Kennedy Romps Over Van Nuys in Track, 99-26

Before the season, Kennedy track Coach Pete Nelson said that this year’s team wasn’t as strong as some of his teams in the past.

Sure, the Golden Cougars had “decent” talent, Nelson said, but they didn’t have “a lot of depth.”

Their supposed lack of depth, though, didn’t hurt them Thursday at Kennedy as they won 13 of 15 events, routing Van Nuys, 99-26, in the first Mid-Valley League meet of the year.

Andrew Como led undefeated Kennedy to its second victory, scoring 14 points. A first-team Valley 4-A League defensive back in football, the 6-1, 165-pound senior won the long jump and triple jump, finished second in the 100 meters and ran the third leg on the victorious 440-relay team.

Como began the day by winning the long jump with a personal best of 22-4. His previous best was 20-5.

He then teamed up with Boris Guararie, Barry Rankins and John Diggs to win the 440-yard relay in 43.3.

Later, Como (11.6) finished second to sophomore Rankins (11.4) in the 100 meters. The sprint times were hampered throughout the day by a head wind.

Following a brief rest, Como won the triple jump with a 41-6 effort.

Afterward, Como said: “I’m really happy with the long jump. I thought I was ready for a big one because my speed was real good today.”

Nelson agreed. “He has improved a great deal over last year, and the biggest improvement is his speed. He’s much faster.”

Como said his best event is the triple jump.

But Nelson disagreed, saying that Como is best in the high jump. He is the defending league champion in that event with a jump of 6-4.

While Como was the star of the meet, he was not the only Cougar who performed well.

In addition to anchoring the 440 relay, Diggs won the 220 in 23.5 and was second in the long jump with a best of 20-5.

Rankins finished second in the 220 (24.1) behind Diggs in addition to his 100-meter and relay efforts.

Guararie, the fourth member of the relay team, won the 440 in 52.1 and ran the third leg on the winning mile relay (3:37.0).

Wilton Mays lowered his seasonal best to 15.4 in winning the 120-yard high hurdles.

The Cougars dominance wasn’t limited strictly to the sprint events. Ara Derderian, all 6-3, 270 pounds of him, won the shot put with a throw of 50-8 and Steve Randall won the pole vault with a jump of 12-0. Both performances were personal bests.

The Kennedy girls improved their record to 2-0, winning, 84-25.

Kelley Peacock was a bright spot for the Wolves (0-2). She won the 100 in 12.7, the shot put with a 31-3 effort and ran a leg on the winning mile relay (4:32.1).

Kennedy was led by Kim Crongeyer, who won the mile in 5:38.9 and Ulrike Hogstrom, who won the high jump at 4-10.