By Lilian Nguyen
The Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) co-ed track and field competed against Crean Lutheran High School (CLHS) on Saturday, Feb. 23. Although the meet was not scored since it was during the preseason, FVHS still beat CLHS in almost every event in all three levels for both boys and girls.
Boys
The meet began with the varsity boys’ 4×100-meter relays, with the team running a time of 52.24, going uncontested as CLHS fielded no team in this event. Next up was the boys’ 100-meter dash. The boys had strong sprinters, as seniors Jonathan Yu and Matthew Malone finished their races first and second with respective times of 11.30 and 11.50. The Barons gained another first-through third-place sweep as seniors Malone, Owen Tomko and Luke Crossby won with respective times of 23.59, 24.62 and 24.78.
In the long-distance events, the boys’ varsity swept their competition with senior Benjamin Prado running a 4:38.04 in the 1600 meter run and placing first, followed by junior Diego Alonso at 4:39.95 and senior Luke Dias at 4:46.44.
In the 800-meter run, senior Luke Dias dominated the competition, running a 2:07.65, placing first. Dias was followed by senior Brandon Bivens, running a 2:10.92 and junior Bernardo Enriquez at 2:11.55.
For the boys’ hurdlers, Yu won the 110-meter hurdle at a time of 16.01, along with senior Zuri Sherry right behind his heels, finishing with a time of 17.86.
On the other hand, field events also finished strong, with Tomko placing first and jumping 19’05” in the long jump, followed by junior Gavin Wang with 19′ 04″. For the triple jump, Yu dominated this event, jumping 41’ 11”.
Seniors Matthew Mena, Andrew Johnson and Omar El Najim took first, second and third in the varsity boys’ discus, throwing 109 ’10”, 109’ and 99’, respectively. These three also took first to third in the shot put, once again beating the CLHS throwers.
Girls
On the girls’ side, the varsity 4×100-meter relay team beat CLHS with a time of 51.19. Senior Aubri Le took first place for the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.86. For the 400-meter dash, juniors Kayla Knoob and Tala Dawood took first and second with a time of 1:03.21 and 1:07.64, respectively.
In the long-distance events, FVHS placed first and second in the mile, with junior Aya Roque running 5:43.04, followed by senior Evelyn To running 5:45.35. FVHS girls’ 800-meter runners were uncontested in their event, with only Roque and sophomore Angelina Nguyen running with respective times of 2:39.66 and 2:52.86.
For the girls 100-meter hurdles, FVHS swept once again as they took first and second place, with senior Laney Wang taking first with a time of 16.91. Following close behind was junior Thyan Tran, with a time of 17.83.
Similarly, field events for the girls also finished strong, with FVHS girls taking first, second and third in the long jump. Wang jumped 15’ 08”, taking first place. Followed by her was Thyan Tran jumping 15’ 00” and third place was senior Katelyn Truong jumping 14’ 09”.
Sophomore Jamie Ho set a personal record in the high jump, taking first with an astounding 4’ 08” as well as in triple jump with a mark of 33’ 09”. In the triple jump, Ho was followed by Truong with a mark of 32’ 03” and Wang who jumped 31’ 05”.
The highlight of the meet, however, was junior Isabella Abrahams who beat FVHS’s school record for pole vault. Standing since 2007, the previous record holder vaulted 11’ 2”, but Abrahams vaulted an exciting 11’ 6”.
Junior Madison Dinh also took first in the girls’ shot put with a mark of 28’ 10” as well as in discus, throwing 78’ 04”.
FVHS’s next home meet will be against Los Alamitos High School on Mar. 22.
