High School Roundup: Laguna girls fifth at CIF track meet
The Laguna Beach High track and field program competed last Saturday at the CIF Track and Field Championships Finals Division 4 meet at Cerritos College in Norwalk.
The girls’ team earned a top-five placement and the Breakers’ Coco Putnam earned a spot in Friday’s CIF Masters Meet. The Laguna boys were 41st in their division.
The Laguna girls scored 31 points in the final team standings. Westlake Village Oaks Christian (131 points) won the Division 4 title. Inglewood St. Mary’s Academy (44) took second, Los Angeles Marlborough (40) was third, and Gardena Serra (37) was fourth.
Putnam took fifth place (57.90 seconds) in the 400-meter dash and finished second (43.52) in the 300 hurdles. She qualified for the CIF Masters Meet at Cerritos College in the 300 hurdles, her time at last Saturday’s finals ranking among the top-20 fastest times all-time for the event in Orange County, Coach Steve Lalim said.
Both finals times were personal-best times for the junior.
Other individual finishes for the Laguna girls’ at Saturday’s finals included freshman Grace LaMontagne fifth (5:14.87) and junior Pearl Shoemaker eighth (5:17.39) in the 1,600-meter run, senior Janie Crawford eighth (2:24.07) and LaMontagne ninth (2:24.77) in the 800-meter run, juniors Jackie Cenan (38-feet-2 3/4) fourth and Kendall House (36-2.0) seventh in the shot put, and Cenan was eighth (103-03) in the discus.
The Laguna’s 4 x 400 relay of Crawford, Putnam, sophomore Regan Caraher and senior Amy Hewlett, finished fourth (3:59.85).
“I thought the girls were outstanding all season, and topped it off with another great performance at CIF finals,” Lalim said. “These girls worked incredibly hard all season. It’s nice to see the hard work pay off. I’m very proud of the girls.”
In the boys’ Division 1 competition, Laguna senior Callan Cochran was seventh (10.99) in the 100-meter dash. A day earlier, Cochran doubled twice, singled and had 3 RBIs in Laguna’s CIF-SS Division 4 baseball playoff first-round victory May 22. Three days after Saturday’s track and field finals, he walked and had an RBI in a second-round playoff loss Tuesday.
Laguna had two points in the boys’ team standings. The Division 4 champion was Nordhoff (53 points).
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Boys’ Volleyball
The Breakers, who reached the semifinal round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs, were given a bid Sunday for the CIF Boys’ Volleyball Regional Championships. The Breakers opened play Tuesday hosting Long Beach Rancho Dominguez in the Southern California Regional Division III tournament.
Laguna, the No. 2-seed in the tournament, swept the seventh-seeded Lobos, 25-17, 25-11, 25-16, at Dugger Gym. Sophomore outside hitter Pete Obradovich (six digs) and senior middle blocker Ben Jones (five digs) had nine kills apiece, sophomore defensive specialist Cole Paxson had 17 digs, and junior setter Isaac Wulff 17 assists for the Breakers.
Laguna, which improved to 20-9, advanced to host No. 3-seed San Diego Parker which swept No. 6-seeded Flintridge Prep, 25-18, 25-22, 25-23, in another first-round game Tuesday. The score from the Parker-Laguna match wasn’t available at press time.
Rancho Dominguez finished the year 15-3.
Thursday’s other regional Division III semifinal pitted top-seeded Saddleback Valley Christian against No. 4-seeded St. Margaret’s. Saddleback Valley Christian defeated St. Margaret’s in three sets last Saturday in the CIF-SS Division 4 championship match to win its third consecutive section title.
The winners of Thursday’s semifinal games advance to play for the Southern California Regional Division III championship at 3 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos College in Norwalk.
Laguna defeated Saddleback Valley Christian in last year’s CIF Southern California Regional Division III title match.
Laguna’s CIF-SS Division 2 playoff run was halted by Oak Park, which defeated the Breakers in the semifinals round May 20. Three days later, the Eagles went on to win the division title by defeating Valencia in three sets last Saturday at Cerritos College.
Oak Park is competing in the Southern California Regional Division II tournament and is the No. 2 seed. The Eagles won their opener Tuesday by sweeping No. 7-seeded Los Angeles Taft.
The top seed in the Division II regional is Corona del Mar. The Sea Kings, who lost in five sets last Saturday to Huntington Beach in the CIF-SS Division 1 title match, swept La Verne Damien in a regional opener Tuesday.
Huntington is the top-seed in the Division 1 regional. The Oilers, winners of 102 consecutive matches through Wednesday, swept No. 8-seeded Los Angeles Palisades in a first-round match Tuesday. They have won the Division 1 regional title the previous two years.
Twitter: @MikeSciacca