Girls’ Track and Field Preview: Talent not in short supply for city trio

Track and field should be exciting and intriguing for the city of La Cañada Flintridge’s three schools.

Flintridge Prep, La Cañada High and Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy each return talented athletes who have aspirations for league success and beyond.

One team that appears loaded is Flintridge Prep.

The Rebels captured five individual Prep League championships and placed second in league to Mayfield Senior School.

All of the individual champions have returned, led by senior Hanna Barakat.

The sprinter captured the league’s 100-meter dash (12.75 seconds), 200 (25.82) and 400 (59.64) titles, while running the anchor leg in the second-place 1,600-meter relay squad (4:13.32).

Barakat broke the school record in the 200 with a time 24.66, which gained her sixth at the CIF Southern Section Division IV finals.

She returns along with promising sophomore pole vaulter Evelyn Molebash, daughter of coach Jen Molebash.

At league finals, the younger Molebash set the league pole vault record with a mark of 10 feet, 7 inches.

This season, the vaulter is hoping to hit an ambitious height of 12 feet.

A big portion of Flintridge Prep’s depth comes in the distances thanks to the state champion cross-country team.

University of Oklahoma-bound Natalie O’Brien returns as the league’s 3,200-meter (11:22.66) champion, while junior Sophie Gitlin was second (11:28.05) last season. League cross-country champion Sasha Codiga is also back after taking second (2:22.89) in the 800 at league finals.

“We have some very talented athletes and we have the potential to have a really strong year,” Jen Molebash said. “We have some standouts who I believe have an opportunity to go far.”

One team that was supposed to match Flintridge Prep in star power was La Cañada.

However, basketball standout Zoe Williams is not expected to return after the senior captured the shot put (33 feet) Rio Hondo League championship and was second in the discus (96-6).

There’s also a question mark about reigning Valley Sun Girls’ Athlete of the Year Katie Scoville, who just finished the soccer season.

Scoville was the city’s unquestioned top distance runner last year and backed that up with Rio Hondo League titles in the 1,600 (5:06.47) and 3,200 (11:18.42), a CIF Southern Section Division III crown in the 3,200 (10:39.82) and a 17th-place finish in the 3,200 (10:51.41) at state.

If there’s a bright spot, it’s that junior Claire Murray is back in the 100-meter high hurdles.

Murray finished third at the Rio Hondo League finals in a mark of 15.18.

She then finished fourth in the 100 hurdles (15.11) at the Division III prelims at Estancia High before setting the school record the following week at the Division III finals in 14.83.

“I believe this year we can again get to the CIF finals, but just in the high hurdles,” La Cañada Coach Casey Mollett said. “She prefers them and at this point, we’re going to focus on her best event.”

Beyond Murray, Mollett has high hopes for junior Kamryn Creighton in the 400 and both relays, Jacqueline Gevorgian in the 100 and both relays and Morgan Bowman in the 800.

Change swept Flintridge Sacred Heart, as the program waved goodbye to 14-year coach Eddie Gorton and moved up from the Sunshine League to the challenging Mission League.

In two seasons in the Sunshine League, the Tologs won their first-ever league title in 2015, while finishing third last year.

Gorton’s longtime assistant Jonathan Keys took over the position and will bring some familiarity.

Flintridge Sacred Heart has about 20 athletes with a few key returners, including junior Bobbie Byrne.

The cross-country runner ran the anchor league of last season’s league winning 1,600-meter relay squad.

Byrne also qualified to the CIF preliminaries as a member of the third-place 400-meter relay squad (52.53). She’s expected to also compete in the 200 and 400, having also taken third at league finals in the 400 (59.59).

One of the unexpected bright spots last year was sophomore Kelly Carney, who took up the triple jump at the request of Gorton and finished third in 33-6 1/2, while eventually setting the school record of 33-7 at the Division IV finals.

Carney is expected to participate in the long jump, as well.

Senior Monica Collins, who struggled with injuries and illness in 2016, is expected to run in the 3,200.

“Since we’ve moved up to the Mission League, we know it’s going to be tough,” Keys said. “For me, I’ll measure progress by improvement. We’re going to be facing some talented squads on a week-by-week basis and all I’m going to ask is that we improve.”