Glendale High track and field dominates Hoover to keep Bronze Bowl

GLENDALE — Haykaz Melkonyan might have hit a low earlier in the season while competing in the discus.

The junior member of the Glendale High boys’ track and field team made some corrections with his technique, leading to him reaching his zenith moment Wednesday afternoon during a Pacific League home meet against crosstown rival Hoover at Moyse Field.

Melkonyan set a school record in the event with a mark of 145 feet to lead Glendale to a 78-49 victory. Glendale’s girls’ team picked up a 115-20 victory against Hoover to help the Nitros retain possession of the Bronze Bowl — given to the school with the most total points at the Hoover-Glendale meet — with a 193-69 win. The Nitros improved to 16-0 in the history of the bowl.

PHOTOS: Glendale Nitros retain Bronze Bowl against Hoover

Melkonyan eclipsed the previous best mark of 143-9, set by Vladimir Paniouchkine in 2003 in the Pacific League finals at Arcadia High.

In March, Melkonyan fouled in all four attempts during the Burbank Invitational. He assessed his performance and quickly made some adjustments before shining Wednesday.

“You just try to stay positive about your ability to do well,” said Melkonyan, who set the mark on his third attempt. “I had been working on some different things and it’s a cool thing to be able to accomplish in setting the school record.

“I felt amazing when I set the mark. It’s definitely something that can boost my confidence heading into the league final.”

Glendale Coach Bob Bailey said Melkonyan, who also captured the shot put in 44-8, has made significant progress since the Burbank Invitational.

“He’s been working his butt off and you can see how he’s improved,” Bailey said. “With every meet, he’s just continued to get better.

“It’s funny how he goes from fouling four times in that invitational to setting a school record later on.”

Elsewhere in the boys’ meet, Glendale received two first-place finishes from Julian Kim. Kim captured the 110-high hurdles in 19.2 seconds and the 300 hurdles (43.8). The Nitros also got first-place efforts from Liam Spires in the 1,600 (4:42), Kuba Nogalski in the 800 (2:08)), Paulo Vazquez in the 3,200 (10:52) and Wade King in the 400 (52.7). Glendale’s 4x100 relay team won in 46.3 and the 4x400 relay team clocked 3:37 for a victory.

Hoover got a pair of victories from Pierre Dimidjian in the long jump (20-1) and high jump (5-4). The Tornadoes also got first-place performances from Ryan Chereque in the 100 (11.5), Shawn Onyedumekwu in the 200 (24.2) and Aram Dovlatyan in the triple jump (38-5).

In the girls’ competition, Glendale received a big effort from Margo Faustino, who captured three events. Faustino won the 100 hurdles in 18 seconds before taking the long jump (16-3 and triple jump (29-1). For good measure, Faustino worked with Diane Castillo, Dana Castillo and Natalie Bastgian to win the 4x100 relay (53.5).

The Nitros also got two first-place finishes from Diane Castillo in the 100 (no time available) and 200 (28.3) and Nataly Vardaryan in the shot put (30-5 1/2) and discus (91-9). Also, Glendale got first-place performances from Jasmine Clark in the 400 (66.1), Leana Setian in the 800 (2:33), Angela Pogossian in the 300 hurdles (54.5) and Gabriel Muguia in the pole vault (6-6). Glendale’s 4x400 relay team of Clark, Setian, Faustino and Nona Boyajyan won in 4:39.

“We have a lot of good athletes out on the girls’ team,” Bailey said. “The Castillos are just freshmen and it’s great to see them go out there motivated all the time.”

Hoover received fine efforts from Megan Mirkhanian, who won the 1,600 (5:28) and 3,200 (12:20). Hoover also saw Mikaella Reamico take first in the high jump at 4-2.

Hoover Coach Jack Sallakian said the Tornadoes have some positive efforts to build on heading into the league prelims May 1 at Arcadia.

“You look at somebody like Megan and she’s definitely come a very long way to get to where she’s at now,” Sallakian said. “It’s all about her strength, maturation and confidence all coming together at the same time.

“We went out there on both sides and won the events we wanted to win. It’s about numbers right now because we had some events where we didn’t have any participants. Those are some automatic points that we lost.”