Crescenta Valley, Glendale, Hoover advance many out of Pacific League track and field prelims

While eight schools will at least send one representative to next week’s Pacific League track and field finals at Arcadia High, at least locally, the biggest contingent will hail from Crescenta Valley High.

That’s because the Falcons qualified 30 of the total 44 local competitors out of Friday’s preliminaries held at Arcadia High.

Overall, 16 qualifying positions were taken by Crescenta Valley girls, including five entrants in two events.

Sophomore Megan Melnyk may represent the Falcons’ best chance at taking home two events as the long-distance runner advanced in both the 1,600-meter run (second, 5 minutes 22.82 seconds) and in the 800 (first, 2:22.95).

Senior Hannah Ruby will join Melnyk in both events as Ruby was first in the 1,600 (5:21.57) and sixth in the 800 (sixth, 2:30.85).

Junior Sarah Lapides will also go in the 100 hurdles (third, 17.60) and 300 hurdles (fourth, 50.08), while sophomore Emmie Walker is slated for the 400 (fourth, 1:00.03) and 200 (eighth, 27.48) as is junior Kayleigh Carrillo, who was first in the 400 (57.26) and second in the 200 (26.13).

Other single qualifiers include sophomore Haley Witzeman in the 1,600 (sixth, 5:43.10), sophomore Courtney Iannello in the 400 (seventh, 1:02.27), senior Jenna Schroeder in the 100 hurdles (eighth, 19.18) and three ninth-place finishers in junior Cassandra Huezo in the 100 hurdles (19.35), senior Noel Wong in the 100 (13.75) and senior Cali King in the 800 (ninth, 2:31.75).

On the boys’ side, a trio of Falcons is doubling in the 1,600 and 800 races, led by junior Gabe Collison, who was third in the 1,600 (4:23.34) and eighth in the 800 (2:02.29). Junior Matt Manalo is also doubling in both the 1,600 (fifth, 4:29.89) and 800 (fifth, 2:00.96) as well, while junior Nick Beatty, who was sixth in the 1,600 (4:31.98) and second in the 800 (1:59.14).

Senior Davit Shahamanyan advanced in both the 110 hurdles (sixth, 16.54) and 300 hurdles (fifth, 41.86), while freshman Hye Kwang Kim will also try his luck in two events in the 100 (sixth, 11.88) and the 200 (seventh, 23.93).

Single competitors include senior Alex Damla in the 400 (sixth, 53.33), junior Kyler Chin in the 110 hurdles (seventh, 17.47), senior Aaron Esparza in the 1,600 (eighth, 4:36.93) and junior Christ Ordookhanian in the 200 (eighth, 24.00).

While Glendale is unable to boast an equal number of qualifiers versus Crescenta Valley, the Nitros have a couple of star competitors in seniors Michael Davis and Tristan Pacba.

The BYU-bound Davis posted both the fastest marks in the 100 (10.97) and 200 (21.81), while Pacba was the league’s leading 110-meter hurdler (15.79) and was third in the 300 hurdles (41.80).

Sophomore Daniel Jung (eighth, 12.02) will join Davis in the 100, while senior Frankie Castro will flank Pacba in the 300 hurdles (ninth, 43.41).

On the girls’ side, Glendale earned four spots for senior Lauren Hansen in the 800 (fifth, 2:30.35), junior Kenya Gaskin in the 100-meter dash (sixth, 13.62), junior Cecile Le Duff in the 300 hurdles (seventh, 52.14) and senior Fabiola Naranjo in the 1,600 (10th, 5:52.80).

Hoover’s Jeremy Zadoorian is one of three Tornadoes who qualified in four overall events as the senior earned advancement in both the 400-meter run (fourth, 52.13) and 800 (sixth, 2:01.44), while fellow senior Kenny Trejo also punched his ticket in the 1,600 (fourth, 4:28.67).

On the girls’ side, junior Lucik Minassian was her squad’s lone qualifier, taking seventh in the 1,600 (5:43.39).