The Otay Ranch and Eastlake high school track and field teams appear to have a mutual date with destiny on Thursday, May 7, when the Mesa League juggernauts collide to determine this year’s league championship.
The Mustangs and Titans offered a preview of things to come at last Saturday’s Mustang/Phair Co. Relays at ORHS. If those results are any reliable indicator, the teams’ upcoming dual meet is something not to be missed for South Bay track and field fans.
Otay Ranch and Eastlake were separated by just two points in the Blue Division boys team standings at last weekend’s Mustang Relays while the teams finished nine points apart in the girls standings.
Otay Ranch finished runner-up to team champion Steele Canyon in the boys standings. The Cougars out-pointed the Mustangs 107-86.
Eastlake finished second to team champion Steele Canyon in the girls standings. The Lady Cougars out-pointed the Lady Titans 119-100.
Eastlake finished third in the boys standings with 84 points while Otay Ranch finished third in the girls standings with 91 points.
The upcoming Otay Ranch-Eastlake match-up stands as a tune-up for the following week’s league prelims and finals when top marks will become even more of a premium.
The Mesa League prelims are scheduled May 12 at ORHS, starting at 3 p.m.
The Mesa League finals are scheduled May 14 at the same site, also starting at 3 p.m.
Show-stoppers
Last weekend’s Mustang Relays produced its share of fast times and top marks on the season.
Olympian senior Ed Galloway, the defending Mesa League champion in the boys 400-meter dash, captured the Blue Division open 300 dash in 35.40. He finished more than a second faster than Otay Ranch junior John Price (36.56) and more than two seconds ahead of Steele Canyon freshman Stephen Gomez (37.70), the race’s third-place finisher.
A pair of freshmen finished fourth and fifth: Eastlake’s Jalyn Jackson (39.74) and Chula Vista’s Diego Sanchez (40.08).
Galloway, who also anchored the Eagles’ victorious 4×400 relay unit, said the shorter 300 distance differs from the 400 in that there is no holding back.
“In the 300, you’ve got to start out fast and keep it all the way around,” he explained. “In the 400, you can pace yourself.”
Otay Ranch senior Dona Stephens, the reigning league champion in both the 200 and 400 sprints, won the Blue Division girls open 300 dash in 41.81 as she pulled away from challengers in the final 50 meters of the race.
Olympian junior Jazzleen Wharry was second in 42.79, followed by Steele Canyon junior Lauryn Thompson (third, 44.65) and Chula Vista junior Jennifer Corona (fourth, 46.61).
Stephens also placed second in the girls long jump at 16-0.
The Blue Division boys 1500-meter invitational lived up to its billing as Otay Ranch senior Isaiah Thomas and Eastlake senior Josh Williams combined for a memorable finish.
Thomas, the Metro Conference leader in both the 800 and 1600 distances, took a one-stride lead with 300 meters to go in the race before Williams (the conference leader in the 3200) turned on the jets to pass Thomas in the final 10 meters to secure the gold medal.
Williams timed 4:09.75 while Thomas turned in a second-place time of 4:10.38. Eastlake junior Andres Correa was third in 4:10.62 while Hilltop senior Ivan Lorona finished fourth in 4:16.05.
“The last lap, I took first place after Isaiah had led the second and third laps,” Williams said. “Isaiah caught up to me and took the lead. From there, my choices came down to letting him go or wait till he kicked and try to out-kick him.”
The Eastlake distance standout chose the latter option.
Williams has set a goal of qualifying for the state meet in the 3200 distance. He already owns a conference-best time of 9:34.98 and feels he can better that to break into the state qualifying heat at the section finals.
“The rest of the season looks pretty open to me,” he said. “I want to break 9:30 or at least a low 9:20 and hopefully I can make it to state, if that’s possible.”
Sweetwater standout Carlos Aviles-Sullivan, the 2014 South Bay League cross country champion, finished fifth in 4:16.62 while Bonita Vista freshman Isaiah Labra was sixth in 4:17.49.
Eastlake freshman Leyla McFarland and Otay Ranch sophomore Eyra Alfaro also teamed up for a showcase duel in the girls half of the 1500, with one-tenth of a second separating the two at the finish line. McFarland, the 2014 Mesa League girls cross country champion, crossed first in 4:53.89 – but just barely, as Alfaro was right behind in 4:53.99.
McFarland and Alfaro proved to be the class of the field.
Hilltop senior Lorena Mendoza finished third in 5:02.62, followed by Otay Ranch senior Alicia Huerta (fourth) in 5:03.75, Eastlake sophomore Emily Bonilla (fifth) in 5:05.24 and Bonita Vista junior Marleen Aranda (sixth) in 5:05.81.
The 300-meter hurdles rounded out the Mustang Relays’ three standalone showcase events.
Valhalla junior Dashawn Kiniston edged Bonita Vista sophomore Josh Godfrey by a scant 0.16-second in the boys intermediate hurdles while Steele Canyon junior Tajanique Bell captured the girls low hurdles by a whopping margin of nearly three seconds.
Kiniston and Godfrey ran almost stride for stride as they cleared the barriers. Godfrey nicked one hurdle coming down the final straightaway at which point the Valhalla hurdler inched slightly ahead of the Baron runner.
Kiniston timed 40.37 to win the event, with Godfrey posting his best time of the season in the event while recording a runner-up finish in 40.53.
Seven hurdlers competed in the event. The remainder of the field included Steele Canyon senior Bryce Johnson (third, 42.00), Otay Ranch junior Jacob Mestre (fourth, 42.17), Sweetwater junior Julius Ojajuni (fifth, 45.21), Olympian junior Cameron Smith (sixth, 45.35) and Hilltop junior James Gutierrez-Mendoza (seventh, 47.81).
Godfrey is the defending Mesa League champion in the 300 intermediates. He won last year’s league title in 41.85. His goal is to break 40 seconds in the event by the end of this season.
He said speed is key as the distance shortens in the 300 event.
“You’ve just got to hurdle, run your best,” explained Godfrey, whose 40.53 time ranks fourth overall in the San Diego Section. “The last stretch, your form and everything you learned goes out the window. You’ve just got to run and take it as hard as you can, and you’ll be successful.”
Otay Ranch senior Autumn Pearson, a transfer from Georgia, dutifully impressed with her second-place showing to Bell on the girls side. Pearson timed 49.34 — well behind Bell’s 46.50. But the Lady Mustang hurdler finished more than a second ahead of the third-place finisher in the race, Olympian junior Karen Williams (50.42), and more than two seconds ahead of the fourth-place finisher in the race, Bonita Vista sophomore Jaylynn Markey (51.54).
Pearson’s main weapons are her exceedingly long legs as they easily slip over the hurdles. She has posted the second-fastest time this season in the conference of 48.45 behind conference leader Janeth Moya of Hilltop (46.41).
“The sprint part is the best,” Pearson said. “Jumping the hurdles is the hard part.”
The Silver Division field in the three invitational events featured top performances by runners from Mar Vista, Our Lady of Peace, Monte Vista and Central Union.
Mar Vista’s Ileen Aguirre won the girls 300 low hurdles in 58.74 while Mariner teammate Christopher Converse won the boys 300 intermediate hurdles in 42.58.
Aguirre and Converse are the South Bay League leaders in the event.
OLP’s Lacey Yahnke won the girls 1500 in 5:15.07 while Monte Vista’s Tyler Lopez won the boys 1500 in 4:10.43.
The Central Union duo of Alyssa Valdez (43.06) and Julio Rodriguez (36.03) swept first-place finishes in the girls and boys 300 dash, respectively.
Soaring higher
Nine schools competed in the Blue Division. Olympian placed fourth in both the boys and girls team standings while Bonita Vista was fifth in the boys standings and sixth in the girls standings, Sweetwater was fifth in the girls standings and seventh in the boys standings, Hilltop was eighth in both the boys and girls standings and Chula Vista was ninth in both the boys and girls standings.
Eastlake juniors Nate Sweat (43-5.5) and Estevan Marron (43-1) engineered a one-two finish for top marks in the boys shot put. Sweat also recorded the second-best discus throw of the day at 123-9 behind Hilltop senior Sione Tulkolovatu (126-6).
On the girls side, Eastlake’s Johnna Noiseaux captured the top marks in the girls long jump (16-5) and girls triple jump (35-8) while Eastlake senior Alice Langford cleared 8-0 in the girls pole vault to place third in the field.
Otay Ranch senior Lucky Khounchanh soared more than a foot farther than his nearest challenger to win the boys triple jump with a mark of 42-10.
Olympian senior Jaquel Quest recorded the top mark of 5-0 in the girls high jump while Hilltop senior Christopher Perez turned in the top mark of 20-5 in the boys long jump.
Olympian sophomore Marleen Velazquez notched the second-best mark of 110-10 in the girls discus throw while junior teammate Sydney Barnes finished with the second-best mark of 34-4 in the girls triple jump.
Bonita Vista senior Alejandro Ulloa placed second in the boys pole vault by clearing 12-0 — a foot lower than Blue Division winner Nathan Martinez of Steele Canyon. (Point Loma’s Micah Karahadian had the top mark of the day at 13-6 to win the Silver Division title.)
Ulloa also placed third in the boys triple jump (41-2) while BV senior Angel Landavazo (119-9) finished third in the boys discus throw.
Otay Ranch junior Jordyn Buchanan recorded the third-best mark of 30-9 in the girls shot put while senior teammate Jazmine Logan placed third overall in the girls triple jump (32-8).
Finish line
Eastlake captured first-place finishes in the girls 4×400 relay (4:09.23), girls sprint medley relay (1:54.07) and boys 4×800 relay (8:08.22).
The EHS girls 4×400 foursome included Anissa Vera, Mia Costello, Emily Bonilla and Jackie Villalobos. Running legs of half-mile each in the boys 8×800 relay for the Titans were Andres Correa, Jeffrey Page, Williams and Jake Barr.
Eastlake finished second in the girls 4×100 shuttle hurdles (1:13.90), second in the girls 4×200 relay (1:49.34), second in the girls 4×800 relay (10:09.97), second in the boys distance medley relay (10:56.64), second in the girls distance medley relay (12:58.63), third in the girls 4×100 relay (51.12) and third in the boys 4×200 relay (1:36.39).
Eastlake and Otay Ranch tied for second in the boys 4×110 shuttle hurdles with identical times of 1:09.99.
Otay Ranch captured first place in the girls 4×100 relay (51.00), second in the boys 4×800 relay (8:14.57), third in the boys 4×100 relay (44.36), third in the girls 4×100 shuttle hurdles (1:15.60) and third in the girls distance medley relay (13:07.55).
Olympian claimed first place finishes in the boys 4×400 relay (3:26.49) and sprint medley relay (1:35.58). The Eagles finished second in the boys 4×100 relay (43.76), third in the girls 4×400 relay (4:18.74), third in the boys distance medley relay (10:59.30).
Sweetwater finished second in the girls 4×400 relay (4:13.70) and third in the girls sprint medley relay (1:57.74) while Bonita Vista finished third in the girls 4×800 relay (10:28.78).
Silver Division
Ten schools participated in the division. Southwest placed sixth in the girls team standings while Mar Vista was sixth in the boys team standings. Our Lady of Peace topped Clairemont to capture the girls division title while Point Loma edged Serra to win the boys division title.
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Among individuals, Southwest’s Rikki Thomas finished third in the girls 300 low hurdles (52.00) while fellow Raider Javier Rueda placed second in the boys shot put (40-11).
In relay events, Mar Vista placed second in the boys 4×110 shuttle hurdles (1:15.22), second in the girls 4×200 relay (2:23.10) and third in the boys 4×400 relay (3:47.58), while Southwest placed second in the boys 4×100 relay (44.22), second in the boys distance medley (11:49.58), third in the girls 4×100 relay (53.30), third in the girls 4×200 relay (2:23.18) and third in the girls 4×400 relay (4:34.06).
