SPORTS ROUNDUP: St. Francis, Crescenta Valley enjoy fine showings at Mt. SAC
BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD
Crescenta Valley, St. Francis at Mt. SAC Relays: Golden Knights’ senior Caleb Simmeth merited the highest local finish in taking third in the seeded 300-meter hurdles in a time of 39.57 seconds on Saturday afternoon.
Smith finished behind race-winner Justin Collins (38.37) with a runner-up 39.41. Smith was an alternate for the 110 hurdles, but was not selected.
Teammate Eric Knowles finished 11th (43-04) in the seeded triple jump at the Mt. SAC Relays.
As for Crescenta Valley, the Falcons turned in a strong effort in the invitational distance medley, taking eighth in a time of 10 minutes, 21.75 seconds, which was a big jump from the team’s third-place effort of 10:35.29.
“This will be one of the last times we’ll be able to run this race, so we wanted to run our best,” Falcons first leg Nick Beatty said.
Beatty, who ran the 1,200-meter opening leg, was followed by Alex Damla (400), Matt Manalo (800) and Gabe Collison (1, 600).
The quartet is inching closer to the school record of 10:13.
The Falcons 4x1,600-meter relay team of Beatty, Aaron Esparza, Manalo and Collison set a school record en route to a fifth-place finish Friday.
The group’s time of 17:34.33 was also 40 seconds better than what they ran at the Arcadia Invitational two weeks earlier. It snapped a school record from 1976 by 10 seconds (17:43).
All four runners turned in lifetime bests in their respective 1,600s. Beatty ran an opening leg of 4:24, Esparza turned in a 4:25, Manalo a 4:23 and Collison anchored with a 4:21.
Flintridge Prep at Prep League meet: The Rebels compiled 86.5 points to top Webb (65.5), Pasadena Poly (61) and Chadwick (35) Thursday at Webb.
Alan Yoho won the 800- and 3,200-meter runs in 2 minutes, 3 seconds and 9:59.41, respectively, for Prep, which also won the 4x100 relay in 45.30.
The Rebels also took the top three spots in the pole vault. Twin brothers Gareth (12 feet, 6 inches) and Barrett Weiss (11-6) went one and two, respectively, and Jonathan Wang took third (11 feet). Also in the field, West Nowotny won the shot put (50-7.5) and discus (118-5) and Stefan Smith won the long jump (19-6.5).
Aaron Sugimoto had a pair of runner-up finishes in the 1,600 (4:40.89) and 3,200 (10:12.40).
GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD
Crescenta Valley, Flintridge Sacred Heart at Mt. SAC Relays: Like the boys, the Crescenta Valley distance medley team took eighth in the invitational event Saturday afternoon.
Hannah Ruby ran the opening 1,200-meter leg and was followed by Kayleigh Carrillo (400), Megan Melnyk (800) and Rebecca Mencia (1,600). The quartet combined for a mark of 12 minutes, 31.79 seconds.
“Today was just about having fun,” Carrillo said. “Just about every other race from now on is league prelims, or finals or something important. Today wasn’t about pressure or times, but about having fun.”
Falcons junior Emily Beglarian finished ninth in the open high jump with a mark of 4 feet, 10 inches.
Flintridge Sacred Heart’s Madzie MacVaugh and Crescenta Valley’s Emmie Walker competed against each other in a 13-girl field in the seeded high jump.
Walker produced the best local finish, taking ninth in 5 feet, just a little ahead of the 4-10 distance for MacVaugh, which nabbed her 12th.
The Falcons 4x1,600-meter relay team of Melnyk, Haley Witzeman, Mencia and Ruby turned in a seventh-place finish with a time of 21:31.23 Friday.
Flintridge Prep at Prep League meet: The Rebels finished runner-up at Webb on Thursday with 107 points, 50 points behind first-place Pasadena Poly.
Miah Webb won the 100- and 200-meter dash in 12.66 seconds and 26.78, respectively, for Prep. Nicole Emmons also won the high jump with a mark of four feet six inches.
Sabrina Goodman supplied the Rebels with a pair of runner-up finishes in the long (15 feet and a half inch) and triple jump (31-2). Flintridge Prep’s 4x400 relay team also took second in 4:20.92.
Lacy Coan was responsible for a second- and third-place times in the 1,600 (5:35.25) and 800 (2:32.18), respectively. Cassie Redding was also just edged by first-place Brooke Edwards of Pasadena Poly (51.08) in the 300 hurdles (51.13).