Smith returns to form in Sunset League Finals

Cole Smith is back.

Not better than ever, but the Newport Harbor High senior is very much back in the running for postseason glory.

Smith hopped around on one foot, a rugged sort of tap dance to keep his best throw of the day a legal one on his last attempt in the discus.

Once he had kept himself in the ring, the tape measure was pulled out, and it revealed a season-best mark of 175 feet, 1 inch in the Sunset League Finals at Huntington Beach High on Friday afternoon.

“I was just trying to come back around,” Smith said of the throw-saving maneuver. “I might have taken a little peek at it, which you’re not supposed to do.”

“I was just trying to come back around, kick my leg, and stay in the ring.”

Bothered by injury and illness for much of the second half of the invitational season, Smith rebounded right on schedule.

The Sunset League Finals is a place of comfort for the recent TCU signee. Smith has never finished worse than second in the discus at the CIF-qualifying meet in his career.

“It’s definitely a good time to start getting things lined up,” Smith said of turning in a signature performance. “Sunset League going into CIF, it’s nice to peak and keep peaking for as long as you can.”

Marina’s Jake Arnold was patient with the recovery process from a foot injury, and it appears that it will pay off. The senior has bested the 160-foot mark in back-to-back meets. He took second with an effort of 163-8.

Vikings teammate Kyle Tsu has been an emerging star of late, but Marina throws coach Mike Giron had to intervene to avoid disaster at the start of the day. The UC Irvine-bound senior fouled on his first two attempts, and Giron convinced him to take his third throw in a stand-still position to ensure he reached the finals.

Tsu touched 140 feet with that attempt. After earning himself three more throws, he uncorked a throw of 159-2 to take third.

In the shot put, Tsu would salvage his day with a winning mark of 62 feet.

Michael Magula put Marina in the win column with a long overdue victory in the pole vault. The senior came into the meet ranked ninth in the state, but league rivals Ryan Fegan (Newport Harbor) and Michael Chadwick (Edison) are each ranked in the top four.

Magula and Chadwick each jumped 15-6, with the Marina senior winning on the jumps tiebreaker.

“It’s obviously really great to finally win,” Magula said. “I have great competition every week with all these guys. Having the top five in California jumping against me is pretty challenging.”

Despite needing a miss from Chadwick to win the title, Magula urged the Chargers senior on before his attempt. He said it is difficult to root against people who have been his longtime friends.

“It doesn’t really feel like a competition,” Magula said. “It’s more like you’re at a practice with your friends.”

“I don’t think it can [ever change]. You’ve been jumping with these kids for the last four years. You build this bond with them. It’s hard to want them to lose.”

Nam Do (Fountain Valley) beat his personal record twice to qualify for the CIF-SS Division 1 Prelims. He cleared 14-0 on the day. Skyler Magula (Marina) also advanced with a clearance of 13-6.

Misfortune struck the Fountain Valley boys’ program in a big way. In the league preliminaries, Nathan Willoughby false started in the 110-meter hurdles when he fell forward out of his blocks.

On Friday in the finals, top-seeded Jacob Garrett false started at the gun in the 100. The Barons’ 400 relay team also fell victim to that rule.

Cora Davis was a bright spot for the Barons. The Utah Valley commit won the 100 (12.32) and the 200 (26.07).

Fountain Valley twins Breanna and Courtnee Moreno traded wins in the long jump (17-8) and triple jump (34-1.5), respectively.

Huntington Beach’s Jack Wiseman won the high jump at 6-3. Alison Young grabbed another win for the Oilers in girls’ pole vault at 10-8.

Newport Harbor’s Alexis Garcia (9:40) and Mia Matsunami (11:27) swept the 3,200 races.

Ben Wilson added another distance win for the Sailors in the 1,600 with a time of 4:22.

Edison’s Amanda Herrington went a tick under 15 seconds in winning the 100 hurdles, coming in at 14.99.

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BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Sunset League Finals

At Huntington Beach High

100 – 1. Parker (Marina) 11.09; 2. Do (Huntington Beach) 11.14; 3. Malerstein (Marina) 11.19

200 – 1. Howard (Los Alamitos) 22.62; 2. Sparks (Los Alamitos) 22.72; 3. Garrett (Fountain Valley) 22.81

400 – 1. Howard (Los Alamitos) 50.87; 2. Ayale (Los Alamitos) 51.08; 3. Martin (Los Alamitos) 51.09

800 – 1. Bandley (Los Alamitos) 1:56.95; 2. Schwarz (Edison) 1:58.04; 3. Smith (Edison) 1:59.28

1,600 – 1. Wilson (Newport Harbor) 4:22.58; 2. Garcia (Newport Harbor) 4:23.14; 3. L. Mitchel (Huntington Beach) 4:23.36

3,200 – 1. Garcia (Newport Harbor) 9:40.26; 2. Wilson (Newport Harbor) 9:43.07; 3. Quinonez (Los Alamitos) 9:43.45

110HH – 1. Rubio (Los Alamitos) 14.02;2. Hill (Fountain Valley) 15.10; 3. Scott (Los Alamitos) 15.41

300IH – 1. Rubio (Los Alamitos) 37.07; 2. Willoughby (Fountain Valley) 38.82; 3. Marion (Fountain Valley) 40.57

400 relay – 1. Los Alamitos 42.76; 2. Marina 43.71; 3. Huntington Beach 45.29

1,600 relay – 1. Los Alamitos 3:24.48; 2. Fountain Valley 3:26.23; 3. Edison 3:30.32

HJ – 1. Wiseman (Huntington Beach) 6-3; 2. Schmitt (Los Alamitos) 6-1; 3. Straw (Fountain Valley) 6-1

LJ – 1. Rubio (Los Alamitos) 22-7; 2. Geo. Delorie (Marina) 20-6.5; 3. Ayale (Los Alamitos) 20-6.25

TJ – 1. Wang (Marina) 42-9.5; 2. Galloway (Fountain Valley) 42-11; 3. Obert (Huntington Beach) 43-10

PV – 1. M. Magula (Marina) 15-6; 2. Chadwick (Edison) 15-6J; 3. Fegan (Newport Harbor) 14-6; 4. Do (Fountain Valley) 14-0; 5. S. Magula (Marina) 13-6

SP – 1. Tsu (Marina) 62-0; 2. Arnold (Marina) 58-6; 3. O’Neil (Newport Harbor) 51-8.5; 4. Smith (Newport Harbor) 51-8.5

DT – 1. Smith (Newport Harbor) 151-1; 2. Arnold (Marina) 163-8; 3. Tsu (Marina) 159-2

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GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Sunset League Finals

At Huntington Beach High

100 – 1. Davis (Fountain Valley) 12.32; 2. D. Limp (Los Alamitos) 12.49; 3. Kolster (Los Alamitos) 12.66

200 – 1. Davis (Fountain Valley) 26.07; 2. Kolster (Los Alamitos) 26.37; 3. Phantumabamrung (Huntington Beach) 26.46

400 – 1. Desmet (Los Alamitos) 1:00.36; 2. Palombo (Edison) 1:01.45; 3. Ransom (Fountain Valley) 1:01.72

800 – 1. Sanacore (Los Alamitos) 2:17.51; 2. Velasco (Los Alamitos) 2:21.39; 3. Feitz (Fountain Valley) 2:21.54

1,600 – 1. Sanacore (Los Alamitos) 5:08.36; 2. Faller (Fountain Valley) 5:11.20; 3. Ledgard (Los Alamitos) 5:11.58

3,200 – 1. Matsunami (Newport Harbor) 11:27; 2. Faller (Fountain Valley) 11:35; 3. Hamel (Edison) 11:36

100HH – 1. Herrington (Edison) 14.99; 2. L. Willingham (Los Alamitos) 15.19; 3. C. Moreno (Fountain Valley) 15.40

300IH – 1. L. Willingham (Los Alamitos) 45.65; 2. Herrington (Edison) 46.47; 3. Schrader (Edison) 47.86

400 relay – 1. Los Alamitos 48.74; 2. Fountain Valley 48.91; 3. Edison 50.50

1,600 relay – 1. Los Alamitos 4:05.78; 2. Fountain Valley 4:09.68; 3. Newport Harbor 4:12.85

HJ – 1. Given (Los Alamitos) 5-1; 2. Hodel (Huntington Beach) 4-9; 3. McMahan (Los Alamitos) 4-9J

LJ – 1. B. Moreno (Fountain Valley) 17-8; 2. Galloway (Los Alamitos) 16-11.5; 3. Smentkowski (Huntington Beach) 16-9.5

TJ – 1. C. Moreno (Fountain Valley) 34-1.5; 2. McMahan (Los Alamitos) 33-11; 3. Ngo (Fountain Valley) 32-10.5

PV – 1. Young (Huntington Beach) 10-8; 2T. Espilita (Huntington Beach) 10-8J; 2T. Anger (Los Alamitos) 10-8

SP – 1. Sale (Los Alamitos) 46-3.5; 2. Ta’amu (Los Alamitos) 36-0.5; 3. May (Fountain Valley) 32-2

DT – 1. Sale (Los Alamitos) 134-0; 2. Mizukami (Marina) 105-5; 3. May (Fountain Valley) 101-5

Andrew.Turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner