Burbank track falls against Arcadia in battle of league unbeatens
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ARCADIA — It was a battle of Pacific League unbeaten track and field teams when Burbank High took on Arcadia in a meet Thursday that included Pasadena.
The Bulldogs boys’ squad, the defending league champion, was looking to clear its first significant league hurdle in its quest to capture the program’s second straight title.
But the Apaches put a big dent in those plans with an 77-59 victory against Burbank at Arcadia High.
Arcadia earned a sweep on the day, also winning the girls’ meet, 81-50.
“There were a couple of events in the boys where we didn’t get some of the points we thought we were going to get,” said Burbank Coach Darin Wolf, whose team won a league title for the first time in 31 years in 2016. “We also didn’t pick up points in some events that we were maybe hoping to get some unexpected points in.
“But we had some athletes who had some good times and there were some PRs, so I can’t be disappointed in that.”
On the boys’ side, Burbank (3-1 in league) received a fine effort from Vedavit Shetty, who won three events. Along with placing first in the 400-meter run in 51.53 seconds, he took the triple jump with a 45-feet-5-inch effort and the long jump with a 20-3 mark.
“I knew I had to get my share of points today and I just wanted to try my best to do that,” Shetty said. “We knew that Arcadia was going to be tough and we knew we would have to get all the points that we could.”
The Bulldogs were able to win just three other events against Arcadia (4-0 in league), as Joey Miller was first in the 100 (11.45) and the 200 (23.32) and Elijah Parrott won the 3,200 (9:59.42).
In the girls’ portion, Burbank (3-1) was hoping to score its share of points against the Apaches (4-0) by relying on a core group of a multi-event athletes.
“We knew that on the girls’ side that Arcadia was going to be strong,” Wolf said about the defending league champion. “We have a few girls who compete in a lot of events and we rely on that small group to get us our share of points.”
One of those athletes was Haleigh Cusumano, who won the 100 hurdles (15:53), the 200 (26.92) and the high jump (5-0).
“This is my first season running the hurdles race and I really like the event,” Cusumano said. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to do at first, but I’ve gotten used to running the hurdles.”
Kira Bochard was a double winner for the Bulldogs in the 400 (1:01.51) and the 300 hurdles (46.15), where she out-leaned the second-place finisher from Arcadia.
The only other winner for Burbank was Mikaela Teixeria in the pole vault (10-6).
Twitter: @jefftsports
