Though their respective teams did not win team points titles at this year’s South Bay League track and field championship meet, held May 12 at Otay Ranch High School, athletes from Castle Park and Southwest high schools still managed to put on a collective showcase of talent.
Castle Park seniors Tionna Jackson (girls) and Phillip Nones (boys) earned recognition as athletes of the meet for field events while Southwest junior Fabiola Gonzalez (girls) and Castle Park sophomore Chris Arana (boys) received recognition as track athletes of the meet for running events.
Arana won three gold medals, Jackson and Gonzalez each won two gold medals and Nones captured one gold and one silver medal to take the spotlight.
Arana captured a first-place finish in the 100-meter dash in 11.36 (winning in a photo finish with San Ysidro’s Jake Curtis). Arana also was a member of the Trojans’ victorious 4×100- and 4×400-meter relay teams.
The Castle Park standout also placed fifth in the 200 dash in 23.44 to round out a busy afternoon and evening.
The Trojans started the meet’s running events by winning the 4×100 relay in 44.18. Luq Barcoo, Angelo Trujillo and DiNicholas Williams joined Arana by running legs in the event.
Arana collected his third gold medal of the meet when Castle Park closed out the scheduled running events by winning the 4×400 relay in 3:32.03. Anthony Smart, Trujillo and Williams joined Arana with gold medals in the event.
Jackson won her gold medals in the shot put (37-5.25) and discus throw (104-4). It was a relief to finally come out on top in both events, and she proudly word her medals around her neck.
“It feels good,” Jackson said. “Last year I was second to my older sister (Teairah); now it feels good to get first.”
Gonzalez won her gold medals in the 800-meter run (2:33.16) and 1600-meter run (5:35.01).
Nones won his gold medal in the discus throw (135-3.75) and his silver medal in the shot put (45-0).
There were several other outstanding performances as well that deserved recognition.
Sweetwater junior Hope Foote left the track with three gold medals — firsts in the 100-meter dash (13.14), 4×100 relay (51.34) and 4×400 relay (4:23.76). Foote also captured a bronze medal with a third-place finish in the girls 200 dash (27.93).
Junior Faith Foote, senior Cristinn London and junior Khalila Johnson ran legs on both the Lady Red Devils’ victorious 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams to finish with two relay gold medals.
London also recorded a second-place finish in the 200 dash (27.24) while Johnson was third in the 100 dash (13.44) and also placed fourth in the long jump (14-3.25).
Faith Foote secured a bronze medal in the 400 dash (1:04.57) as well.
Southwest junior Rikki Thomas won gold medals in the girls 100 and 300 low hurdles. She won a close race with Castle Park’s Claudia Bermudez in the 100 low hurdles by timing 17.40 to Bermudez’s second-place time of 17.63.
Thomas was back in the win column after besting Mar Vista freshman Lauren Wold by 0.76 second with a time of 50.98 in the 300 hurdles.
San Ysidro senior Kristin Curtis won the girls high jump (4-6) and long jump (15-6). She took home a silver medal with a runner-up finish in the girls triple jump (30-7).
Sweetwater senior Carlos Aviles-Sullivan was the fastest runner in both the boys 800-meter run (1:59.84) and 1600-meter run (4:26.26).
Aviles-Sullivan, who did not turn in his best time of the season in repeating as a league champion in the 800 meters, remains a contender to qualify for the state meet in either event.
The next step is this Saturday’s section prelim qualifying meet at Mt. Carmel High School. He is ranked ninth in the section in the 800 and just out of the top 10 in the 1600. But personal record showings could boost him up the list.
“I feel confident,” he said. “All you can do is give it your best, hopefully qualify for the finals and finish in the top three (to qualify for state),” he said.
The SuHi distance runner likes to divide the 800 race into four segments.
“The first 200, you need to get out fast, like 27 seconds,” he explained. “The second 200 is when you want to go on cruise control and remain with the leaders, the third 200 is when you have to decide to make your move. The last 200 is when you have to give it all you have.”
Aviles-Sullivan almost lapped the field in winning the 1600.
There were a number of athletes at this year’s league finals who gave it all they had.
Sweetwater senior Jakari Lowe left the oval with four medals, including two gold medals. He was first in 110 high hurdles (16.29) and triple jump (41-9), won a silver medal in the 4×100 relay and was sixth in the 200 dash (23.63).
Lowe and SuHi teammate Julius Ojajuni (16.42) were the top runners across the finish line in the high hurdles.
It was the first league championship for Lowe in his three years on the team.
“It feels awesome,” Lowe said. “I’ve been working hard for it.”
Castle Park junior Graciel Amparo won a gold medal in the girls triple jump (33-9.75) while earning silver medals in the long jump (14-50) and discus throw (92-9.75), and a bronze medal in the shot put (29-7.50).
Southwest senior Erica Basa was first in the girls 400-meter run (1:02.18) and second in the high jump (4-4).
Chula Vista sophomore Aleste Sarabia blew past Sweetwater’s London and Hope Foote at the finish line to win the gold medal in the girls 200 dash (27.13).
Castle Park junior Liliana Hakim was first in the girls 3200-meter run (12:00.00) and second in the 1600-meter run (5:39.49).
Barcoo won two gold medals at the meet. Besides running a leg on the Trojans’ victorious 4×100 relay team, Barcoo also recorded the top long jump of 20-2.5 while placing fourth in the high jump (5-10).
Smart took home gold and silver medals from the meet, as did Sweetwater’s Mario Licudine.
Smart took a silver medal by placing second to Lowe in the triple jump (41-5) to go with his gold medal in the 4×400 relay.
Licudine won the boys pole vault by clearing 12-4; he also placed runner-up to Barcoo in the long jump competition (18-7).
Other individual event winners included San Ysidro senior Luis Milan in the boys 200 dash (23.08), Mar Vista senior Cleavland Camper in the boys 400 dash (50.95), Southwest sophomore Jacob Fierro in the boys 3200 run (9:58.73), San Ysidro senior Alan Martinez in the boys 300 intermediate hurdles (41.98), Sweetwater junior Moses Harvey-Ignot in the boys high jump (5-11) and Chula Vista senior Jonathon Zamudio in the boys shot put (46-1.5).
Milan edged teammate Curtis by 0.01 second to win the 200 dash while Camper also finished third in the 200 dash (23.41). Fierro also placed second in the 1600 run (4:34.93) while Martinez was third in the high hurdles (16.49).
Sweetwater’s Harvey-Ignot also was fourth in the triple jump (40-0) and sixth in the long jump (17-5).
Sweetwater made it a 1-2-3 sweep in the girls pole vault, with Jacqueline Alvarez winning with a clearance of 7-9 and Alisa Fausto and Roquel Leyva following with marks of 6-9. Leyva also tied for second place in the high jump (4-4).
San Ysidro’s JakeCurtis was second in three events: 100 dash (11.36), 200 dash (23.09) and high jump (5-11)
CP’s Williams was third in the 400 dash (52.57) while Trojan teammate Trujillo was fourth in both the 100 dash (11.72) and 200 dash (23.42) to go with his two relay gold medals.
Top teams
Sweetwater captured both the boys and girls team championships during the dual meet season and at this year’s league finals.
The Red Devils scored a meet-best 269 points to win the boys meet and 278 points to win the girls meet.
Castle Park was second in both the boys and girls finals with 194 and 204 points, respectively. Southwest was third with 135 points in the boys finals and 139 points in the girls finals.
San Ysidro was fourth in the boys finals with 127 points and fourth in the girls finals with 135 points. Chula Vista was fifth in both the boys and girls finals with identical scores of 126 points.
Mar Vista was sixth with 92 points in both the boys and girls finals. No team score was listed for Montgomery.
Aviles-Sullivan was proud to help lead his team to this year’s league title.
“This year, we had a much stronger team than last year,” he explained. “We worked hard all year and wanted to take the championship back from Castle Park. We all contributed. That was our goal even with the new people (on board).”
