Newport Harbor girls place second in Orange County track and field championships

It had only been a week since Newport Harbor delivered one of the area highlights of the Arcadia Invitational in a down-to-the-wire race in the girls’ distance medley relay.

Juniors Keaton Robar and Marley McCullough and sophomore Natalie McCarty, each a member of that relay team, were instrumental in the Sailors securing a top-three finish in the Orange County track and field championships.

Newport Harbor tied with Rosary for second in the county showcase, finishing behind only JSerra, on Saturday at Mission Viejo High.

The girls’ distance athlete of the meet, Robar came from the third position on the last lap of the 1,600 meters, outkicking JSerra junior Anne Elise Packard over the final 100 meters to win the race in four minutes 50.16 seconds.

“I like running with fast people … because it pushes you to be better,” Robar said. “... Even last year, you’ll see me drafting, and I think I was trying to do that. I think I kind of scared my coach a little because I was kind of lagging for pretty much the whole race, and then just kind of trust[ed] my kick at the end.”

Robar went on to win the 800 meters in 2:11.62 over another standout for the Lions in UCLA-bound Georgia Jeanneret (2:11.81).

McCullough continued the distance success for the Sailors with a runner-up finish in the 3,200 meters, clocking in with a lifetime-best time of 10:29.47.

McCarty was a force in the hurdles, claiming the victory in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (45.75 seconds), while finishing behind only Corona del Mar senior Ava Simos (15.25 seconds) in the 100-meter high hurdles with a new personal record of 15.72.

On a blustery day, winds ranging between 10 to 15 miles per hour posed a significant challenge to jumpers. McCarty fought the conditions to match the winning clearance of 5 feet in the high jump. The event was won on total jumps taken by Dana Hill senior Roxy Meyer, who earned girls’ field athlete of the meet honors after adding wins in the long jump (18 feet, 6 inches) and triple jump (38 feet, 11½ inches).

Fountain Valley senior Isabella Abrahams built on an exciting week that saw her participate in a school signing day ceremony to join the Oregon track and field program. A successful third attempt saw her win the pole vault with a mark of 12 feet.

“You definitely want the tail wind,” said Abrahams, who holds a personal record of 12 feet, 8 inches and hopes to achieve a clearance of 13 feet this season. “That was not on my side today. It was kind of all over the place. You kind of learn how to work with it, and it is what it is. It’s outdoor track and field. It’s not indoor, where you’re going to get the same thing every single time.”

Simos won the 100-meter sprints for the third consecutive year at the county championship meet. She may have had as much fun in finishing second in the 200 meters, where she took the stage of the final heat with two teammates in sophomore Estheleen Charalabidis and junior Sienna Nestorov.

“Every meet I go into, no matter what level of competition it is, I always just go for [personal records],” said Simos, who has committed to Cal Poly. “Arcadia was really good to run against girls that are more competitive. … It’s so much fun running in my home area, with the people that I know the best, so I would say that O.C. Champs is probably my number one favorite event of the year.”

Coming off her most impressive win at the Arcadia Invitational, Edison senior Alexa Sheldon repeated as county champion in the shot put with a throw of 42 feet, 6¾ inches. It extended the Cal State Fullerton commit’s unbeaten streak in the event to 11 starts.

“I haven’t looked at it being my last season,” Sheldon said. “I’m looking at it as my best season, because it’s the first time where I haven’t had a single injury, and so I’m just pushing more into the fact that my body’s healthy, my mind is healthy, everything around me is in a healthy position, to where I can finally hit … whatever I’m aiming for at the end of the year.”

Marina senior sprinter Nevaeh Lane authored top-five finishes in the 100 (third, 12.26 seconds) and 200 (fifth, 25.57), leading the Vikings to 10th in the girls’ team standings.

Mater Dei won the boys’ team title, led by junior Brandon Gorski’s winning marks in the high jump (6 feet, 4 inches) and long jump (22-8).

Los Alamitos junior Devin Bragg set a meet record in the 100 meters in 10.50 seconds (tail wind of 0.9 meters per second).

Newport Harbor senior Carlos Maradiaga topped the area performers on the boys’ side, finishing second in the 3,200 meters as the weekend storm rolled in.

Maradiaga, who ran the race in 9:21.22, said this race was not about chasing a time, but he hopes to drop below nine minutes before the end of the season.

“I’d love to get to state,” Maradiaga said. “That’s always been my dream goal. … This race showed me that I have it in me to compete.”

Servite also bested its own meet record in the boys’ 400 relay (41.66). The previous time to beat was 41.74 seconds in 2017.

BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD

At Mission Viejo High

*Denotes meet record

TEAM RESULTS

1. Mater Dei 59; 2. San Clemente 51.25; 3. Trabuco Hills 51; 4. Servite 33.25; 5T. Santa Margarita 28; 5T. Villa Park 28; 7. Los Alamitos 27.5; 8. Mission Viejo 26.25; 9T. Brea Olinda 25; 9T. Orange Lutheran 25; 17. Newport Harbor 13.5; 25. Edison 8.5; 26. Corona del Mar 8; 29T. Huntington Beach 5; 29T. Sage Hill 5; 33T. Pacifica Christian 4; 35T. Laguna Beach 3

INDIVIDUALS

100 — 1. Bragg (Los Alamitos) 10.50*; 2. Frazier (Mater Dei) 10.73; 3. Spafford (Mission Viejo) 10.78; 4. Gardner (Servite) 10.83; 5. Prayer (San Clemente) 10.86

200 — 1. Bragg (Los Alamitos) 21.31; 2. Guzman (Tustin) 21.73; 3. Frazier (Mater Dei) 21.78; 4. Patel (Northwood) 21.82; 5. Harvey (Trabuco Hills) 22.04

400 — 1. Patel (Northwood) 48.78; 2. McCusker (Trabuco Hills) 49.69; 3. Vasquez (Orange Lutheran) 50.00; 4. Hughes (Servite) 50.04; 5. Woodruff (Mater Dei) 50.23

800 — 1. Horrocks (Foothill) 1:54.64; 2. Clark (San Clemente) 1:54.66; 3. Newman (Canyon) 1:55.95; 4. Kushen (Tesoro) 1:56.37; 5. Maradiaga (Newport Harbor) 1:57.14

1,600 — 1. Hernandez (Dana Hills) 4:15.19; 2. Gibson (Santa Margarita) 4:15.60; 3. Ephraim (San Clemente) 4:15.94; 4. Ariga (Beckman) 4:16.12; 5. Goetz (Canyon) 4:16.56

3,200 — 1. Gibson (Santa Margarita) 9:19.80; 2. Maradiaga (Newport Harbor) 9:21.22; 3. Hunter (Dana Hills) 9:22.05; 4. Douglass (Corona del Mar) 9:24.58; 5. Herbert (Santa Margarita) 9:26.37

110HH — 1. Garrett (Trabuco Hills) 14.82; 2. Giachetto (Brea Olinda) 15.09; 3. Burwell (Servite) 15.18; 4. Currier (Crean Lutheran) 15.42; 5. Summers (Edison) 15.43

300IH — 1. Giachetto (Brea Olinda) 39.04; 2. Owens (Mission Viejo) 39.20; 3. Jahromi (Portola) 39.70; 4. Currier (Crean Lutheran) 40.83; 5. Hart (Pacifica Christian) 40.87

400 relay — 1. Servite 41.66*; 2. Mater Dei 42.03; 3. Trabuco Hills 42.14; 4. JSerra 42.69; 5. Mission Viejo 42.75

1,600 relay — 1. Orange Lutheran 3:26.40; 2. Northwood 3:26.80; 3. San Clemente 3:28.00; 4. Sage Hill 3:35.10; 5. El Modena 3:35.31

4x800 relay — 1. Beckman 8:10.85; 2. Fountain Valley 8:10.90; 3. Woodbridge 8:11.93; 4. Portola 8:17.13; 5. Tesoro 8:21.97

HJ — 1. Gorski (Mater Dei) 6-4; 2. Belnap (Mater Dei) 6-4J; 3. Cox (Villa Park) 6-2; 4T. Kaltreider (Edison) 6-2; 4T. Chambers (Los Alamitos) 6-2

LJ — 1. Gorski (Mater Dei) 22-8; 2. Liu (Portola) 22-2; 3. Stewart (San Clemente) 21-10½; 4. Francis (Santa Margarita) 21-3; 5. Dubose (Trabuco Hills) 20-9½

TJ — 1. B. Dahl (Villa Park) 45-5; 2. Jones (San Clemente) 45-0; 3. G. Dahl (Villa Park) 42-11; 4. Beamon (Segerstrom) 42-4; 5. Kim (Sunny Hills) 41-10

PV — 1. Leuenberger (Capistrano Valley) 15-0; 2. Brice (San Clemente) 14-6; 3. Ling (Orange Lutheran) 13-6; 4. Higgins (Trabuco Hills) 13-6; 5. Beveridge (Aliso Niguel) 13-0

SP — 1. Lewis (Pacifica) 58-5¾; 2. Meyer (Esperanza) 52-2¾; 3. Legaspi (Canyon) 47-7¼; 4. Isip (Sonora) 46-6; 5. Porch (Sonora) 45-7½

DT — 1. Lewis (Pacifica) 176-0; 2. Klinge (Trabuco Hills) 159-8; 3. Tina (Mission Viejo) 154-6; 4. Vanskiver (Servite) 150-5; 5. Brooks (Brea Olinda) 146-2

GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD

At Mission Viejo High

*Denotes meet record

TEAM RESULTS

1. JSerra 88.5; 2T. Rosary 58; 2T. Newport Harbor 58; 4. Mission Viejo 50; 5. Dana Hills 48; 6. Corona del Mar 35; 7. Trabuco Hills 26; 8. Santa Margarita 21; 9. Canyon 17.5; 10. Marina 17; 11. Edison 16; 19. Fountain Valley 10; 23. Huntington Beach 8;

INDIVIDUALS

100 — 1. Simos (Corona del Mar) 12.01; 2. Groves (Santa Margarita) 12.09; 3. Lane (Marina) 12.26; 4. Smith (Rosary) 12.44; 5. Pierce (Trabuco Hills) 12.63

200 — 1. Wilson (Rosary) 24.64; 2. Simos (Corona del Mar) 24.72; 3. Groves (Santa Margarita) 25.29; 4. Woolforde (JSerra) 25.39; 5. Lane (Marina) 25.57

400 — 1. Wilson (Rosary) 56.20; 2. Woolforde (JSerra) 56.43; 3. Longcob (Trabuco Hills) 57.44; 4. Bassett (Mission Viejo) 58.15; 5. Scheer (Dana Hills) 58.86

800 — 1. Robar (Newport Harbor) 2:11.62; 2. Jeanneret (JSerra) 2:11.81; 3. Ivarsson (Dana Hills) 2:12.61; 4. Yetter (San Clemente) 2:13.41; 5. Lee (Trabuco Hills) 2:16.71

1,600 — 1. Robar (Newport Harbor) 4:50.16; 2. Packard (JSerra) 4:52.69; 3. Rubio (Huntington Beach) 4:55.40; 4. Barker (Trabuco Hills) 4:55.45; 5. Yetter (San Clemente) 4:57.16

3,200 — 1. Wilson (JSerra) 10:26.81; 2. McCullough (Newport Harbor) 10:29.47; 3. Polay (JSerra) 10:46.27; 4. Garcia (JSerra) 10:49.00; 5. Foody (Aliso Niguel) 10:52.82

100HH — 1. Simos (Corona del Mar) 15.25; 2. McCarty (Newport Harbor) 15.72; 3. Waters (San Clemente) 15.95; 4. Gan (Trabuco Hills) 16.12; 5. Sumrall (Marina) 16.22

300IH — 1. McCarty (Newport Harbor) 45.75; 2. Kays (Mission Viejo) 45.93; 3. Banfield (San Juan Hills) 46.85; 4. Sorensen (Rosary) 47.07; 5. Witte (Mater Dei) 47.44

400 relay — 1. Rosary 48.06; 2. Mission Viejo 49.33; 3. Villa Park 50.00; 4. Canyon 50.64; 5. Woodbridge 50.88

1,600 relay — 1. JSerra 3:58.12; 2. Mission Viejo 4:06.88; 3. Rosary 4:07.03; 4. Newport Harbor 4:08.15; 5. Mater Dei 4:16.47

4x800 relay — 1. Trabuco Hills 9:39.86; 2. Los Alamitos 9:46.23; 3. Woodbridge 9:47.00; 4. JSerra 10:01.93; 5. Capistrano Valley 10:17.27

HJ — 1. Meyer (Dana Hills) 5-0; 2. Trotter (Los Alamitos) 5-0J; 3. McCarty (Newport Harbor) 5-0J; 4. Lin (Yorba Linda) 4-10; 5T. Murillo (Canyon) 4-10; 5T. Sokolowski (Cypress) 4-10

LJ — 1. Meyer (Dana Hills) 18-6; 2. Lee (Rosary) 17-6; 3. Shaw (Mater Dei) 17-2; 4. Cheng (El Dorado) 16-10; 5. Padilla (Sonora) 16-6½

TJ — 1. Meyer (Dana Hills) 38-11½; 2. Cheng (El Dorado) 37-11½; 3. Gray (Villa Park) 36-5½; 4. Forde (Woodbridge) 36-4½; 5. Cazale (Calvary Chapel) 36-0

PV — 1. Abrahams (Fountain Valley) 12-0; 2. Alagha (Beckman) 11-6; 3T. Harden (Dana Hills) 11-0; 3T. Kolbeck (Capistrano Valley) 11-0; 3T. Chiaverini (JSerra) 11-0

SP — 1. Sheldon (Edison) 42-6¾; 2. Cook (Orange Lutheran) 37-9½; 3. Ellis (Los Alamitos) 36-11; 4. Brunings (Mission Viejo) 36-10¼; 5. Gallacher (Anaheim Hills) 35-8

DT — 1. Chang (Mission Viejo) 147-8; 2. Walters (JSerra) 143-7; 3. Sheldon (Edison) 130-0; 4. Streit (Santa Margarita) 123-7; 5. Beary (JSerra) 120-7