The Eastlake High School track and field team had lost two state qualifiers to graduation and had several of its top athletes missing due to a major soccer tournament in Las Vegas. Still, the Titans had enough talent remaining to capture the Division I championship title of last Saturday’s Sweetwater Coed Relays at the National City school.
“I thought it was outstanding,” EHS coach David Koopman explained. “We had some pleasant surprises. We put people in different situations, different events than they were accustomed because we had to spread people around more (because of the numbers drain).
“Some of the younger athletes stepped up. I was pleasantly surprised by their performance. It’s the first invitational of the season, so you don’t always know quite what you’re going to get.”
Eastlake topped the six teams in the Division I field with 154 points — two points ahead of runner-up Morse (152 points) and 29 points ahead of third place Otay Ranch (125 points). Olympian finished fourth with 99 points, followed by meet host Sweetwater in fifth place with 76 points and sixth place Canyon Springs with 36 points.
Calexico won the Division II team championship with 138 points, followed by runner-up Imperial with 114 points, third place Serra with 112 points, fourth place Southwest with 85 points, fifth place Mater Dei Catholic with 65 points and La Jolla Country Day with 34 points.
Eastlake punctuated its victory with a dramatic come-from-behind win in the epic boys 4×1600 relay event in which each runner completed four laps (1,600 meters).
Otay Ranch held the lead in the enduro event for three legs before Eastlake senior Josh Williams took the handoff against Otay Ranch’s Isaiah Thomas in the final leg.
Thomas’s lead diminished each time he completed one circuit of the oval until Williams finally passed the Mustang runner with about 200 meters remaining in the 6,400-meter race.
Williams pulled away to win by a nine-second margin.
“My strategy was to treat it like a two-mile, so I could save my energy and pace behind the Otay Ranch runner, ” said Williams, a state qualifier in cross country for the Titans during the fall sports season. “The last 200 meters, I was going to kick and take the lead. I was relaxed throughout the race.”
Andres Correa opened the race for Eastlake, with subsequent hand-offs going to Jeffrey Page and Jake Barr before Williams took the baton, finishing in 18:30.17.
Otay Ranch’s quartet of runners — Rigo Baza, Cale Parise, Ryan Andrews and Thomas — timed 18:39.71.
Williams, who recorded a second-place finish at the Mesa League cross country finals and a strong fourth-place finish at the ensuing San Diego Section Division I finals, appears to be someone to watch in the distance events this season. He timed 9:48 in the 3,200-meter run in a non-league dual meet at Madison on March 19. It is a remarkable time in the grueling event for so early in the season.
It was also just two seconds off the school record in the event.
“My goal this year is to be at the top of CIF,” Williams said. “I want to break 4:20 in the mile and 9:30 in the two-mile.”
Koopman said he doesn’t doubt Williams’ potential.
“He had an outstanding cross country season,” the EHS coach said. “He set a course record in that. We’re expecting him to run the two-mile and be legit. We’re expecting people to do more than one event this year, so he may also do the mile relay or the 800 run.”
Williams wasn’t the only Titan to excel at last weekend’s Sweetwater Coed Relays. Football standout Nate Sweat competed in four events, winning three gold medals.
Sweat recorded top individual marks in the boys long jump (19-7), shot put (46-3) and discus throw (114-11).
Coed Relays
There were 15 track events: coed shuttle hurdles, frosh/soph coed mid-distance relay, girls and boys 400-meter relay, girls distance medley, girls and boys frosh/soph sprint medley, girls and boys 4×200 relay, coed 3200 relay, girls and boys varsity sprint medley, boys 4×1600 relay and girls and boys mile relay.
Competition also took place in six field events: long jump, shot put, discus throw, high jump, pole vault and triple jump.
Meet director Tim Latham said the event produced good competition for an early season meet.
In the boys pole vault, Sweetwater’s David Baltazar won the Division I flight by clearing 11-6 while Eastlake’s Chris Pleman followed in second place at 11-0 and Otay Ranch’s Isaiah Hairston was third by clearing 10-6. Mater Dei Catholic’s Christopher Braden won the Division II flight by clearing 10-0.
In the longer distance events, the lead may change on the same leg or alternating legs. Otay Ranch captured the girls distance medley with a time of 13:14.51 covering 4,000 meters.
Alicia Huerta led the lead for the Mustangs after the conclusion of 1,200 meters (three laps), but Eastlake held the lead for the next two legs of the event. That left it up to Otay Ranch anchor Eyra Alfaro to pull out the win over Eastlake’s anchor runner Emily Bonilla.
Also for the victorious Mustangs, Kelsey Holmes ran the second 400-meter leg and Danielle Rodriguez ran the third 800-meter leg.
Eastlake timed 13:29.38 in second place. Olympian, anchored by Djoana Nicolo, took third place in the event with a time of 13:47.78.
Otay Ranch captured the 3200 coed relay (four legs each of 400 meters) in 9:14.49. Runners included Isaiah Thomas, Alfaro, Joanna Ortiz and Harold Thomas.
SWEETWATER COED RELAYS/TRACK & FIELD
March 21 at Sweetwater High School
Division I Top Marks
Running Events
Shuttle hurdles: Morse 1:13.42
Frosh-soph coed mid-distance: Eastlake 6:34.61
Boys 400-meter relay: Morse 44.39
Girls 400-meter relay: Olympian 50.38
Girls distance medley: Otay Ranch 13:14.51
Boys frosh-soph sprint medley: Morse 1:38.71
Girls frosh-soph sprint medley: Sweetwater 1:58.04
Girls 800-meter relay: Morse 1:47.83
Boys 800-meter relay: Olympian 1:34.56
Coed 3200-meter relay: Otay Ranch 9:14.49
Girls varsity sprint medley: Morse 1:52.19
Boys varsity sprint medley: Morse 1:36.79
Boys 6400-meter relay: Eastlake 8:30.17
Girls 1600-meter relay: Morse 4:13.60
Boys 1600-meter relay: Morse 3:23.32
Field Events
Long jump: Eastlake 70-0
Pole vault: Eastlake 36-0
High jump: Morse 20-0
Triple jump: Morse 145-3
Discus throw: Eastlake 388-7
Shot put: Eastlake 137-6
Team scores: 1. Eastlake 154; 2, Morse 152; 3. Otay Ranch 125; 4. Olympian 99; 5. Sweetwater 96; 6. Canyon Springs 36
