Boys and girls track and field: Athletes ready for CIF

Steve Virgen

NEWPORT-MESA - Newport Harbor High senior David Sprenger is hoping

his ankle holds up as he competes today at 3:30 p.m. at the CIF Southern

Section Division II Track and Field Preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio

College. Sprenger’s ankle is one of the many story lines that will carry

out over the next two weeks in the Newport-Mesa District, which will also

have athletes from Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa and Estancia competing in

the CIF Division III Preliminaries Saturday at 12 p.m. at Veterans

Stadium in Long Beach.

“Sprenger should qualify (for the CIF Finals May 18 at Cerritos

College) in the long jump if his ankle holds up,” Newport Coach Bim Barry

said. “It’s been bothering him since the CdM meet (March 6, when Sprenger

won the long jump and triple jump), the second meet of the year.”

The top nine in each event will advance to the CIF Finals.

Sprenger, the Sea View League champion in the long jump (20-foot-4

1/2), will also contribute in the 400-meter relay, which also includes

senior Adam Kerns, sophomore Joel Walker and junior Dartangan Johnson.

Alec Urtu, the Sea View League champion in the 3,200 (10:07.97), will

be joined by sophomore Nick Miller in the 3,200. Newport sophomore Matt

Tracy will compete in the 400, while senior Noe Perez will take to the

800.

Tracy, Johnson, senior Pete Bas and either Kerns or senior Zach Zarnow

will race in the 1,600 relay.

Senior Rion McKinney will represent the Sailors in the shot put, while

Newport’s senior twin brothers Jeff and David Marshall will compete in

the discus.

On the girls side, Newport will be led by sophomores Jillianne

Whitfield and Elizabeth Clayton and freshman Jennifer Ryder.

Whitfield, the Sea View champion in the discus (126-0) and league

runner-up in the discus (36-6 1/4), will attempt to reach the finals,

while Clayton, the Sea View League champion in the 100 hurdles (16.39),

will also compete in the triple jump (35-11). Clayton qualified for CIF

in four events (long jump and 400 relay), but she will only compete in

two because of anadvanced-placement test.

Ryder, the Sea View League champion in the 300 hurdles (49.36), will

be joined by junior Valarie Day.

Sophomore Ashley Harrison, junior Elda Hernandez, sophomore Barbara

Julian and freshman Kiley Hall will represent Newport in the 400 relay,

and Hall will also race in the 400. Hall will also contribute in the

1,600 relay, which also includes sophomore Tiffany Vandersloot, Hernandez

and senior Lauren Hanson.

Newport junior Kristin McClune will shoot for a personal record in the

high jump.

In the CIF Division III Preliminaries, Corona del Mar senior Julie

Allen and Costa Mesa junior Sharon Day plan to highlight the girls

action, and Estancia junior Humberto Rojas leads the charge on the boys

side.

Day and Allen won three Pacific Coast League titles each last week.

Day, who won PCL championships in the 200 (26.08), 400 (57.33) and the

high jump (5-10), will also compete in the 1,600 relay.

“I’m a little worried about that,” said Day, who noted she is focused

on clearing the 6-0 mark in the high jump at the CIF meet. “I think (6-0)

is capable of happening. I just have to be focused, keep working hard and

be ready to jump.”

Allen, who won PCL titles in the 800, 1,600 (5:03.66) and 3,200

(11:17.08), will not compete in the 800, so that she can concentrate on

the distance events.

Krisserin Canary, Corona del Mar’s PCL champion in the pole vault,

will be in her final CIF meet, as she is a senior.

In the 3,200, Allen will be joined by her teammate, junior Becky

Cummins, along with Costa Mesa junior Christine Bjelland. Cummins and

Bjelland will be in the same heat.

Bjelland, just as Day, will compete in four events, including the

1,600, the 1,600 relay and the 800, which also includes Estancia senior

Hanni Geider.

CdM freshman Melissa Swigert, also as Day, will be in the 200 and 400,

but in separate heats. Estancia senior Jasmine Geider will race in the

400. Estancia junior Diana Rosete, who battled stomach pain in the PCL

Finals, will join Allen, Bjelland and Cummins in the 3,200.

CdM senior Alison Brawner and Sea King junior Stephanie Kendrick will

join Day in the high jump, while Costa Mesa junior Beverly Aina will take

to the throws in the shot put.

In the relays, CdM senior Jaclyn Thayer, Swigert, Christina Tucci and

Kinzie Kramer are in the 400 relay, while Kramer, Sara Claster, Katherine

Morse and Swigert are in the 1,600 relay. The 1,600 relay also includes

Mesa sophomores Stacy Krikorian and Sarah Bryant, joining forces with Day

and Bjelland, and Estancia will be represented by the Geider twins,

Rosete and junior Ludi Valdez.

On the boys side, Rojas, the PCL champion in the 800 and 1,600

(4:28.14), will only run the 1,600, but will also contribute in the 1,600

relay, which includes Panfilo Elias, Abdul Kaiyum and either Mike

Casillas or Jason Johnston, and a CdM team.

Casillas, the PCL champion in the 3,200 (10:07.29), will be joined by

freshman teammate Alex Cahuantzi and Costa Mesa senior Irwin Salas.

In the 110 high hurdles, CdM senior Chris Carpenter, who the PCL

title, will be joined Johnston, a sophomore, while Costa Mesa junior Zach

Powell, the PCL champion in the 300 hurdles, will be joined by Carpenter.

CdM senior Joe Barber, who won the PCL title in the discus (153-1),

will be joined by senior teammate Justin Wald, and the duo will also

compete in the shot put.

Johnston, the PCL champion in the long jump (21-1 1/2), will be joined

by teammate Kaiyum.

CdM’s Chris Ringstrom will race in the 200 and contribute in the 400

relay, while senior teammates Andrew Wong and Andrew Norman will compete

in the pole vault.