The 4×1600-meter relay is a grueling adventure: four times around the track for each of four runners on a team.
That’s 16 laps in one race. Teams often change position with each runner, and often from lap to lap with the same runner.
“You’ve got to have a really strong team,” offered Otay Ranch junior Cale Parise, who ran the opening leg on the Mustangs’ victorious 4×1600 unit at last Saturday’s Sweetwater Coed Relays in National City.
“You’ve got to have four core guys who can run a really strong mile,” he continued. “You’ve got to have lots of offseason training together as a team.”
Otay Ranch has earned a reputation as a school loaded with talented distance runners and the Mustang foursome of Parise, Rigo Baza, Jeremiah Suzara and Ryan Andrews certainly was up to the challenge at this year’s invitational.
If there is any strategy, Baza said it is to run the second-fastest on the team in the first leg and anchor the team with its fastest runner on the final lap.
But any way one stacks the deck, the Mustangs appear to be winners.
Parise entered last Saturday’s meet with a first-place finish in the 3200 distance (10:04.35) at the Desert Classic Relays on March 12. He also notched first-place finishes in the 1600 in a pair of non-league dual meets against Kearny and Sweetwater.
Parise also was a member of Otay Ranch’s victorious distance medley relay (legs of 1200, 400, 800 and 1600) at the Desert Classic Relays. The Mustang unit in that 10-lapper also included Andrews, Alvin Finney and Harold Thomas (total time of 11:17.34).
Parise timed 4:49.40 on his 1600 leg at the Desert Relays.
Anchor honors went to Andrews at the Sweetwater Coed Relays. The senior runner, who posted a 1200 relay split time of 3:23.0 at the Desert Classic Relays, ran a 4:38.5 on the final leg to boost Otay Ranch to the top Division I time — and the fastest time overall — at the SuHi event.
The Mustangs won handily in 18 minutes, 45.2 seconds in the combined 16-lap event.
Parise started off the marathon track race by running 4:40.50 in the opening leg. Baza, the defending Mesa League 3200 champion, followed with a four-lap time of 4:41.90 while Suzara timed 4:43.50 before handing the baton to Andrews.
Suzara was a member of Otay Ranch’s winning 4×800 relay team at the Desert Classic Relays along with teammates Evan LeDesma, Justin Mulvany and Carlos Sosa.
The Mustangs finished well ahead of runner-up Eastlake (19:19.05), third place Calexico (19:37.07), fourth place Southwest El Centro (20:17.92) and fifth place Sweetwater (20:42.11) in the 4×1600 at the Sweetwater Relays.
The Serra quartet of Chris Alexander, Michael Faucett, Maxwell Collier and Anthony Benitez won the Division II race in 19:28.12, followed by San Ysidro (20:59.37), Central Union (21:12.44) and Imperial (22:44.24).
Similarly, the girls distance medley relay featured 12 laps (legs of 1200, 400, 800 and 1600). The Eastlake quartet of Elisabeth House, Harper Moulton, Roxanne Jaramillo and Cassandra Luna captured the top Division I time of 13:55.04, followed by Otay Ranch in second place in 14:08.71, Southwest El Centro in third place in 14:10.85, Calexico in fourth place in 14:38.97 and Sweetwater in fifth place in 14:46.67.
Our Lady of Peace won the Division II girls distance medley relay in 13:50.50, followed by Central Union in second place in 15:14.60.
Titans on top
Eastlake captured the overall Division I team championship at last Saturday’s Sweetwater Coed Relays with 176 points, followed by runner-up Otay Ranch with 142 points, Southwest El Centro in third place with 114 points, meet host Sweetwater in fourth place with 106 points and Calexico in fifth place with 81 points.
Serra won the Division II team title with 144 points, followed by second place Imperial with 136 points, third place Central Union with 101 points, San Ysidro in fourth place with 86 points, Kearny in fifth place with 62 points and Our Lady of Peace in sixth place with 26 points.
Last Saturday’s event featured 14 running events and six field events. Team scores included combined results from both boys and girls events.
One rather unique event included the coed 4×800 relay in which legs alternated between male and female runners. Eastlake won with a time of 8:53.09 in the Division I heat while Central Union captured the top time (9:54.85) in the Division II heat.
Eastlake’s winning unit included Andres Correa, Emily Bonilla, Jeffrey Page and Mia Costello.
Eastlake notched nine first-place finishes in the 20 events in the Division I field while Otay Ranch collected six first-place finishes in the meet. Southwest El Centro had five firsts while Sweetwater had one first-place finish.
Serra had eight first-place finishes in the Division II field while Imperial had four firsts, Central Union had three firsts, Kearny and San Ysideo each had two firsts and OLP had one first-place finish.
Top individual field marks on the day among Metro Conference athletes included:
•Eastlake’s Jessica Ma in the Division I girls pole vault (7-6).
•Otay Ranch’s Alani Johnson in the Division I girls high jump (4-8).
•Otay Ranch’s Racquel Halloway in the Division I girls shot put (30-5).
•Otay Ranch’s Alexya Young in the Division I girls discus throw (88-9).
•Eastlake’s Cimone Manson in the Division I girls triple jump (32-8).
•Eastlake’s Jacki Van Liefda in the Division I girls long jump (15-0.5).
•Sweetwater’s Mario Licudine in the Division I boys pole vault (12-0).
•Eastlake’s Jayln Jackson in the Division I boys long jump (20-3) and triple jump (43-6).
•San Ysidro’s Kirstin Curtis in the Division II girls high jump (5-0).
Other top field marks were not available at press time.
The Eastlake quartet of Cimone Manson, Teyana McDow, Amaris Iribe and Saisha Banks sped to the top Division I time of 1:53.61 in the girls 4×200 relay.
San Ysidro won the Division II boys 4×200 relay in a time of 1:36.32 thanks to the fleet feet of Jake Curtis, Oswaldo Felix, Victor Reygoza and Luis Milan.
Otay Ranch won the Division I boys 4×200 relay with a time of 1:34.62. Team members included Juan Martinez, John Price, Jacob Hoffer and Gabriel Navarro.
Sweetwater captured the Division I girls varsity sprint medley relay with a time of 2:00.30. Celeste Estrada, Cristinn London, Khalila Johnson and Faith Foote each ran legs on the winning unit.
Eastlake closed out the invitational by speeding to victory in the boys 4×400 relay in 3:31.72. Correa, Chris Olave, Christian Baroya and Page each ran legs as part of the winning foursome.
Eastlake also recorded first place in the girls 4×100 relay (52.24), while Otay Ranch claimed first-place times in the shuttle hurdles (1:10.57), boys 4×100 relay (43.92) and girls frosh/soph sprint medley relay (2:03.34).
Next up
Eastlake will host Bonita Vista in a key Mesa League dual meet on April 6. The Titans will also host Hilltop (April 21) and Otay Ranch (April 27) in other important league duals while competing at Olympian (May 5). All dual meets start at 3 p.m.
The 13th annual Phair Co./Mustang Relays are scheduled April 23 at Otay Ranch High School, starting at 8:30 a.m.
