CIF-SOUTHERN SECTION TRACK AND FIELD DIVISIONAL FINALS: Valley Christian’s Fua, Leue have high marks in discus, shotput

Norwalk High senior Misty Diaz (foreground) leads a pack of eight runners in the Division 2 1600-meter race in last Saturday’s California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Track and Field Divisional Finals. Diaz finished in second place with a time of 4:55.45, nearly 12 seconds behind champion Mariah Castillo of Saugus High. Diaz has qualified for Saturday’s Masters Meet with a chance of moving on to the state finals. PHOTO BY ARMANDO VARGAS.

By Loren Kopff
@LorenKopff on Twitter

TORRANCE-It was a good day for Valley Christian High athletes at the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Track and Field Divisional finals last Saturday at El Camino College. Not only were the Crusaders well-represented in the number of competitors, but eight of them had among the top five marks in Division 4, headlined by seniors Gavin Fua and Jake Leue.

V.C. finished in second place in the division, picking up 68 points (Oaks Christian won the division with 81 points) and Fua and Leue were a big part of that. Fua won the discus with a top throw of 177-1 and will move on to Saturday’s Masters Meet. He was tied for the fourth best mark of all discus competitors. Earlier in the day, Fua won the division in the shot put with a mark of 51-3.50 but did not qualify for Masters.

“It feels obviously really good,” Fua said. “The shot put, I’m not really too disappointed about not moving on for Masters. I still threw a decent mark for how my season went. In the discus, I’m really happy with how it turned out, winning Division 4. I was coming in hoping for a [personal record], but 177 is still a pretty big mark for me.”

Fua was the last of nine competitors in his division to throw and after the first of four attempts, he was one of three that did not foul. He threw 174-2 on his first attempt, then watched four competitors foul on their second attempt. He increased his mark to 175-2 after his second throw and was still leading everyone by a wide margin.

Fua got his top mark on his third attempt, as did Leue, who threw 156-6. All but one competitor fouled on their last attempt, putting Fua and Leue as one and two by a wide margin. V.C. senior Khalil Meade finished in fifth place with a top mark of 140-3, which he accomplished in his first attempt.

“They all performed the way they are trained to do,” said V.C. first-year throws coach Will Truong. “They worked very hard and they got here.”

“I don’t really worry too much about other peoples’ throws,” Fua said. “But I was really kind of thinking about the wind and mostly my own throws.”

Of the combined 36 throws by the nine competitors, only 15 were good. Elsewhere in the discus, senior Madison Silva was second out of nine throwers after her first attempt with a distance of 108-02, which is a personal record. But that would be her top mark and she finished in seventh place in the division.

In the shot put, Leue finished in fourth place with a mark of 48-8.50, which he accomplished on his third attempt. Fua’s mark in the shot put was the 20^thbest out of 36 competitors from all divisions.

“I’m not disappointed because they work hard and they got where they are and they got the titles they deserve,” Truong said of Fua not going to the Masters in shot put or Leue in discus. “Why would I be disappointed for them winning the division?”

“This season has been a dream,” Fua said. “I only really got into my groove at the end of last year at CIF finals. After that, I knew that I was going to make this season go really well.”

Elsewhere among V.C. athletes, junior Kennedy Wesley finished in fourth in the division in the long jump and 19^thoverall with a mark of 17-8 while senior Jaylon Tucker, who was an alternate, came in fifth place with a personal record mark of 21-0.50 in the same event. Tucker also finished in third place in the triple jump with a mark of 43-8.50.

In the 1600-meter run, senior Josh Rupprecht was third in the division with a time of 4:21.25, which is a personal record, and fourth in the 3200-meter run with a time of 9:39.54. Senior Bailey Torres finished in second place in the 300-meter hurdles at 40.22, a personal record, and in seventh place in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.62.

Senior Marion Ledesma came in fourth place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:17.19 while in the 300-meter hurdles, sophomore Kathryn Tamminga was sixth with a time of 48.23. The V.C. girls were 14^thin the division with 15 points.

Elsewhere, Norwalk High senior Misty Diaz, running in Division 2, finished in second place in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:55.45. Diaz, who was sixth in the division at the CIF-State Cross Country championships this past fall, also ran the 800-meter event where she came in eighth place with a time of 2:22.57. Diaz did advance to the Masters in the 1600, claiming the last of the automatic spots and is scheduled to run at approximately 1:17 p.m. on Saturday.

Also, in Division 2, Cerritos High senior Destin Flucas is moving on to the Masters again in the high lump. Flucas was second with a mark on 6-4, which he accomplished on his third jump. He missed on three tries to get to 6-6. He is scheduled to jump at approximately 11:30 on Saturday.

Cerritos sophomore Nicole Blue finished sixth in the 400-meter run with a time of 57.80 and claimed the same spot in the 200-meter run with a time of 25.43.

Finally, Whitney High senior Justin Hogenauer came in seventh in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00-33 while senior Angelina Crittenden took eighth in the 100-meter run with a time of 12.71.