Boys track and field: CdM pulls out another late one

Tony Altobelli

CORONA DEL MAR - Corona del Mar track and field coach Bill Sumner’s

hair can’t get any grayer, but his boys team seems to be trying to find

ways to rapidly age him.

For the third time in four meets, the Sea Kings needed some late-event

magic to pull out an 83-53 Pacific Coast League win over University.

“Why do they always wait until the end to pull these things out?” an

exasperated Sumner asked. “I can look at it two ways. Either this team is

great in the clutch when we need big events, or we just start off slow.”

Whatever the case, the Sea Kings are 5-2, 4-0 in league and are coming

together at just the right time.

“I like track meets like this,” Sumner said. “I don’t like winning a

meet by 90 points and I don’t like losing a meet by 90 points. This keeps

us at the top of our game and it’s not going to get any easier.”

One pleasant spot for the Sea Kings came in the long jump, where CdM

went 1-2-3, despite some pretty intimidating numbers brought forth from

the Trojans.

“They (University) must have had 40 long jumpers over there,” Sumner

said. “There was a line around the block for that event. It was a nice

surprise to see us sweep that event.”

Spencer MacDonald won the event with a mark of 18-feet-4, while Alex

Vinsa (17-8) and Erik Knuppel (17-5) completed the Sea Kings’ sweep.

Knuppel jumped to the top of the heap in the triple jump with a 37-0

and finished second in the high jump (5-4).

Travis Beardslee was a double winner for CdM, placing first in the 800

meters with a 2:09.5 and 3,200 (10:17.7).

Senior Josh Yelsey won the 1,600 (4:42.5), took second in the 3,200

(10:18.0) and third in the 800 (2:11.7), behind teammates Beardslee and

Blake Dillion (2:11.1).

“We have guys who can pretty much step it up whenever we need them

to,” Sumner said. “That’s definitely a nice thing to have on a team.”

Alex Vinson (23.7) edged out teammate Jon-Luke Del Fante (23.8) in the

200, while John Turco and Andy Norman each cleared 11 feet in the pole

vault.

Taumata Grey blew away the field in the discus. His mark of 142-3 1/2

bettered the rest of the throwers by nearly 29 feet. Joe Barber (113-7)

and Lucien Knotter (116-9 1/2) finished second and third, respectively.

Grey also placed third in the discus (42-8).

The sprinting combination of Geoff Collier (11.6) and Mike Whitaker

(11.7) placed 2-3 in the 100. “Our sprinters are all working very hard,

but they just seem to missing by an inch most of the time,” Sumner said.

“They’re coming around and if they keep working hard, they’ll get that

extra push down the stretch to shave off that tenth of a second.”