Sea Kings split in season opener

Chris Yemma

There is, perhaps, no other sport that takes as many athletes to run

a team as track and field.

That concept ran across Corona del Mar High track and field coach

Bill Sumner’s mind in Wednesday’s third-place season-opening finish

for his boys team.

The Sea Kings posted 19 1/2 points and finished behind St. John

Bosco (72 1/2 ) and Fountain Valley (67) in a nonleague tri-meet at

CdM.

CdM (0-2), a CIF Southern Section Division III school in track and

field, went head-to-head against a Division I and Division II school.

In a sport that involves mass quantities of people, the Sea Kings

were at a disadvantage with its enrollment number.

“Track’s a sport of numbers,” Sumner said. “You’ve got 16 events,

three kids. Do the numbers -- that’s 48 good athletes, and if you

have enough sprinters, they’ll kill you.”

Fountain Valley, a Division I school with 2,251 people, and St.

John Bosco, Division II with enrollment quantity, 1,610, both proved

to be too much for the Sea Kings to handle Wednesday, as they were

swept in the sprints and managed just a few sporadic spurts of point

scorers.

The biggest point scorers were sophomores Brian Licorish and

Spencer Aguilar. Licorish finished second in the 800 meters in 2:05.3

while Aguilar placed second in the high jump with a 5 foot, 6 inch

leap.

But despite the fact of the lopsided defeat, Sumner was pleased

with the outcome, given the circumstances.

“Fountain Valley came with some sprinters and St. John Bosco came

with a whole bunch and it’s tough to beat that kind of speed,” he

said. “But I was happy because these are larger schools and we like

starting out with the big boys.

“We tell them to go ahead and break us in -- it’s like taming a

wild bull. It’s good fun.”

Junior Kenneth Wong and sophomore Thomas Hutchison, who both

competed for CdM cross country in the fall, also tallied points for

the Sea Kings Wednesday.

Wong led the distance running, finishing third in the 1,600 in

4:41.5, while Hutchison followed closely behind Licorish in the 800,

finishing third in 2:06.4.

Both relay events were out of the hands of CdM. St. John Bosco won

both the 400 relay and 1,600 relay in times of 44.8 and 3:31,

respectively.

All throwing events belonged to Bosco, as well. The Braves grabbed

the top three spots in both shot put and discus, while also nabbing

first and third in long jump, and second and third in triple jump.