Reporting from La Crescenta — Facing Burbank High, the Crescenta Valley boys’ and girls’ track teams were looking to stay undefeated in the Pacific League when the teams met Thursday afternoon.
On the boys’ side, the Falcons suffered their first loss as the Bulldogs received three victories from Vedavit Shetty to post a 78-60 victory at Crescenta Valley.
On the girls’ side, the Falcons stayed unbeaten, although they didn’t pick up a win. The Crescenta Valley 4x400-meter relay team captured the last race of the meet to finish in a rare 68-68 tie with Burbank.
“I’ve been involved in a couple of ties before, but they are really rare,” Burbank Coach Darin Wolf said.
Crescenta Valley Coach Mark Evans said he can’t recall ever having one of his teams tie a meet.
Vedavit Shetty leans into the finish line in first place as the anchor leg of the 4x400 in a Pacific League track meet against Crescenta Valley at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Burbank’s Haleigh Cusumano lands in the pit at 16 feet, 7 inches in the long jump in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Dipping their heads at the finish, nearly in a tie, Burbank’s Haleigh Cusumano just edges out and Crescenta Valley’s Clair Schlueter to win the 100 in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Burbank’s Byron Hopson leans forward to win the 100 just ahead of Crescenta Valley’s Nick Trolongo and Jaedin Springfield in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Crescenta Valley’s Aidan Foote clears 12 feet to win the pole vault against Burbank in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Burbank’s Haleigh Cusumano clears 4 feet 10 inches to win the high jump against Crescenta Valley in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Burbank’s Kira Bochard, after making up a lot of distance, grimmaces as she tries to catch Crescenta Valley’s Kristina Carrillo in the 4x400 in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. Crescenta Valley won the race. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Burbank’s Sergio Aguilar clears the second to last high hurdle to finish in first place ahead of Crescenta Valley in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Burbank’s Haleigh Cusumano hangs in the air in the long jump, jumping 16 feet, 7 inches, in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Burbank’s Haleigh Cusumano and Crescenta Valley’s Clair Schlueter in the 100 in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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The start of the girls 800 between Crescena Valley and Burbank in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Burbank’s Haleigh Cusumano, after clearing 4 feet 10 inches in the high jump to win, hops off of the matt grimmacing with knee pain in a Pacific League track meet against Crescenta Valley at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Crescenta Valley’s Kristina Carrillo comes to the finish in first place in the 4x400 in a Pacific League track meet against Crescenta Valley at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Trailing at the handoff, Burbank’s Kira Bochard takes the baton to run the anchor leg of the 4x400 in a Pacific League track meet against Crescenta Valley at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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The Crescenta Valley and Burbank second leg of the 4x400 hands off to the third leg in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. Burbank won the race. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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The start of the boys 1600 in a Pacific League track meet between Burbank and Crescenta Valley at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Burbank’s Kira Bochard at the start of the 400 in a Pacific League track meet against Crescenta Valley at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Crescenta Valley’s Zachary Johnson comes to the finish in first place in the 1600 in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Burbank’s Vedavit Shetty strides to the finish in first place in the 400 in a Pacific League track meet against Crescenta Valley at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Kira Bochard runs to the finish in first place in the 300 hurdles against Burbank in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Crescenta Valley freshman high jumper Eileen Walker gets tips from her sister Emmy Walker who is an Azusa Pacific University freshman between jumps in the high jump against Burbank in a Pacific League track meet at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. Walker finished in second place. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Burbank’s Gabby Collins runs to the finish in first place in the 3200 in a Pacific League track meet against Crescenta Valley at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, April 13, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
The Falcons boys’ team (5-1 in league) competed without the services of decorated distance runner Colin FitzGerald, the reigning All-Area Boys’ Cross-Country Runner of the Year, who was rested because he is taking part in a meet at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on Friday.
Pacing the Bulldogs (5-1) was Shetty, who ran to a win the the 400 in 52.8 seconds and also won the triple jump with a mark of 43 feet, 11 inches and the long jump with a 20-5 ½ effort.
“I looked at some of the past marks for CV and they were alright, but I thought that we could possibly get the win,” Shetty said. “It looked like we could win it, but we just didn’t want to get too overconfident and not give it our best.
“There were things that we messed up with in our only loss to Arcadia and we knew we had to fix those mistakes today. … I’m really proud of how we did today.”
Burbank also received two wins from Byron Hopson, who won the 100 (11.1) and the 200 (22.71). Other Bulldogs winners were Sergio Aguilar in the 100 hurdles (15.8), Nathan Emann in the 300 hurdles (45.2), Aiden Bailey in the shot put (36-7) and Alan Hovanesian in the discus (132-10 3/4).
Winners for the Falcons were Dylan Wilber in the 800 (2:02.8), Zach Johnson in the 1,600 (4:30.8), Artin Allahverdian in the 3,200 (9:53.6), Roy Choe in the high jump (6-0) and Aidan Foote in the pole vault (12-0).
On the girls’ side, the Falcons (5-0-1) were able to salvage the tie with the Bulldogs (5-1-1) by taking the final relay in 4:20.6. Justena Galvan, Izzy Liberman and Ly Nelson provided a sizable lead for Kristina Carrillo on the anchor leg. Carrillo held off a late push from Burbank anchor Kira Bochard to win the race.
Crescenta Valley was aided by a duo of double winners as Naila Ortiz took the 800 (2:27.5) and the 1,600 (5:35.6) and Claire Schlueter was first in the long jump (17-12) and the triple jump (34-2).
“I think I was just ready to race today,” Ortiz said. “I used to struggle a lot and I would psych myself out a lot before races, so this track season I’ve just learned to calm down, trust in my training and just know that I’m prepared to race.”
Also finishing first for Crescenta Valley was Jen Saengsri in the 200 (26.4).
Burbank received a strong effort from Haleigh Cusumano, who was a triple winner, taking the 100 (12.3), 100 hurdles (14.6) and high jump (5-0).
“It was tough for me today because my knee was giving me problems and I could really feel it,” Cusumano said. “I knew I had to go out there and give it my best effort even though I was hurting.”
Bochard was a double winner for Burbank in the 400 (1:01.1) and the 300 hurdles (46.8), as was Clara Bishop in the shot put (32-0) and the discus (91-5 1/2). Also getting wins were Gaby Collins in the 3,200 (12:03.1) and Mikaela Teixeria in the pole vault (10-0).
Jeff Tully was a sports writer for Times Community News: the Burbank Leader, Glendale News-Press and the La Cañada Valley Sun. He has more than two decades of experience as a sports journalist.
