Flintridge Prep’s Weiss, St. Francis’ Foster win CIF Southern Section track and field titles

NORWALK — While the CIF Southern Section Track and Field Championships proved once again unkind to the majority of area athletes, there were a few one-of-a-kind efforts that led the way.

The Flintridge Prep duo of Gareth and Barrett Weiss once again proved their mastery, while St. Francis High junior Jasher Foster enjoyed quite a coming out party at Cerritos College on Saturday in a competition that also included Crescenta Valley, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and La Cañada.

In the end, both Foster and Gareth won CIF championships, while Gareth’s twin brother Barrett joined them in moving on to the Masters Meet.

PHOTOS: CIF Southern Section Track and Field Championships

History was en vogue for the Division IV boys’ pole vault where senior brothers Gareth and Barrett Weiss turned the competition into strictly a family affair.

They changed positions atop the leader board four times before, somewhat amazingly, Gareth tied twin brother Barrett with a leap of 15 feet, 6 inches, which secured Gareth the win due to fewer faults.

The victory marked the third Division IV championship for Gareth in his prep career as the senior also tied Barrett in his freshman and junior years with marks of 12-9 and 14-9 in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

Both brothers also took a crack at 16 feet to no avail.

“It’s been really fun, this journey,” said Gareth, who had previously attempted 16 feet at the Prep League finals. “It’s been super exciting. We never know how high we can go. We just go as high as we can and keep on getting better.”

The sibling rivalry will continue into next week as both earned advancement to the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet back at Cerritos College on Friday as the section’s top two seeds.

“It’s amazing to get this height,” Barrett said. “Every time you try to get better and it’s great to see the end result of that.”

It was a slight upset that left St. Francis’ Foster elated.

The two-sport athlete entered the 110-meter hurdles seeded second, but captured a division championship and Masters berth when he won the event in a personal-best time of 14.30 seconds.

Foster had a solid lead, but stumbled late and just held off Cathedral City’s Orlando Wallace, who was second in 14.31.

“It feels great,” Foster said. “It feels really good. I had really good competition.”

Foster, who was an All-Area and All-Mission League wide receiver, had turned in a previous personal-best of 14.50.

“My goals [were] to get strong over the first couple of hurdles,” Foster said, “and then just maintain that, work on my technique and finish strong.”

Later in the afternoon, Foster placed seventh in the 300 hurdles in 39.86 and missed qualifying to Masters as he was 24th overall.

The trio of the Weisses and Foster were the area’s only Masters Meet qualifiers.

Crescenta Valley senior Megan Melnyk will not make a repeat trip to the Masters Meet.

The long-distance runner finished seventh in the Division I 800-meter run with a mark of 2:14.04, which translated to 17th overall and five spots outside of a qualifying position.

Even so, Melnyk was grateful at the end.

“I could have [run] a better race, but honestly, I just thank God for the opportunity to have made it here,” said Melnyk, who pulled out earlier of the 1,600-meter run. “How can I be upset? It’s an honor to represent my school and my league.”

On top of the efforts of the Weiss brothers, the Flintridge Prep boys captured fourth place in Division IV with 31 points.

Flintridge Prep junior Jack Van Scoter fell as far back as fourth halfway through the Division IV 1,600-meter run before rallying into third in the third lap and second at the finish line in a time of 4:17.04.

Van Scoter missed a top-12 post needed for Masters as he was 16th overall.

Teammate Nikhil Poole, who entered as an alternate, took ninth in the 1,600 in 4:29.59.

Van Scoter was also fifth in the Division IV 3,200 run in the 9:27.89, which was good for 26th overall.

St. Francis senior Ross Niederhaus called it a season in the 400-meter dash as the sprinter placed seventh in the Division III event in 48.99. Overall, Niederhaus was 15th and missed advancing to Masters.

As a team, St. Francis finished tied for 14th with Lompoc Cabrillo with 14 points.

Crescenta Valley senior Emmie Walker took on a loaded field in the Division I girls’ high jump and placed seventh with a mark of 5-3. Walker was 19th overall.

Crescenta Valley senior Sammie Phinney took eighth place in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.23 in her first-ever division finals appearance. Phinney finished 27th overall.

Flintridge Sacred Heart, which entered with aspiration of placing in the top five in Division IV, finished seventh with 24 points.

Senior Kayla Grahn helped pace the Tologs by taking the silver in the 3,200-meter run in a mark of 10:35.30 in a race in which Flintridge Prep’s Natalie O’Brien was fourth in 11:30.20.

Grahn missed the Masters cut, placing 19th while O’Brien was 31st.

Flintridge Sacred Heart sophomore Sophia Saldivar earned her squad five points by placing fourth in the Division IV 800-meter run in a time of 2:18.98. Saldivar was 25th overall.

The Tologs’ 400-meter relay squad of Olivia Mathews, Kayla Montgomery, Nia Harris and Bobbie Byrne capped the season by placing fifth in the Division IV competition in 50.15, just a shade under the team’s season-best mark of 50.10.

From that squad, Byrne and Montgomery also competed in the Division IV 400-meter run and placed sixth (58.96) and ninth (59.54), respectively. Byrne was 27th, while Montgomery was 32nd overall.

The Tologs’ 4x400 relay squad also placed fifth in Division IV in 4:00.08 and was 29th overall.

La Cañada High junior Katherine Sheehy concluded her year by placing eighth in the Division III high jump with a leap of 4 feet, 11 inches.

Sheehy entered with a seeded mark of 5 feet and faulted on her first two attempts at 4-11 before nailing her final try. She then missed on three tries at 5-1.