Loyola Wraps Up Title

Notre Dame High’s bid to unseat Loyola as Mission League boys’ track and field champion officially came to an end at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday.

But the Knights’ chances took a dive 80 minutes earlier when ailing Justin Fargas finished third in the 100 meters behind Stephen Faulk and Russell Silvers of Loyola.

Fargas, defending state champion in the 100, anchored Notre Dame to a winning time of 41.9 seconds in the 400 relay to start the meet. He won the long jump at 22 feet 3 1/2 inches, but strained his right hamstring in the process and ran with his thigh wrapped in the 100.

“I wanted to get as many points as I could,” Fargas said of running the 100 after his rare appearance in the long jump. “I purposely didn’t get off to a good start because that’s when you can really hurt yourself.”

Faulk won the 100 in a wind-aided 10.5 with Silvers second at 10.8. Fargas finished in 10.9 and withdrew from the 200, an event in which Loyola placed first and third in on its way to a 70-57 victory.

It was the 71st consecutive dual-meet victory for the Cubs (7-0 overall and in league) and gave them their 10th consecutive league title and eighth consecutive Mission League championship.

“I really thought we had a chance at them,” Notre Dame Coach Joe McNab said. “But losing Justin hurt.”

Trailing, 42-35, after the 100, Notre Dame tied the score, 43-43, when junior Kevin Lelles won the 800 in 2:00.8 and sophomore Darren Quinn finished second in 2:01.6.

After Loyola placed first and third in the 300 intermediate hurdles and the 200 to take a 55-49 lead, Lelles won the 3,200 in 10:00.1 to trim Loyola’s lead to 59-54 with two events left.

But the Cubs clinched the victory with a 1-3 finish in the triple jump before ending the meet by winning the 1,600 relay in 3:27.1.

Lelles, who placed seventh in the state Division IV cross-country championships in November, won the 1,600 in 4:34.0 for Notre Dame (7-1, 6-1).

“We just figured we’d have to do a little better than was expected,” Lelles said when asked about the injury to Fargas.

“We had some problems so the distance runners had to step it up.”

Notre Dame outscored Loyola, 18-9, in the distance events, but the Cubs had a 23-14 advantage in the sprints and relays, and outscored the Knights, 14-4, in the hurdles.

Seniors Rod Arzu, Julian Maurel and Eddie Simon also won events for Notre Dame.

Arzu clocked 49.6 in the 400, placed second in the 200 in 22.1 and ran the third leg on the 400 relay.

Maurel took the high jump at six feet and Simon cleared 13-6 in the pole vault.

“Our guys competed to the bitter end,” McNab said. “You lose the defending state 100-meter champion and it’s hard to overcome.”

Fargas hopes the hamstring injury won’t prevent him from running in the Mission League finals next Friday, but he admitted it might keep him from being 100% for a while.

“I’ve got to get healthy,” Fargas said. “But from here on out, I might have to run just fast enough to move on to the next week.”