Esperanza Knows How to Throw Weight Around

Esperanza High benefited immediately when the Southern Section amended its qualifying policy for the divisional track and field championships last season.

Instead of the top three finishers automatically moving to the preliminaries from the league finals, advancement is now linked to a qualifying mark, regardless of where the athletes place. This is particularly advantageous for the Aztec girls, who have built one of the deepest throwing programs in the state and are ranked fifth in the state’s most competitive division.

Esperanza qualified seven girls in the discus competition at the Sunset League finals two weeks ago, then grabbed five of the nine qualifying spots for the Division I finals today at Cerritos College.

“It’s just indicative of the strength we have, team-wise,” said Esperanza Coach Al Britt. “[Throwing coach] Bill [Pendleton] does a great job with them. I don’t interfere much over there.”

Esperanza senior Kristen Thompson is the top qualifier in the event, which begins at 11 a.m. Also qualifying for the Aztecs were sophomores Ashley Parrish and Stacy Knisley and juniors Lindsey Verbeck and Carolyn Pendleton, the coach’s daughter.

He will also have an added personal interest in the boys’ competition, which follows the girls’: Pendleton’s son, Travis, is a two-time Division I champion and state leader in the event, who will attend West Point in the fall and will play football and throw the discus for the Cadets.

“We’ve been doing this since he was 10 years old,” said Bill Pendleton, who also coaches the defensive line for Esperanza’s football team. “He’s going to be going back there and getting coached by someone else. I’ve been tied in to everything he’s done.”

Esperanza will also be well-represented with juniors Travis Jones and Alex Debrucky in the shotput, which also begins at 11 a.m. Pendleton thought he might get a few other throwers into the finals, but the division’s overall qualifying marks were too tough to match.

Mike Beerer of La Crescenta Crescenta Valley took the final qualifying spot in the shotput (51 feet 8 inches) and Esperanza senior Roland Gutierrez took the final spot in the discus with a throw of (155-6). Esperanza junior Rick Fry barely missed at 155-0.

“I’ve never seen a year where 50 feet didn’t make [the finals] in the shotput and 150 feet didn’t make it in the discus,” Pendleton said.

Esperanza’s other division leader is senior Ryan Bousquet in the 1,600, which begins at 2 p.m. Bousquet ran a then-nation-leading 4 minutes 9.37 seconds at the FloJo Memorial Arcadia Invitational on April 8. One of Bousquet’s main challengers will be San Clemente’s Garrett Milner.

“I’m hoping I don’t have to run as fast as I did at Arcadia, because I’m also running the 3,200 afterward,” Bousquet said. “But if that’s what it takes to win, then that’s what I’ll have to do.”

Competition among Orange County athletes should be tightest in Division II.

In the boys’ 800, Tustin junior Alonso Smith ran a state-leading 1:52.87 at the Orange County Championships last month and will be pressed by Newport Harbor’s Jon Peschelt and Katella’s Tony Lozano, the defending Division II champion. Brian Anderson of Burbank Burroughs was the top qualifier in the event, which begins at 4:25 p.m.

The boys’ 3,200 features the much-anticipated rematch between Villa Park’s Augie Escobar and Ventura’s Josh Spiker, who waged one of the great battles in the nation last season. Escobar outkicked Spiker at the section finals and Masters, where they ran the second- and third-fastest times in the country. Spiker came back to win the state title, while Escobar was third.

Spiker’s return to the track appeared to be in jeopardy after he suffered a stress fracture below his right knee while training during the cross-country season in November. Spiker, who is also entered in the 1,600, returned to competition at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on April 15 and looked sharp, running the 1,600 in 4:12.9 on the second leg of a 6,400 relay. The boys’ Division II and III 3,200 is scheduled to start at 6:20 p.m.

Another competitive race in Division II figures to be the boys’ 110 hurdles at 3 p.m. Newport Harbor’s Trevor Jones has the fastest time in the division this season (14.21) and Katella’s Kenny Vinh is second (14.30). Jones defeated Vinh by .16 seconds at the county championships, but Vinh took the top qualifying spot (14.38) after Jones hit the final hurdle at the preliminaries and qualified third (14.57).

Katella’s Long Duong, El Modena’s Jordan Czaykowski, Valencia’s Keinan Briggs and Tustin’s Michael Colby also qualified in the event.