Glendale girls best CV
SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — Both the Glendale and Crescenta Valley high track and field teams walked away from Thursday’s tri-Pacific League meet, which included Pasadena, unsure who came out on top as officials camped out more than a hour afterward computing the final results.
The Nitros girls pulled off a 70-66 victory to improve to 3-1 in league and pull off Glendale’s first win against CV in Glendale Coach Bob Bailey’s 18-year career.
“This is my first win ever against CV, I’ll take them when I can get them,” Bailey chuckled. “This is the closest the guys have been [to beating the Falcons] in a long time.”
The Falcons ended up coming out on top on the boys side, 69-67, but would have won either way as Bailey was forced to forfeit against Pasadena and Crescenta Valley on the boys side after an ineligible player ran.
The narrow finish on both sides didn’t surprise Falcons Coach Mark Evans.
“Glendale is a good team and we knew that,” Evans said. “There were some areas we could have done better, but they’re a good team that has improved a lot since last year.”
Glendale’s Sophia Amodia delivered on the girls side, winning both of her individual events, the 100 high and 300 low hurdles in 15.90 and 46.95 seconds, respectively.
“Sophia was concerned earlier in the week because we couldn’t get her hurdle step right, but it didn’t show today,” Bailey said. “I think we straightened everything up and she was fluid in both hurdle events.”
Amodia said Thursday was just another step to her ultimate goal this season, a CIF State championship.
“I am definitely excited,” Amodia said. “This is just the beginning for me because I already know what’s going to happen at league, I am confident in league, but I definitely want to move forward and try to win state.”
The Nitros didn’t get an easy win, though, as Cayleigh Carrillo kept Crescenta Valley (1-2) in the mix by grabbing wins in the 200 (26.27), 400 (1:00.02) and 400 relay (51.17) with Claudia Sepulveda, Emmy Walker and Noel Wong.
Carrillo’s biggest contribution came in the 1,600 relay as she ran the anchor leg and made up significant ground to steal the victory away from the Nitros.
“As I was running I saw the distance closing and I knew I had a chance to catch her,” Carrillo said. “Everybody was screaming and I couldn’t let anybody down so I just went all out the last 100.”
The Falcons got their remaining wins from Emily Beglarian in the high jump (five feet).
Glendale also got a pair of wins from Leana Setian in the 1,600 (5:20.70) and 3,200 (11:45.10) and Natalie Queally in the long (15) and triple jump (33-9).
The Nitros also got wins in the 100 from Kenya Gaskin (12.88), 800 from Lauren Hansen (2:30.65), the shot put from Lucine Garibian (24-9), pole vault from Jessica Kim (seven) and discus from Mariquita Lopez (77-4).
The Falcons boys (2-0-1 in league) struggled on the track, winning just three races, but made up ground in the field, winning four of the six events.
“We are getting a lot better in our field events and that really helped us, especially on the guys side,” Evans said. “We are getting better every week, we just have to keep working.”
CV’s Tommy Hwang took home the high jump with a mark of 5-10, Justin Springfield captured the long jump in his first-ever appearance in the event with a mark of 19-1, Tyler Bradshaw won the pole vault (12-6) and Averill Parker took home the discus (122-2).
The Falcons got wins on the track thanks to Josh Carlos in the 1,600 (4:32.39), Matthew Williams in the 800 (2:01.83) and Gabe Collison in the 3,200 (10:03.90).
The Nitros got an impressive day from their standout sprinter Michael Davis, who won three races to keep Glendale in the thick of it.
Davis started the day off with a victory in the 400-meter relay with Jeffrey Massin, Carlos Navarro and Tristan Pacba with a time of 44.02. He went on to win the 100 in 10.54 and 200 in 22.03.
“I felt pretty good today, I just got to keep running,” said Davis, who is determined to repeat as league champ in the 100 and 200 this season. “It’s important to show people I can still win even with the new competition.”
Pacba secured a pair of first-place finishes in the 100 high and 300 low hurdles for the Nitros with times of 16.45 and 43.84, respectively.
Glendale got its final win from Bobby Casabury in the triple jump (40-3).
Both Falcons and Nitros teams defeated Pasadena, but no scores were available.