Falcons return to form in league meet
BURBANK — There have been a number of close calls for the Crescenta Valley High boys’ and girls’ track and field teams this season.
That wasn’t the case Wednesday for the Falcons in a Pacific League tri-meet with Hoover and host Burroughs, as both CV squads picked up commanding sweeps.
“We’ve got some kids who are healthy who maybe haven’t been yet this year so they’re starting to feel better and race a lot better,” Crescenta Valley Coach Mark Evans said. “I think we’re coming around, the training is paying off and we’re starting to peak when we want to.”
Crescenta Valley’s boys dominated all five field events — thanks to wins from Parker Averill in the shot put with a mark of 36 feet 11.5 inches and discus at 110-6 — en route to a 109-31 victory over the Indians (2-3) and a 125-14 win over the Tornadoes.
Tyler Bradshaw also delivered wins in the pole vault (12) and triple jump (39-10.25) for the Falcons, who also won the high jump thanks to Tommy Hwang (5-8) and had Michael Duncan and Justin Springfield share the long jump title with identical marks of 18-7.
“We’ve really got a lot of definition down in our field events,” said Averill, who also won the 400-meter race in 53.31 seconds. “We’ve built up our jumps, shots and throws and we’ve just really improved in all the field events overall.”
Josh Straschewski won the 100 high (15) and 300 low hurdles (41.31) for CV (4-0-1 in league), which also dominated the sprints as James Maturan took the 100 (11.44) and Springfield nabbed the 200 (22.75).
Maturan, Han Lim, Hayden O’Burke and Adam Akopyan also teamed up to take first in the 400-meter relay in 44.91. Matt Williams, Springfield, Nick Beatty and Alex Dalma took the 1,600 relay in 3:30.40.
On the girls’ side, the Falcons (3-2) had multiple winners in Claudia Sepulveda, Cali King and Cayleigh Carrillo, as the trio led CV to a 94-41 win over Burroughs (2-3) and a 118-12 victory over Hoover.
“I thought we ran really well today,” Evans said. “It’s the opening meet on [Burroughs’] new track and I was really pleased with how we competed and how we ran. This is a good fast track and I think the kids liked it.”
King raced away with the 800 (2:29) and 1,600 (5:25), Carrillo took the 100 (12.37) and 200 (25.94) and Sepulveda won the 100 high (16.63) and 300 low hurdles (49.19).
Carrillo and Sepulveda teamed with Noel Wong and Emmie Walker for a victory in the 400 relay (50.38). Carrillo, King, Walker and Courtney Iannello won the 1,600 relay (4:11.44).
The Falcons got their remaining wins from Emily Beglarian in the high jump (5), Iannello in the 400 (1:02.37) and Haley Witzeman and Brooke Moulrie shared the 3,200 with identical times of 12:19.
Both Tornadoes squads fell to 0-5 in league, as the boys fell to Burroughs, 88-46, and the girls lost to the Indians, 107-24.
“Our goal is always to approach it on an individual basis,” Hoover Coach Jack Sallakian said. “We can’t compete at the level [of Burroughs and CV] does, we just don’t have the numbers to fill everything out. We had a lot of personal records today and they improve almost on a weekly basis and that’s what we look for.”
The Tornadoes didn’t have any winners Wednesday, but Leo Rodriguez and Jeremy Zadoorian took second — Hoover’s best finish of the day — in the discus (103-7.5) and high jump (5-6), respectively.
Travelle Smith and Brendon Kerr tied for third in the shot put (35-1.5) and Anna Rubino took third in the pole vault for Hoover.