williams (U), 83-9; 3.

Averett (U), 83-0.