Local athletes claim 10 events in Orange County track and field championships
An eventful weekend saw local athletes rack up the wins at the Orange County track and field championships on Saturday at Mission Viejo High.
The area compiled 10 individual wins in the battle for county supremacy, led by two-event winner Ava Simos of Corona del Mar.
Simos staked her claim to being the fastest girl in the county, repeating as the county champion in the 100-meter sprints and winning the 200 with room to spare.
The Sea Kings junior flew through the finish line in 12.34 seconds in the 100 with a headwind of 1.1 meters per second, her best time under wind-legal conditions this season. The three county competitors to have posted faster times than Simos this season — Los Alamitos’ Brooklyn Davis, Santa Margarita’s Avery Groves and Marina’s Nevaeh Lane — were all in her heat.
Simos, who won the 200 in 24.88 seconds, found victory lane twice after beginning the day as a runner-up in the 100 high hurdles. That race was also won by a Newport Beach school, as Pacifica Christian’s Charis Wondercheck defended her crown with a time of 15.22 seconds.
“I’m excited to keep competing in the future, hopefully make it to state and finals this year for CIF,” Wondercheck said. “I’m excited [about] where this training is going to take me.”
A banner day for Simos could not keep rival Newport Harbor at bay in the girls’ team standings. The Sailors placed fourth with 37 points, while Corona del Mar wound up fifth with 35 points.
Newport Harbor’s Keaton Robar and Natalie McCarty, both of whom competed in the Saturday night meet in the Arcadia Invitational the week prior, picked up wins to key the Sailors’ top-five showing.
Robar, a sophomore, saw a streak of three consecutive personal record-setting performances snapped, but her time of 2:10.0 held up against a fierce challenge from Dana Hills senior Allura Markow.
“I had to make my move early because this isn’t one of the races you can easily outkick people, which is kind of what I rely on sometimes,” Robar said. “I think Allura was right on my tail until the end.”
McCarty, a freshman, won the girls’ high jump with a clearance of 5 feet.
Other local winners on the girls’ side were Huntington Beach’s Makenzie McRae in the seeded 1,600 (4:53.84) and Edison’s Alexa Sheldon in the shot put (39-2).
Newport Harbor added two winners in the boys’ meet: Leo Davis in the pole vault (15-5) and Kenny Wanlass in the 3,200 (9:14.96).
Davis was the only athlete left in the competition after coming in at 14-1 and making it on his first attempt. He proceeded to clear 15-5, matching his state-qualifying performance at the Masters Meet last season.
“I’m glad I came here and jumped in it,” said Davis, who added he had had his eye on competing in the Mt. SAC Relays before coming to the meet. “... This was a good opportunity. I’m glad I did it because I got some really good shots at 16 [feet]. I think I’ll be jumping a lot higher by the end of the season.”
The second attempt at 16 feet was the most promising. Davis said he knocked the bar off with his chest as he came down.
Following a lifetime-best performance of 46-2 in the Arcadia Invitational, Marina’s Khang Nguyen topped the field in the boys’ triple jump with a mark of 45-8½.
Nguyen, who has shown a proclivity for engaging the crowd with clapping gestures before jumps, had a larger-than-expected audience. With the meet experiencing some timing issues, athletes waiting for their upcoming race were near the jumps pits and put their hands together.
“I was definitely nervous,” Nguyen said. “My coach was like, ‘You should ask for a clap.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this right now.’ My first jump, I only hit a 42, and then my second jump was 45-8. That’s when I started becoming confident. … It got me nervous, for sure, that everyone was watching.”
BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD
Orange County Championships
At Mission Viejo High
Team Results
1. JSerra 77; 2. Mater Dei 69; 3. Beckman 46; 4. Santa Margarita 40; 5. Fountain Valley 36; 6. Northwood 33; 7. Portola 33; 8. Servite 29.5; 9. Villa Park 28; 10. Newport Harbor 23
Individuals
100 — 1. Frazier (Mater Dei) 10.83; 2. Skalmowski (Servite) 10.86; 3. Bragg (Los Alamitos) 10.88; 4. Yu (Beckman) 11.07; 5. Escovar (Yorba Linda) 11.11
200 — 1. Frazier (Mater Dei) 21.62; 2. Yu (Beckman) 21.87; 3. Ricci (Edison) 22.38; 4. Armenta (Villa Park) 22.38; 5. Armstrong (El Modena) 22.44
400 — 1. Cooper (Portola) 48.21; 2. Garrison (JSerra) 49.32; 3. Chang (Canyon) 49.49; 4. Armstrong (El Modena) 49.87; 5. Patel (Northwood) 49.95
800 — 1. Mejia (Godinez) 1:57.56; 2. Safi (Northwood) 1:58.04; 3. Dias (Fountain Valley) 1:58.20; 4. Park (Portola) 1:59.48; 5. Felix (Beckman) 1:59.75
1,600 Seeded — 1. Noonan (Dana Hills) 4:10.22; 2. Felix (Beckman) 4:17.23; 3. Blum (Beckman) 4:17.77; 4. Arrey (JSerra) 4:18.21; 5. Yunker (Santa Margarita) 4:18.37
1,600 Rated — 1. Soto (Western) 4:29.47; 2. Maradiaga (Newport Harbor) 4:29.95; 3. Horrocks (Foothill) 4:30.46; 4. Steinman (Corona del Mar) 4:33.77; 5. Young (Corona del Mar) 4:33.91
3,200 — 1. Wanlass (Newport Harbor) 9:14.96; 2. Parashar (University) 9:16.66; 3. Yunker (Santa Margarita) 9:17.92; 4. Hernandez (Godinez) 9:18.80; 5. Alonso (Fountain Valley) 9:24.46
110HH — 1. Mendoza (Santa Margarita) 14.71; 2. Poteat (Villa Park) 15.05; 3. Gutierrez (Mater Dei) 15.11; 4. Yepez (Fullerton) 15.72; 5. Irwin (Edison) 15.81
300IH — 1. Mendoza (Santa Margarita) 38.41; 2. Burke (Santa Margarita) 40.12; 3. Yang (Brea Olinda) 40.61; 4. Giachetto (Brea Olinda) 41.03; 5. Felix (Woodbridge) 41.05
400 relay — 1. Mater Dei 42.38; 2. Servite 42.69; 3. Beckman 43.20; 4. Portola 43.28; 5. Yorba Linda 43.36
1,600 relay — 1. JSerra 3:22.20; 2. Northwood 3:23.06; 3. Portola 3:26.96; 4. Mater Dei 3:29.28; 5. Fountain Valley 3:31.58
3,200 relay — 1. Mission Viejo 8:14.60; 2. El Dorado 8:31.19; 3. Santa Ana 8:42.06; 4. Rancho Alamitos 8:42.85; 5. El Modena 8:44.54
HJ — 1. Gorski (Mater Dei) 6-4; 2. Stafford (JSerra) 6-2; 3. Vuong (Cypress) 6-2; 4. Cox (Villa Park) 6-2; 5. Dominic (Northwood) 6-0
LJ — 1. Gorski (Mater Dei) 22-10¼; 2. Jornadal (JSerra) 22-1½; 3. Robin (Servite) 21-3; 4. Danna (El Dorado) 21-2½; 5. Reed (Mission Viejo) 21-½
TJ — 1. Nguyen (Marina) 45-8½; 2. McDuffie (Mater Dei) 45-4; 3. Dominic (Northwood) 44-2½; 4. Yu (Fountain Valley) 43-2; 5. Robin (Servite) 43-1½
PV — 1. Davis (Newport Harbor) 15-5; 2. Brice (San Clemente) 13-7; 3. Leuenberger (Capistrano Valley) 13-7; 4. Wesley (Fountain Valley) 13-1; 5. Gandara (Los Alamitos) 13-1
SP — 1. See (JSerra) 61-1; 2. Mena (Fountain Valley) 48-3; 3. Sickles (Villa Park) 47-11¾; 4. Stafford (JSerra) 47-4; 5. Horton (Corona del Mar) 46-6
DT — 1. See (JSerra) 197-8; 2. Stafford (JSerra) 183-3; 3. Bragg (Yorba Linda) 150-5; 4. Villa (Corona del Mar) 146-1; 5. Rogers (Los Alamitos) 143-7
GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD
Orange County Championships
At Mission Viejo High
Team Results
1. JSerra 113.66; 2. Mission Viejo 71; 3. Santa Margarita 39.33; 4. Newport Harbor 37; 5. Corona del Mar 35; 6. Los Alamitos 33.33; 7. Edison 31; 8. Dana Hills 26.5; 9. Rosary 22.5; 10. Woodbridge 20
Individuals
100 — 1. Simos (Corona del Mar) 12.34; 2. Davis (Los Alamitos) 12.49; 3. Groves (Santa Margarita) 12.53; 4. Psarras (Mission Viejo) 12.54; 5. McLeary (Villa Park) 12.60
200 — 1. Simos (Corona del Mar) 24.88; 2. Groves (Santa Margarita) 25.37; 3. Psarras (Mission Viejo) 25.67; 4. Davis (Los Alamitos) 25.71; 5. Bowman (Northwood) 25.95
400 — 1. Woolforde (JSerra) 57.27; 2. Ali (Woodbridge) 59.06; 3. Packard (JSerra) 59.14; 4. Bassett (Mission Viejo) 59.31; 5. Murray (Yorba Linda) 59.58
800 — 1. Robar (Newport Harbor) 2:10.00; 2. Markow (Dana Hills) 2:10.38; 3. Snodgrass (JSerra) 2:13.97; 4. O’Brien (JSerra) 2:14.68; 5. DeBarros (Canyon) 2:17.84
1,600 Seeded — 1. McRae (Huntington Beach) 4:53.84; 2. Barker (Laguna Hills) 4:55.19; 3. Jeanneret (JSerra) 4:56.00; 4. Tasser (JSerra) 4:57.29; 5. Djomby-Enyawe (Corona del Mar) 5:00.32
1,600 Rated — 1. McAndrew (Fullerton) 5:21.59; 2. Huang (Valencia) 5:22.90; 3. Cauley (La Habra) 5:28.37; 4. Foody (Aliso Niguel) 5:28.54; 5. Murray (Marina) 5:29.51
3,200 — 1. Garcia (JSerra) 10:34.20; 2. Polay (Santa Margarita) 10:46.66; 3. Tasser (JSerra) 10:52.17; 4. Markow (Dana Hills) 10:52.63; 5. McCullough (Newport Harbor) 11:08.89
100HH — 1. Wondercheck (Pacifica Christian) 15.22; 2. Simos (Corona del Mar) 15.41; 3. Smith (Rosary) 15.60; 4. Menchine (Edison) 15.66; 5. Waters (San Clemente) 15.88
300IH — 1. Major (Santa Margarita) 44.96; 2. Tarvin (Edison) 45.08; 3. Kays (Mission Viejo) 45.57; 4. McCarty (Newport Harbor) 45.87; 5. Barmettler (JSerra) 46.54
400 relay — 1. Mission Viejo 47.93; 2. Rosary 48.26; 3. Villa Park 49.11; 4. Canyon 49.53; 5. Mater Dei 49.87
1,600 relay — 1. JSerra 3:57.98; 2. Newport Harbor 4:05.01; 3. San Juan Hills 4:11.58; 4. Beckman 4:11.73; 5. Mater Dei 4:14.12
3,200 relay — 1. Dana Hills 9:48.23; 2. Woodbridge 10:07.33; 3. Laguna Beach 10:17.57; 4. Mater Dei 11:30.80
HJ — 1. McCarty (Newport Harbor) 5-0; 2T. Trotter (Los Alamitos) 4-10; 2T. Hogan (JSerra) 4-10; 2T. Redfern (Santa Margarita) 4-10; 5. Quiroga (Mission Viejo) 4-10
LJ — 1. Gatlin (Mission Viejo) 18-1; 2. Richmond (Portola) 17-0; 3. Forbes (Mater Dei) 16-9½; 4. Psarras (Mission Viejo) 16-8; 5. Chiem (Beckman) 16-2
TJ — 1. Cheng (El Dorado) 38-1; 2. Gatlin (Mission Viejo) 37-0; 3. Wang (Marina) 35-9¼; 4. Salinas (Dana Hills) 34-9¼; 5. Prajitno (Brea Olinda) 34-3
PV — 1. Maceranka (Laguna Hills) 11-1; 2. Giacobetti (JSerra) 11-1; 3. Bourdon (JSerra) 10-7; 4. Biondolillo (San Juan Hills) 10-7; 5. Chew (Woodbridge) 10-7
SP — 1. Sheldon (Edison) 39-2; 2. Hofland (Los Alamitos) 38-7; 3. Lambert (JSerra) 37-7; 4. Brunings (Mission Viejo) 34-9; 5. Paredes (Cypress) 34-7
DT — 1. Lambert (JSerra) 145-6; 2. Sheldon (Edison) 125-1; 3. Hofland (Los Alamitos) 123-3; 4. Gavrilovic (Esperanza) 122-10; 5. Chang (Mission Viejo) 121-8
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