Dolphins Stay Focused at City Track Finals

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

A long, grueling season culminated in triumph for many Palisades High athletes at Thursday’s City Section track and field championships in Lake Balboa.

When points were totaled, the  girls had accumulated 22 points to  finish in fourth place in the varsity team standings and the boys scored 24 points for eighth place.

“I’m very satisfied – the team performance was outstanding,” Pali High head coach Tony Ryan said. “I’m so proud of the hard work these student-athletes dedicated themselves to all season and it showed in how they competed.”

Makhai Husband was fifth in the varsity boys 200-meter dash in  23.43 seconds and fourth in the 400 meters in 49.92. He was also on the Dolphins’ 4×400 relay team, which took second place in 3:23.59 and advanced to the state meet Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis.

“The 400 is my main event, so I’m disappointed in that, but I was gad the way the 200 turned out and of course the last relay,” said Husband, who will run track at UC San Diego next spring. “Average times for me, but I learned what I need to do and I’m going to have some fun at state.”

Hunter Parker had the fastest 800 time at prelims but came in third place in the finals in 1:58.45, only two hundredths of a second behind runner-up Cristhian Macias of Gardena.

“I knew everyone doubled at prelims and the atmosphere wasn’t nearly as intense as it was today,” Parker said. “All of the top guys were together in this race, which made it a lot harder. The last 200 meters it was hard to catch the guys ahead but I was paranoid someone would pass me and I wanted to get that state berth.”

Ben Hamer was fifth in the 1,600 in 4:25.40 and Jakob Pollack was fifth in the 3,200 in 9:41.16.

The varsity 4×800 relay as fourth in 8:32.07 and the 4×100 relay was seventh in 43.75.

Nick Mendes ran a personal- best 52.10 to finish third in the frosh/soph boys 400 and he placed fifth in the 200 in 23.92.

Freshman Bailey Jones set personal-bests in all three of his events. He was second in the frosh/soph boys 110 high hurdles in 16.27 and leaped 19-10.50 to place third in the long jump behind Angel Ogwo (who leaped a personal-best 21-01.00) and Cameron Bailey (20-2.50).

The Dolphins also swept the frosh/soph triple jump, with Jones winning in 42-05.00 (bettering his 41-03.00 effort at the Western League prelims, followed by Bailey (41-6.50) and Ogwo (40-00.00).

“We were even at the last [hurdle], but I saw him get past me at the very end,” said Jones, who was edged by Carson’s Andre Butt by 13 hundredths of a second in the hurdles. “I had a bad race at league finals, so I’m glad I did better today. All of my events were PRs for me. I like triple jump the best because it’s so technical and I study it a lot.”

Ogwo was second in the 100 meters in 11.33 and Bailey was fourth in 11.43.

“The 100 meters is my favorite, then long jump, then triple but I held my own in all of them,” said Ogwo, whose previous best in the long jump was 20-2 at league finals. “My best [long] jump was my first attempt, which is always the most important one. You want to do it there because it sets the tone. I’m doing this to get a good scholarship to college.”

After cruising to the frosh/soph 3,200 title at City prelims the previous week, freshman Brent Smith was challenged throughout four intense laps but held off Bravo Medical’s  Daniel Morales to win the frosh/soph 1,600 by under a second in 4:31.47. Pali High teammate Jake Greanias was fourth in 4:38.64.

“It was the hardest race I’ve ever run and I had to start off faster than I wanted to,” Smith confessed. “I got really nervous. Daniel [Morales] was on my back the whole time and it was a battle all the way to the last 100 meters.”

Queen Okoh clocked 12.44 to take fourth in the varsity girls 100 and Nicole Figueroa was fourth in the 800 in 2:22.47, just missing a state berth.

Kimia Samandi was seventh in the 1,600 in 5:27.11 and 10th in the 3,200 in  12:14.48.

“A girl from the right side cut in and I wasn’t expecting it so I was not in a good position the first  lap,” Figueroa said. “This race is obviously shorter [than the 1,600] so you have to be more focused mentally and physically. I felt pretty good and  my PR is 2:21, so even with the bad start I still almost got it.”

The varsity girls 4×100 relay was fourth in 48.80, the 4×800 relay of Ariel Pollack, Chelsea Levi, Kiana Billot and Emma Ulfvengren was second  and the 4×400 relay of Okoh, Kendal Lake, Kayla Williams and Ejiro Agege was runner-up to Carson in 4:02.61 to qualify for state.

Sophie Rothenberg was fifth in the triple jump (34-06.00) and seventh in the long jump (14-06.75.

With her 92-year old grandfather Bob and 90-year-old grandmother Fran in the stands cheering her on, senior Whitney Yost ran the 100 hurdles in 17.26, two hundedths of a second off her prelims time.

Elizabeth Rene came in second in the frosh/soph girls 1,600 in  5:26.91 and  third in the 800 in 2:28.97.

“That was crazy – I can’t believe I got second [in the 1,600] and the 800 was a major surprise,” said Rene, one of the Dolphins’ promising freshman distance runners. “I figured I’d get top five.”

Zoe Camporaso (2:30.72) was fourth in the frosh/soph 800 and Skylar Smith (2:33.65) was sixth.

Lilyan Garside was fifth in the frosh/soph 200 in 27.73 and also ran on the fourth-place 4×100 relay and on the 4×400 relay, which took second place despite using two alternates.

Niara Brown (14-04.00) and Robinne Taylor (12-11.00) were fifth and sixth in the frosh/soph long jump. Lake was seventh in the frosh/soph 200 with a time of 26.60.