Track & Field: San Pedro dominates distance relays

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After breaking the school and Los Angeles City Section record to win the 4x1600 seeded relay in 21:12.98 Friday evening at the Arcadia Invitational, San Pedro’s girls did it again this afternoon, taking first place in the Distance Medley Relay with a strong time of 12:26.96.

Making their ‘double’ even more impressive is that three Pirates participated both races, including senior Evelyn Gonzalez, who ran a personal-best 5:06 on the anchor leg last night and doubled back to run the opening leg (1200 meters) in 3:47 Saturday.

‘I got stung by a bee on my foot in practice Monday and it’s been really swollen,’ Gonzalez said. ‘I didn’t feel tired at all today. I was more worried yesterday because I wasn’t able to run all week.’

Friday’s time was the 10th fastest at that distance this year and shattered the previous City record of 21:45, set by San Pedro at the Mt. SAC Invitational in 2000 when Valerie Flores was the Pirates’ top runner.

In the Distance Medley, junior Lorena Garcia ran her personal-best time on the four-lap anchor leg after taking the baton from freshman Danielle Nunez, who blazed on the 800-meter third leg. Junior Latysha Hadijaja rounded out the foursome with a fast lap to complete the second phase of the race. Ashley Carerra ran the third leg of Friday’s 4x1600.

‘I’m thrilled,’ San Pedro Coach Bruce Thomson said. ‘This is by far the best that we’ve ever done at Arcadia. To win both races and record the times we did is huge for our program.’

In the boys Distance Medley, San Pedro missed second place by just one hundredth of a second. Sophomore Steve Correa ran the opening 1200. Junior Brandon Towns, who ran a personal-best 1:55.7 in the 800 meters earlier in the day, gave the Pirates the lead in the 400-meter second leg, before handing off to senior Eduardo Gonzalez for the 800 leg. Then, sophomore Charlie Nettle battled Corona’s Garrett Williams to the tape on the final lap of the anchor leg.

-- Steve Galluzzo

Caption: San Pedro’s winning Distance Medley team of (L-R) Lorena Garcia, Evelyn Gonzalez, Danielle Nunez and Latysha Hadidjaja. Credit: Steve Galluzzo / For The Times