Mesa girls are all smiles

Bryce Alderton

Costa Mesa High track and field coach Glenn Mitchell peered through

sunglasses Thursday and saw the promise he hoped for.

“We had a talk yesterday about working hard in practice and that

meet time should be fun time. We had fun,” Mitchell said, following

the Costa Mesa girls’ rise to winning the Golden West League finals

at Orange Coast College.

Sophomore Jasmin Day tripled, winning the 800- and 3,200-meter

races, along with clearing five feet in the high jump, to lead Mesa

(121 points) past Saddleback (112) and Santa Ana (97). Saddleback

went 6-0 during the league dual-meet season. Estancia finished fifth

(23).

The Mustangs finished third (4-2) in the league dual-meet season,

but claimed six of 14 individual events Thursday. Mesa ends up second

overall behind champion Saddleback.

Day repeated as league champion in the 800 (2:22.45), beating last

year’s time in the same event by nearly three seconds. She finished

the 3,200, only the second time she competed in the race all season,

in 11:46.96, while teammate Kyla Flores came in second (11:52.91).

Day, whose older sister Sharon Day tripled during last year’s

league finals, panted mildly after finishing the grueling 3,200 under

an intense sun.

“My feet felt like they were burning. I just tried to push so we

could win,” Jasmin Day said. “I thought a lot about the 800, but not

the [3,200] so much. I just wanted to get points for the team.”

Cassey Brick in the 300 hurdles (50.57), Kristen Paulsen in the

shot put (29 feet, 8 1/2 inches) and Vicky Pham in the 100 hurdles

(18.18) all claimed individual league titles for Mesa. Brick took

second in the 100 (13.25) while Tracy Bjelland placed second in the

400 (1:02.10).

Brick benefited when a Saddleback runner clipped the final hurdle

and fell in the 300, allowing the Costa Mesa senior to edge Ocean

View’s Keilana Stallworth by seven-tenths of a second.

“The last 100 meters is the hardest part. Your legs get heavy and

those last few hurdles are tough to get over,” Brick said.

Estancia senior Jason Johnston kept his legs busy with four

events, winning the long jump (21-7) while placing second in the 110

high hurdles (16.30) and 300 intermediate hurdles (41.94) and

finishing third in the triple jump (40-7 1/2).

The Estancia boys (3-3 in league dual meets) placed third with 71

points while Santa Ana won the meet and outright league title after

going undefeated (6-0) in league dual meets. Costa Mesa finished with

36.5 points.

Costa Mesa senior Qualic Vargas doubled as league champion in the

shot put (45-4) and discus (143-11), edging teammate Randy Fea (135-6

1/2), while Estancia’s C.J. Buchmann clipped nearly 12 seconds off

his prelim time in the 3,200 to place third (4:30.67). Teammates Nick

Koreerat in the 100 (12.03) and Alex Cahuantzi in the 3,200

(10:27.68) each took third in their respective events while Buchmann

placed fourth in the 800 (2:06.95). Koreerat took fourth in the 200.

Mesa sophomore Tony Krikorian leaped to a personal best and fourth

place in the triple jump (40-7 1/2).

On the girls side, freshman Danielle Morton, who plays on Mesa’s

softball team, took second in the long jump (16-02), ahead of third-place finisher Jaye Hellmich (15-5) from Estancia.

Mesa’s 400 relay team of Stacy Krikorian, Rachel Hughes, Rachel

Ronquillo and Emily Cotton took second (52.21).

Hellmich took fourth in the triple jump (32-5 1/2) and fifth in

the high jump (4-6).

Estancia’s Ashton Henderson placed fourth in the shot put (26-7

1/2). Flores, Jenny Sparks and Christine Bjelland went 4,5,6 for Mesa

in the girls 1,600 while teammate Rachel Hughes placed fourth in the

100 (13.61).

In the 200, Hughes (28.30), Tracy Bjelland (28.44) and Anna

Rodriguez (28.85) also went 4,5,6, adding more valuable points to

help Mesa.

“All the girls are alive,” Mesa distance coach Joe Busi said.

“They worked hard and didn’t let what happened in the past affect

them [Thursday]. They all appeared to have a good time and that is

what it is all about.”

Each first-place finisher from Thursday’s meet automatically

qualified for the CIF Southern Section Division III preliminaries May

15 at Gahr High in Cerritos.

Second- and third-place finishers qualified if they met a minimum

standard for their event.