NEWS AND NOTES FROM PRESS ROW : Valley Christian to be well represented in divisional track and field championships

By Loren Kopff

@LorenKopff on Twitter

The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Track and Field Divisional Finals are Saturday at El Camino College and there’s a great chance that by the end of the day, several athletes will be continuing their seasons. Four of the seven area schools will have athletes competing in eight of the 10 track events and at least five of the six field events.

In Division 4, Valley Christian High has the most athletes of area teams, 10, highlighted by a quartet of discus competitors. Seniors Gavin Fua and Jake Leue finished in first and second respectively in the divisional preliminaries with marks of 174-6 and 159-7 and senior Khalil Mead was fourth at 148-2 while senior Madison Silva came in ninth place with a mark of 104-5.

Fua and Leue will also compete in the shotput where they placed second and eighth respectively in the prelims with distances of 51-2 ¾ and 44-6 ¾. Senior Jaylon Tucker placed third in the triple jump with a mark of 44-5 ¼ and junior Kennedy Wesley was fifth in the long jump with a distance of 16-10 ½.

In the track events, senior Josh Rupprecht will run in the 1600 and 3200-meter races while senior Bailey Torres is in the 110-meter high hurdles and 300-meter intermediate hurdles while senior Marian Ledesma will run in the 800-meter race and sophomore Kathryn Tamminga is in the 300-meter race.

Also, in Division 4, Whitney High will be represented by senior Angelina Crittenden in the 100-meter dash, and seniors Justin Hogenauer and Austin Joseph in the 800-meter and 300-meter intermediate hurdles events respectively.

In Division 2, Cerritos High sophomore Nicole Blue will compete in the 200 and 400-meter races while senior Destin Flucas finished in a tie for first place in the high jump preliminaries with a mark of 6-2. Senior Isaiah Kim might be an alternate in the pole vault event as he jumped 13-2, which was tied for 11^thin the prelims.

Also, in the division, Norwalk High senior Misty Diaz was second in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:13.19 and third in the 1600-meter race with a time of 5:04.40.

SWIMMING

Whitney senior Alyson Tam will be advancing to the state diving championships in Clovis after she scored 459.95 points and finished in fifth place in the Division 2 1-meter event.

In Division 3, the Cerritos boys finished in seventh place in the divisional championships last Thursday, picking up 171.50 points. Top performers were junior Castro Cameron, who finished in third in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.02 while junior Alex Rodriguez was sixth with a time of 1:43.14. Cameron also came in fifth place in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:36.37 while Rodriguez was seventh with a time of 4:38.41. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of junior Vighnesh Muley, sophomore Justin Sutanto, Cameron and Rodriguez placed second with a time of 3:12.47.

The girls came in 16^thplace and picked up 75 points. Senior Breanna Rigor came in sixth place in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:11.82 and in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:00.10.

In Division 4, the Gahr High boys came in 15^thplace out of 41 schools with 52 points, highlighted by the 200-yard medley relay team of seniors Brian Edwards and Joseph Toral, junior Zachary Shin and sophomore Roland Fisher, which came in 10^thplace with a time of 1:47.39. Fisher also finished in fifth place in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:03.68 and in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 55.59.

The girls, especially senior Analysa Best, picked up 35 points and was tied for 24^thout of 47 schools. Best was third in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:22.39 and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:02.26.

BASEBALL

Cerritos High, which finished in fourth place in the Suburban League, traveled to Oak Hills High on May 17 in a CIF-Southern Section Division 4 first round game. The Dons posted an 11-3 win at Hillcrest High to improve to 18-10 overall, matching the same number of wins they had last season. Oak Hills is ranked seventh in the division and won the Mojave River League.

Gahr High, the San Gabriel Valley League champions, host Chaminade High today in a Division 1 first round contest. The Gladiators enter the game at 20-8 overall after beginning the season with a 5-6 mark. Chaminade came in second place in the Mission League.

In another Division 4 first round game, John Glenn High hosted Calvary Chapel Santa Ana High, the second place team out of the Orange Coast League, on May 17. The Eagles, who finished in second place in the Suburban League, went 19-8 in the regular season and are the fourth-ranked team in the division.

SOFTBALL

In Division 3 action, Cerritos, the champions of the Suburban League once again, was home to Edison High on May 17. The Lady Dons went 18-5 in the regular season while the Chargers finished in third in the Sunset League.

Gahr drew a first-round bye in Division 1 action and will play either Oaks Christian High or Villa Park High on Tuesday. The Lady Gladiators are ranked sixth in the division.

In Division 4 action, Norwalk High doubled up Burbank High 4-2 this past Tuesday to move to 11-10. The fourth place representative out of the Suburban League traveled to 10^thranked and Sunbelt League champion Temescal Canyon High on May 17.