Foster, Van Scoter take home pair of CIF track titles

NORWALK - Five individual championships highlighted what was a spectacular day for locals at Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Track and Field Division Championships at Cerritos College.

St. Francis High senior Jasher Foster and Flintridge Prep senior Jack Van Scoter both won two titles, while La Cañada sophomore Katie Scoville also captured a crown on a day in which four entrants also earned berths to the CIF Masters Meet.

Before 2015, the St. Francis track and field program owned three division titles dating back to 1958.

In just the last two years, Foster has claimed three titles, including two on Saturday.

Perhaps the one that meant most came in his last race, the Division III 300-meter hurdles.

In that competition, Foster picked up some Mission League revenge by holding off Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s Austin Lietz with a winning mark of 37.26 seconds, a personal record that blasted his preliminaries time of 39.46.

“All glory to God,” said Foster, whose two wins gave St. Francis 20 points and tied the Golden Knights for seventh in Division III with San Luis Obispo. “I got out great, changed my steps to 22 and just felt comfortable, hit my marks in this middle section of the race and just finished strong. I’m real thankful right now.”

It was a repeat effort for Foster earlier in the 110-meter hurdles, as he won in a wind-aided time of 14.03, which was also a personal-best mark.

Both efforts easily qualified Foster to Friday’s Masters Meet back at Cerritos as the Golden Knight’s marks were the third-best among all four divisions in both events.

Van Scoter found satisfaction in the 3,200 race, which was a combined run of Division II and IV.

The Georgetown-bound Van Scoter beat everyone and took home the Division IV title in 9:01.81, which was third-best overall and advanced him to Masters.

“I thought I’d be able to qualify in the [1,600-meter run] with a 4:13, but then D-I happened and they just went off,” Van Scoter said. “I ran with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder today and I said, ‘I’m not letting this happen again.’”

Van Scoter momentarily advanced to the Masters Meet in the 1,600, before that privilege was revoked.

Van Scoter won the Division IV 1,600-meter run in a mark of 4:13.90, which was almost six seconds better than second place.

After the completion of all four division races, Van Scoter was listed as the 12th and final qualifier. Unfortunately for Van Scoter, a disqualification in Division I was erroneously reported and corrected, which bumped Van Scoter down to 13th place or first alternate.

Two laps into her Division III 3,200-meter championship run, Scoville seemingly couldn’t have been in a worse position.

Scoville was in dead last behind a competitor who had fallen.

Yet, the Spartans closer lived up to her title and stormed all the way back in the combo race with Division I to win the Division III title in 10:39.82. Scoville had the fifth-best time of any runner to advance to the Masters Meet.

“I knew all the girls would go out with [Division I] Destiny Collins [of Great Oak] really fast,” said Scoville, the last local Masters Meet qualifier who also improved her school record in the event. “Last week, I went out really fast and it didn’t work out, so this time I went out pretty conservatively.”

La Cañada sophomore Claire Murray closed strong in the Division III 100-meter hurdles and took fourth in 14.83, which easily topped her prelims mark of 15.11. As a team, the Spartans finished tied for 13th in Division III with 15 points.

Thanks in part to Van Scoter’s victories, the Flintridge Prep boys took fifth in Division IV with 30 points.

Nikhil Poole and Evan Pattinelli took third and sixth, respectively, for the Rebels in the 3,200 with times of 9:27.04 and 9:44.07.

Rebels junior Riley Coan placed eighth in the Division IV 800-meter run in 2:04.84, which was a little off his 1:59.9 prelims mark.

As for the Flintridge Prep girls, they took eighth in Division IV with 21points

Freshman Evelyn Molebash started the day by placing fourth in the Division IV pole vault with a mark of 10 feet, 9 inches. The height beat Molebash’s prelims mark of 10 feet and her Prep League meet record of 10-7.

Flintridge Prep’s Sophie Gitlin and Natalie O’Brien also placed second and fourth, respectively, in the Division IV 3,200 in a personal-best time of 11:03.28 and 11:08.77.

After being disqualified in the Division IV 400-meter dash, Flintridge Prep junior Hannah Barakat rebounded to take sixth in the 200-meter dash in 24.66.

“I broke our school record, so that’s great,” Barakat said. “You don’t ever want to be disqualified, so it was nice to at least have a record.”

Flintridge Sacred Heart tied for 28th in Division IV with five points, with the top effort going to senior Holly MacVaugh.

The tennis standout placed fifth in the 100-meter hurdles in 16:02, which topped her prelims mark of 16.27.

Freshman Kelly Carney also took eighth in the triple jump in 33-7.