The Castle Park High School boys and Sweetwater High School girls track and field teams emerged with respective South Bay League dual meet championships in 2015. Both teams finished undefeated in league competition with victories on May 7.
Castle Park defeated host San Ysidro, 75-47, to wrap up a perfect 6-0 dual meet record while Sweetwater sped past visiting Southwest to also finish 6-0 in league meets.
The Lady Red Devils captured the team’s third consecutive league banner in style by setting a new school record in the 4×100 relay with a time of 50.74. Sophomores Hope Foote, Mitzy Ortega and Khaliala Johnson, along with junior Cristinn London, each ran legs on the history-making relay unit.
The old record of 58.85 had stood since 2000.
“Three sophomores and one junior — that’s impressive,” SuHi sprint coach Jaime Romero noted.
The Sweetwater 4×100 unit sped to the fastest time (51.11) in the Sophomore Open Division at this year’s Dick Wilkins Frosh-Soph invitational meet May 2 at Del Norte High School. Sophomore Faith Foote replaced London in the lineup for that event.
The Lady Red Devils posted a number of league-leading marks during the 2015 regular season.
Hope Foote posted the fastest 100-meter dash time of 13.05 during regular season competition.
Other SuHi event leaders included London in the 200 dash (26.90), Faith Foote in the 400 dash (1:03.02), Ashley Barajas in the 800 run (2:36.77), Analycia Rehberg in the pole vault (7-0), Johnson in the long jump (15-2) and Naomi Marroquin in the triple jump (32-2).
Sweetwater also topped the league in the girls 4×400 relay with a time of 4:13.70.
The league title is the seventh in eight years for the Lady Red Devils.
“Definitely, the sprinters carried us this year,” SuHi coach Raul Galindo explained. “We thought it would be a rebuilding year but the girls surprised us. They had other ideas.”
Boys champions
Castle Park supplanted Sweetwater as South Bay League boys dual champions for the first time since 2010.
“Our numbers aren’t large but we managed to spread people around in different events to get their best performances,” CPHS head coach Rudy Castillo said.
The Trojans left their imprint on this year’s league competition with top marks in a number of events.
Senior Jordan Danielson recorded top marks in both the 200 dash (22.44), 400 dash (51.64) and triple jump (41-0), while Philip Nones turned in the best mark in the shot put (45-7.5).
Sweetwater also posted a number of league-leading marks. Carlos Aviles-Sullivan turned in the league’s top times in both the 800 run (2:02.38) and the 1600 run (4:43.76) while Red Devil Luis Morquecho timed the fastest 3200 run (10:41.85) during the regular season. SuHi’s Julius Ojajuni recorded the top time in the 110 high hurdles (17.54), while Sweetwater’s Benito Castillo notched the top discus throw mark (118-6) and David Baltazar cleared the top pole vault height (11-6).
League leaders
Castle Park’s Liliana Hakim remained the South Bay League’s queen of the distance events by posting top regular season times in the girls 1600 run (5:42.48) and 3200 run (12:35.66) while Lady Trojan teammate Teairah Jackson led the league with top marks in both the shot put (38-7) and discus throw (112-10).
Jackson ranks fifth in the San Diego Section in the girls shot put.
Top league hurdlers included CP’s Brianna Diaz (16.90 in the 100 lows) and Mar Vista’s Ileen Aguirre (48.72 in the 300 lows). San Ysidro’s Kristin Curtis recorded the league’s top high jump mark at 4-8.
Boys leaders during regular season league competition included San Ysidro’s Marvin Davalos-Woo in the boys 100 dash (11.44) and Cougar teammate Jake Curtis in the boys high jump (5-6) and Mar Vista’s Christopher Converse in the boys 300 intermediate hurdles (42.58) and Mariner teammate Khalil Spruill in the boys long jump (19-5).
Southwest turned in the fastest 4×100 relay time (44.44) while Sweetwater turned in the fastest 4×400 relay time (3:36.49).
