The 2019 high school track and field season continued to heat up alongside the weather as eight teams — four from the Metro Conference — competed at last Saturday’s annual Sweetwater Coed Relays at Sweetwater High School.
The relay meet remains one of the few coed invitationals remaining in San Diego County.
This year’s invitational included 15 events. All eight teams competed in one division.
“The weather was fabulous,” meet director Jaime Romero said. “All in all, every team that came here today, I appreciate it. I thought it went great. I was really happy with the turnout, with the races. There was good competition, a lot of fun.”
Romero said the scorebook was checked five times before a winner was finally announced due to the exceedingly close competition.
Eastlake emerged with the championship team trophy by one point over neighborhood rival Otay Ranch.
“We were without a lot of kids due to various factors, such as club soccer, but we had kids step up who we didn’t expect, they came together,” EHS coach David Koopman said.
“We were missing about eight people who would have run today. We threw a pole vaulter into the (boys) mile relay; we threw a sprinter into the (girls) mile relay.”
In the end, it added up to a team championship as the Titans edged the Mustangs 165-164.
Central Union finished in third place with 103 points, followed by Imperial in fourth place with 70 points, Sweetwater in fifth place with 61 points, Southwest El Centro in sixth place with 54 points, Canyon Springs in seventh place with 25 points and Mater Dei Catholic in eighth place with five points.
Teen Titans
Team champion Eastlake had five individuals who stood out in particular during the daylong competition.
- Luz Mercado won gold medals in the girls distance medley relay, coed 3200 relay and girls 4×400 relay.
- Kalah Bateman won gold medals in the girls 4×100 relay, 4×200 relay and sprint medley relay.
- Blanca McCormick won gold medals in the girls 4×100 relay, 4×200 relay and 4×400 relay.
- Nyha Kidd won gold medals in the girls 4×100 relay, 4×200 relay and long jump.
- Ana Mercado, Luz’s twin sister, won gold medals in the girls 4×400 relay and sprint medley relay, and took home a silver medal in the high jump.
Horse power
Otay Ranch coach Julian Valdez pointed to several top individual performances turned in by the runner-up Mustangs, including 400-meter split times of 50.7 and 50.8 posted by Edric Picatoste in a pair of sprint events and a 4:29 mark (for the mile) posted by distance standout Justin Mulvany.
“Most importantly the kids had fun,” Valdez said. “Last year we lost to Eastlake by two points, and it was one point this year. Eastlake is a great club. It was good preparation for us. We have several kids who qualified for this Saturday’s Mt. Carmel Invitational. We’re excited. We have 260 kids on the team. We’re having fun.”
Mulvany, a three-time state qualifier in cross country, entered last weekend’s SuHi Coed Relays after being selected as the MVP at the preceding weekend’s Desert Classic Relays at Central Union High School in El Centro.
He was particularly proud of his 4:26 mile split, which was one second off his personal record time.
He anchored Otay Ranch to two giant comeback victories that helped him secure the MVP award.
“In the distance medley relay, we were down 80 meters,” the Mustang distance runner said. “About the third lap I caught him. By the end of the race I had extended the lead to 100 meters.
“In the 4×800, we were down by 20 meters. I had to start a surge right away to catch him. I rode his shoulder for the first lap; I took the lead on the second lap. We won by two seconds.”
Mulvany, who is headed to compete at Cal Poly Pomona at the next level, said his personal goals this season are to “be around” 4:15 in the 1600 distance and 9:10 in the 3200 distance. His current PRs in the events are 4:25 and 9:25.
“I’m hoping to put it together this year,” he said.
Overall, the Mustangs finished the Desert Relays with team titles in both the boys and girls fields. Otay Ranch won gold medals in four distance events.
Among individuals, freshman Jazmine Gipson won the girls open 100-meter dash in 13.51 (ahead of Sweetwater freshman Aliyah Wheat in 13.54) while freshman Arramis Gonzalez topped the girls discus throw event with a toss of 86-6.5.
SuHi Coed Relays
- Eastlake won the coed 3200 relay with Edgar Ramos, Tatum Sherard, Sean Darcy and Luz Mercado each running legs.
- Eastlake’s Marcus Casillas and Sweetwater’s Angel Torres tied for the top mark in the boys pole vault at 11-0 while Eastlake’s Natalia Cortes and Renna Cozza both cleared 9-6 in the girls pole vault competition.
- Eastlake senior Britney Buu recorded a PR of 33-5.5 in the girls triple jump while freshman brother Brandon Buu recorded a mark of 40-2 in the boys triple jump.
Sweetwater Coed Relays
Boys Results
4×100: 1. Otay Ranch (Rogelio Flores, Steven Filippi, Edric Picatoste, Sebastian Avila) 44.45; 2. Central Union 44.52; 3. Eastlake 44.91; 4. Southwest El Centro 46.04; 5. Imperial 46.10; 6. Canyon Springs 46.90; 7. Sweetwater 48.21; 8. Mater Dei Catholic 53.03
4×200: 1. Otay Ranch 1:33.22; 2. Eastlake 1:33.68; 3. Central Union 1:33.96; 4. Imperial 1:37.16; 5. Sweetwater 1:43.79; 6. Canyon Springs 1:45.56; 7. Southwest El Centro 1:47.55
4×400: 1. Central Union 3:32.46; 2. Otay Ranch 3:33.76; 3. Imperial 3:42.02; 4. Sweetwater 3:46.97; 5. Southwest El Centro 3:49.82; 6. Eastlake 3:53.52; 7. Canyon Springs 3:53.61; 8. Mater Dei Catholic 3:58.08
4×1600: 1. Otay Ranch (Angelo Javier, Grant Bice, Colby Parise, Justin Mulvany) 19:07.62; 2. Sweetwater 19:49.25; 3. Eastlake 20:05.87; 4. Central Union 20:15.78; 5. Imperial 21:07.21
Sprint medley relay: 1. Otay Ranch 1:37.33; 2. Central Union 1:38.85; 3. Imperial 1:39.27; 4. Southwest El Centro 1:39.66; 5. Eastlake 1:40.94
Girls Results
4×100: 1. Eastlake (Kalah Bateman, Nyha Kidd, Britney Buu, Blanca McCormick) 52.44; 2. Otay Ranch 53.03; 3. Central Union 53.85; 4. Sweetwater 54.23; 5. Canyon Springs 54.99; 6. Southwest El Centro 55.61; 7. Imperial 56.62; 8. Mater Dei Catholic 59.36
4×200: 1. Eastlake 1:46.91; 2. Otay Ranch 1:54.20; 3. Central Union 1:56.89; 4. Southwest El Centro 1:57.67; 5. Sweetwater 1:57.70; 6. Imperial 2:01.47; 7. Canyon Springs 2:02.30; 8. Mater Dei Catholic 2:10.29
4×400: 1. Eastlake (Ana Mercado, Kailyn Jordan, Blanca McCormick, Luz Mercado) 4:17.84; 2. Canyon Springs 4:29.00; 3. Otay Ranch 4:30.47; 4. Imperial 4:54.41; 5. Southwest El Centro 5:08.11; 6. Sweetwater 5:18.82
Sprint medley relay: 1. Eastlake 1:51.35; 2. Sweetwater 1:59.08; 3. Central Union 2:01.15; 4. Otay Ranch 2:02.69
Distance medley relay: 1. Eastlake (Tatum Sherard, Bella Alcocer, Kate Robinson, Luz Mercado) 15:22.28; 2. Otay Ranch 15:23.10; 3. Sweetwater 15:24.01; 4. Central Union 15:25.00; 5. Imperial 15:25.13; 6. Canyon Springs 15:25.52
SOFTBALL: Bonita Vista improved to 5-1 in non-league play after defeating host Christian, 12-6, on March 14. Alexis Guevara and Ashley Decker each drove in two runs while Decker scored four runs as the Barons rapped out 10 hits.
BASEBALL: Eastlake defeated host Grossmont, 3-2, in a non-league game on March 14 to improve to 8-1-1 on the season. The Titans open Mesa League play with a game Wednesday, March 20, against visiting Bonita Vista (7-4).
Photo Gallery by Phillip Brents
