High School Female Athlete of the Week: Maison Berry improved quickly for Edison track and field

Sprinter Maison Berry was a part of three event wins against rival Los Alamitos in a Surf League meet on March 11.

By Matt SzaboStaff Writer

March 20, 2020 8:22 PM PT

Maison Berry did not come into Edison High knowing she wanted to run track.

Berry played a lot of sports growing up, from tennis to boxing. Soccer was one that she stuck with for years, through AYSO and into club. She played the sport in middle school at Huntington Christian School as a defender and goalkeeper.

Still, Berry said soccer wasn’t really her thing. She decided to try out for track as a freshman for the Chargers, along with a friend, Sydney Field.

Berry quickly found her love, and it was something that required her to be quick. She became a sprinter.

“From the very beginning, it was definitely my thing,” said Berry, known as “Maisy” to her friends and family. “I definitely had a good start. I was pretty good at it. I was like, ‘Oh, this could actually be my thing, I’m not half bad.’ So then [with] training more, I just got better and better and learned how to be faster.”

Berry earned a varsity letter as a freshman and a league title at the frosh-soph level.

She was the Surf League girls’ frosh-soph champion in the 100 meters, crossing the finish line in 13.21 seconds, ahead of second-place Madison Volz of Fountain Valley (13.37). Berry also won the 200 in 27.57, edging out Edison teammate Saturnina Torrellas (27.67).

Coming back as a sophomore, Berry has continued to improve. Edison boys’ track and field coach Derek Harrison works with the Chargers’ sprinters of both genders.

“I sat down with all of the sprinters and I said, ‘What are your goals for this year?’” Harrison said. “She told me her goal was to break 13 [seconds]. I said, ‘OK, that’s what we’re going to shoot for.’ At the beginning of the year, I’m not looking for somebody who wins the workout. To me, that’s not important. To me, it’s technique, technique, technique. I made it a point that none of the girls would jump out at me as far as speed, because I knew that may be a false impression.”

Edison sprinter Maison Berry has been training on her since the coronavirus pandemic shut down her high school and local gym.

Berry’s technique has improved. Early in the season, she made her goal a reality.

She won the varsity 100 in a personal-best time of 12.70 in a Surf League meet against Los Alamitos on March 11. Berry also crossed first in the 200 in 27.03, just a tenth of a second off her best time set at the Mater Dei Invitational on Feb. 28.

Berry also won a third event against the rival Griffins. She ran leadoff in the 400 relay, which was won by Berry, Kailey Frye, Abby Schilling and Hannah Forest in 50.45.

She believes she can win, which is much of the battle.

“Having a good mental state before you run is really important, to me at least,” Berry said. “You’ve just got to get yourself in the mindset that you’re going to run hard, and you’re going to be first. You’ve got to put yourself in that mindset. Most of the time, I do get first, but if my mindset is off, then I don’t do well, even if my form is good.”

Edison dropped the league meet to Los Alamitos, which was a co-league champion last year with Fountain Valley, by a score of 85-51. Still, Berry’s individual effort was impressive.

“She got better and better, and then she started separating herself from the other girls,” Harrison said. “She’s just a hard worker. She met her goal really early. We expect big things from her.”

Berry also expects big things from herself. Before the coronavirus caused local schools to halt games and practices last week, she was working out with Edison boys’ sprinters like Jeff Haas, Ryan Rivtuso and Russell Munier.

This is a change from the way it was last year, and first-year Edison girls’ track coach Brian Brierly said the overall team camaraderie has improved. He said the atmosphere at the home meet against rival Los Alamitos was special.

“We want to have fun out here,” Brierly said. “The overall feel from everybody just has been that it’s a fun time. At the end of the meet, it was both teams lining both sides of the runways and the backstretches. It was like, we’re doing this. It was an amazing thing, everybody getting into it, and we hadn’t had that. It was a cool thing.”

Now, Edison is shut down to Berry and her classmates. She is left to train on her own. She has never been a distance runner, but she said she is trying to run a couple of miles a day. Her mother, Jessica, will tag along.

“It’s hard because all of the gyms are closed,” Jessica Berry said. “Now, we just go running. I walk. She’ll run and sprint back. We’ve just got to do it our own.”

Though Huntington Beach Union High School District is closed through at least April 17, Maison Berry is hopeful that the season will resume. She said she wants to make it to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals.

“That was probably my main goal,” she said. “I wanted to just keep PRing throughout the season and get close to boys’ varsity times. Even though it might not be realistic, I just like setting goals that are kind of far. Then I can just improve.

“Track is so important. If that gets shutdown, it’s just kind of a letdown. I can’t really change it. It is what it is, but I’m just glad that for that last meet, I put my all into it.”

Maison Berry

Born: Sept. 18, 2004

Hometown: Huntington Beach

Height: 5 feet 5

Sport: Track and field

Year: Sophomore

Coach: Brian Brierly

Favorite food: Sushi

Favorite movie: “Ford v Ferrari”

Favorite athletic moment: Running a personal-best time of 12.70 seconds in the 100 meters during a Surf League meet against Los Alamitos.

Week in review: Berry won the 100 and 200 meters and was part of the winning 400 relay team in the Chargers’ 85-51 loss to Los Alamitos on March 11.

Support our sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.

For more sports stories, visit latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/sports or follow us on Twitter @DailyPilotSport.