Glendale girls don’t slow down against Bulldogs

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — With the wind from a historic defeat of league powerhouse Muir at its heels, the Glendale High girls’ track and field team looked to keep the momentum going Thursday in a Pacific League dual meet against another Crown City squad, the Pasadena Bulldogs.

Behind another round of strong performances, including some new school records, the Nitros girls topped Pasadena, 93-32.

Glendale’s boys’ team didn’t fare quite as well, losing 74.5-47.5, but Nitros boys’ and girls’ Coach Bob Bailey was pleased nonetheless with the squad’s improvement over previous meets this year.

“We knew that Pasadena would be lacking depth [on the girls’ side], so we knew we could get a lot of second and third-place finishes,” said Bailey, whose girls’ squad’s 76-46 victory over the Mustangs at Muir on March 19 was its first since 1983. “We just didn’t know how our top girls would match up with theirs, but they matched up pretty good today.”

Daniela Pollard was a double winner for Glendale, taking the long jump with a mark of 17 feet 1 inch and setting a new school record in the triple jump of 37-4.

Frances Pasamba also helped pace the Nitros with a pair of victories in the 800 (2 minutes 38 seconds) and 1,600 meters (5:54).

Seda Arutyunyan continued the success for the Nitros in distance events, winning the 3,200 in 13:19.

“In distance, it was kind of an easy day because we knew [the Bulldogs] wouldn’t have much in the line of distance runners,” Bailey said.

Other Glendale winners included Perci Goldwire in the 100-meter high hurdles (16.2) and Jennifer Dowty in the 200-meter dash (26.5).

Freshman Renee Garza won the shot put with a throw of 28- 1/2 .

Dowty also teamed with Alin Jabourian, Rita Assoian and Samantha Bogatz to win the 4x100 relay.

That race included a new school record of a 49-second lap by Dowty.

With the win, Glendale improved to 3-1 on the year with a 2-1 mark in Pacific League meets.

While the Nitros boys dropped to 0-4 (0-3 in league) on the season, their Thursday score was a cause for optimism as far as Bailey was concerned.

“I’m just glad we scored,” Bailey said of his boys’ team’s performance. “We’ve scored 12 and 11 points in the last two meets, so just scoring some points is good.”

Jose Rodriguez was a double winner for the Nitros in the high jump (5-8) and triple jump (38-6).

Roderick Haro won the shot put with a throw of 36-7 and Matt Bogartz cleared a height of 8-6 to take first place in the pole vault.

“This is the most wins we’ve had in any one meet,” Bailey said. “They competed well and that’s good to see.”