RASH'S RUSH TO STATE ENDS WITH RUNNER-UP HONORS

CLOVIS: The last month in the life of Reyte Rash has been quite a ride.

Back on May 3, he won the 300 meter hurdles in the Big 8 League final. Through successive weekly competition in the CIF rounds, he continued to rocket himself through to more and more impressive performances. While he competed in both the 110 meter event and the 300’s, and took both events all the way to the State meet, it was in the longer race that he truly shined.

At CIF Prelims, he ran the fastest time of the four heats in the 300’s. At CIF Finals, he won. At CIF Masters, he won again. Along the way, he improved the school record he owned by almost a full second.

“Reyte’s rush to the State meet has been something to watch over the last four weeks” said head track coach, John Corona. “Big 8 champion, CIF D1 Champion, Masters’ Meet Champion and only a few steps from being a State Champion. Wow!”

At the State meet Saturday night, held in Buchanan High School’s world-class track and field facility, Reyte raced to a time of 37.17 in the 300’s placing him second in the State for that event. It is the highest finish ever recorded by a King athlete at the State meet. His mark of 37.17 is the 7th fastest time in Riverside County history and places him in the top 20 in the nation for 2018. “Impressive” is an understatement.

He also recorded a PR time of 14.49 in the 110 Hurdles but that did not qualify him for the finals.

That amazing month ended with an amazing moment. With his senior year yet to come, one can only imagine what the next year will hold.

FULL RESULTS 

ROCKET MAN! RASH WINS MASTERS TITLE AND HEADS TO STATE

TORRANCE: The CIF Southern Section Masters meet is what its title implies. It’s the best of the best from the CIF Southern Section, a regional grouping that contains over 500 schools. One must be a “master” of his or her event to make it. Luck or strength of program has no bearing. Past titles or performances count for nothing. You either go big at Finals or go home. Getting a spot on the line in this meet is no small feat.

Prior to the Masters meet, CIF-SS holds four Divisional Finals, with all competitors facing only athletes in their division. But from the Division Finals, the best nine of all four combined move on to Masters with the hopes of qualifying for the one-division California State Meet, held in Clovis.

So to do well on this stage is quite the thing.

Reyte Rash, fresh off his All CIF and Division 1 titles in the 110 and 300 meter hurdles one week ago, rocketed himself through both events to new personal best marks in both while lowering his own school record in the 300’s. It was in that 300 meter race that he not only reset King’s school record at 37.50, but bested the other 8 competitors to win the Masters title, the 

first in King’s history to do so. ,p. Racing the 110’s in lane eight, King’s heralded hurdler would get his chance at a ticket to State. At the gun, Reyte made a dramatic push through each advancing hurdle. Gaining momentum from months of continued training from his coaches, Ken Bracey and Tayler Fleming, the gazelle like Rash burst through the finish line in a slight head wind in 14:69 for 5thplace. Fresno bound, with his “better” event still to come!

Less than 90 minutes later, Rash found himself lined up for the 300 hurdles with the best Southern California had to offer. The rising Rash, still only 16 years old, launched himself over a course of ten flights of hurdles to find himself battling two other competitors with just one flight left. It was there that he made his mark as a champion.

“It was guts what Reyte did there” said Coach Keith Janes of the final 30 meters of effort. Rash won the race in 37:50 distancing himself over the Upland’s Caleb Roberson by a couple steps despite being side-by-side over the last hurdle.

Rash becomes only the second King athlete to qualify for the State Championship in two events after Tyler Janes pulled off the feat in the 1600 and 3200 in 2016.

This weekend Reyte will travel to Clovis California to compete in the State Championships. In both events, he’ll need to run Friday night in qualifying heats to earn the right to compete in the Finals on Saturday night.

REY-TINGS GOLD: RASH WINS CIF TITLE, FRANK FINISHES ALL-CIF

One of the major “givens” of high school Track and Field is that nothing is for certain. Nothing. Where one places; how you and your opponent compete on a given day; past accomplishments; who the favorite might be, what everyone may think is a lock..or not.. means very little when the time comes to toe the mark and see what it is you have that day. At the 2018 CIF Finals held Saturday at El Camino College in Torrance, it was just such a day for the two lone King High qualifiers, Sarah Ann Frank and Reyte Rash. The “givens”went out the window and for their efforts, their focus and their willingness to compete, these two King kids “got” a lot and forged a historic day for themselves and King Track and Field.

Sarah Ann, disappointed after not qualifying in the 300 hurdles final a week ago at CIF Prelims, mustered her second best effort ever in her 4 year career in the 100 hurdles and nabbed 6th place in 14.80. She would record an All-CIF honor in the process and beat a number of girls who had recorded faster times during the season than she had. Her mark would have her finish 11th in the entire CIF(SS) which is made up of some 550 schools. She won’t be moving onto the Master’s Meet for state qualifying but what a way to end her career.

“We had a good feeling about what Sarah could do today, ” said Coach John Corona, ” but you never know what’s going to happen. I was anxious for her because she was kinda on the bubble, but she left no doubt. She did not blink in the face of the strongest hurdle competition in the state. It was as strong and as complete a race as she’s ever had.”

And then he smiled, ” I don’t have many words for what Reyte did today. The word “Incredible” comes to mind.”

Junior Reyte Rash was the final qualifier in the 110 hurdles out of Prelims. Not much was expected. ” Honestly, we were hoping for a PR,” said Corona.

The Wolves got more than that. After one athlete false started out and then overcoming a slow start, Rash powered over the final 5 hurdles to nab third place in a new PR of 14.75. From ninth to third, just like that! His mark placed him 6th overall out of all the CIF Divisions and that means a trip to the Master’s Meet in an event that was supposed to be an afterthought. In the 300 Hurdles, Reyte was sort of at the opposite end of things. He had the best time coming in from the preliminary rounds BUT he certainly wasn’t the favorite. It was an extremely strong field featuring Caleb Lutalo-Roberson of Upland and Collin Hurd of Trabuco Hills, both at the top of the state list for this event and both of whom had faster times during the season.

Once again, Reyte got out slow…. so slow, in fact, that his team mate Sarah Ann blurted out excitedly “What’s he doing??” Reyte made up for that start into the top of the turn and then as he hit the final 100 meters, sitting around fourth, he hit overdrive and made his move. As the competitors hit the second to last hurdle, he took a slight lead and it was at that point, the small King crowd rose up knowing he had a chance to win. Rash crossed the line in a new PR and new school record of 37.65. Lutalo-Roberson finished second in 37.94.With that performance, Reyte Rash become a CIF Champion. It is the third straight year a King track athlete has been so honored (Lauren Puerifoy in 2017 and Tyler Janes in 2016). His mark was third best on the day and Rash is headed for this week’s Master’s Meet in two events. “We knew he would probably place and get a shot at going to Master’s in the 300’s” said the long time head coach of the Wolves. “But CIF D-1 Champion? Nobody, and I mean, nobody, saw this coming. What a great surprise and what a tribute to him and his event coaches, Ken Bracy, Tayler Fleming and Keith Janes“.

Two athletes is the least amount of CIF Final participants that King has had in awhile but the Wolves got bang for their buck! Three CIF medals; 3 All-CIF honors; an individual CIF Championship and behind Reyte’s efforts, the King boys team finished 13th in CIF D-1. “It just shows the beauty of competition,” smiled Corona. “Nothing is guaranteed and the odds don’t much matter. You just need to go out and compete as hard as you can and let the chips fall where they may. Thankfully, for the efforts of Sarah and Reyte, they fell our way today.”

ALL HAIL THE HURDLERS! FRANK, RASH QUALIFY FOR CIF FINALS

One of the more consistent event groups of King Track and Field over the program's history has been the hurdlers. Under Coach Ken Bracey's tutelage, the hurdlers have demonstrated improvement and success for most of King's 19 year history.

That continued on Saturday as Sarah Ann Frank and Reyte Rash both qualified to advance to CIF Finals to be held May 19 at El Camino College in Torrance.

One thing that has also been consistent is the level of competition in D1 of the CIF Southern Section, making qualifying out of the preliminaries especially difficult. 

"Every time we get to CIF we are reminded of how deep and talented the Section is" said Coach Matt Vasal who was deputized for the day in the absence of Coach Corona who was facing his own hurdle in the form of severe bronchitis and didn't make the meet. In fact, there were many of the 21 King athletes present who had lifetime or near-lifetime bests but were still denied a chance to move on.

One of those was sophomore Kela Mavhera who ran the 1600 and 3200 and ran personal records (PR) in both but found her season end in a moment that was bittersweet.  Her 5:06.81 1600 meter time was a 4-second improvement and the fifth-best in school history but only 14th best on the day.  She ran 11:21.79 in the 3200 to notch another PR.  The girls 4x400 team of Kayla Seldon, Ashley Churszcz, Brooklyn Black and Frank, ran the 4th-best time in school history at 3:59 but missed qualifying by one second, finishing 10th overall and one place from CIF Finals. 

Trey Anderson was another that was left just on the doorstep of Finals but not allowed in. His 21' 4" long jump was very good, but not enough and he finished 10th as well. He would finish 24th in the triple jump.  The boys 4x100 relay team of Nick Beam, Isac Mesa, Kai Sana and Rash were also left just out of qualifying with an 11th place finish. 

But the day belonged to the hurdlers. In the 300 hurdles, Reyte Rash raced to a time of 38.05 that was just .02 off his lifetime best and school record, but more significantly, was over a full second better than the second-best racer in the five heats of qualifiers. It positions himself for a run at the CIF individual championship. Not bad for a guy that didn't even qualify for CIF prelims in 2017! (He placed 4th in the Big 8 Finals last year) For added goodness, he was the 9th and final qualifier in the 110 high hurdles earlier in the day running 15.13.

Sarah Ann Frank had a bit of a surprise path into the CIF Finals, as her better event -- the 300's -- didn't give her the result she assumed, after a less-than-perfect performance left her in 10th.  But in the 100 hurdles, she scorched the track and won her heat with the 6th-fastest mark of all runners and so will join Rash in Torrance on Saturday, making the CIF SS D1 Finals, for King at least, a singular focus.

"Over the years we have been lucky to have our athletes peak at the right moments at the end of the year, and that was no different today" Vasal said.

For the hurdlers, the "end of the year" just got at least another week away.  

Results   Photos 

KING HAS A DAY OF DAYS AT LEAGUE FINALS

EASTVALE:  "League Finals is always our day" says head track and field coach John Corona. And he's right.  Despite being unable to win more than one team league title in the last decade (Roosevelt is the owner of most of the titles in a decade), King has always found the individual and collective drive to make the League Finals a night to shine.

2018 was no different as the King recorded 59 personal or seasonal records at the meet.

"The kids performed and competed at a very high level which is really gratifying in light of how we started the season. We are a very young and inexperienced group and it showed all season. Tonight, we showed how much we have grown up. I am really proud of our kids" said Corona.

Reyte Rash had, arguably, the best day of all as he "put on a clinic" in the 300 hurdles, gapping second place by a full flight of hurdles on his way to a new school record in the event.  His 38.03 was better than the school record that Dillon Lay set in the same event last year.  After finishing 2nd in the 110 hurdles earlier, Rash exploded across the track in his "better" event and put himself atop an All Time list that has included some very fine hurdlers over two decades under Coach Ken Bracey's guidance at King.  It is the only school record set this season, also a first in King's history in which records have been rewritten on a yearly basis. 

While Rash could make a claim to have had the day of days, sophomore Kela Mavhera might make an argument of her own.  In the two distance events, she nabbed not one, but nearly two league titles of her own. In the 3200 meters she ran away from her nearest rival over the final two laps to run a PR of 11:22.43, but her 1600 at the front end of the meet was full of excitement as she drove down the final 50 meters to nearly overtake Miranda Camargo at the line.  A photo finish would indicate that .02 seconds is all that separated the two runners. Still, Mavhera's 5:10 was a lifetime best over the distance. 

But wait! Treyjon Anderson could also lay claim to the best of days, as his TWO league titles were spread over two days. The long jump was contested on Tuesday and he won handily at that event. But he outdid second place in the Triple Jump on Thursday by nearly 2 feet to take home the crown in two events, the only King athlete to do so. 

"Hold on!" could be the words of the guys who took home the title in the 4x100 relay.  With Nick Beam on anchor to carry the stick across the line a mere 1/100th of a second ahead of Roosevelt, the squad of Rash, Isac Meza and Kai Sana took the title, but perhaps did it for the third year in a row.  "To earn a 'three-peat' in this league, with a team like Roosevelt in the league is really something" said sprint coach Edwin Jones. In fact, could well enter the conversation on “who had the best day” with a 100 meter second place finish at 10.89, the third-fastest time in school history. Beam would also finish 5th in the 200, concluding a very busy day.

Sheredyn Pfeiffer had a wrapping on a hamstring that needed some support, but that didn't keep her from leaping onto the victory stand in the long jump, also contested on Tuesday.  Her 17-0 wasn't her best leap ever, and it actually was identical to the second place leap of Roosevelt's Chaselyn Amos' 17-0 mark. The tiebreaker went to each athlete's second-best leap where Pfeiffer's earned her the first title of her young career.  She was 

busy on Thursday, helping the third place squad of Anna Berry, Sarah Ann Frank and Kayla Seldon run on to CIF Qualification.   

Frank had her typically good day as well.  The Biola University bound hurdler ran not only in the relay, but she improved her 100 hurdle PR to 14.63, the third-best in school history.  She finished second there as well as in the 300 hurdles, but it was her 58-second split in the 4x400 relay that helped Ashley Chruszcz, Brooklyn Black and Seldonrun the fourth fastest time in school history at 4:00.15 to place third and move on to CIF.  

Cameron McCracken-Payo, who's had his fair share of adversity this season in the pole vault, put all of that behind him and launched to 13-7, and a tie for the fifth-best vault in school history. The Big 8 is stacked in the vault, including the top mark this season in all of CIF Southern Section D1, so his fourth-place finish has some context to it.  Tresure Rucker closed out her career with a PR in the triple jump to finish second. Garrett Vasta matched his lifetime best in the 1600, crossing the line in 3rd place, and punching a ticket to CIF for the first time. Amanda Sosa ran a season best in the 800 to finish in 4th. In the boys 3200 meters, it looked like a cross country race in that King had nine guys in the race, six of which finished with season or personal records. In Tuesday's preliminary races, freshman Edgar Ortega broke the 9th grade 1600 school record, going 4:29.83 to eclipse Tyler Janes' 4:31 set back in 2013. 

John Corona is right, the Big 8 League Championships has always proven to be a special night of achievement for the King kids. "We’ve had a strong history of being at our best for League Finals and our kids certainly lived up to that expectation tonight" said Corona.   

Indeed, this week's edition of the annual rite of passage was no different, though with 59 personal and season best marks, perhaps it could make an argument that it was better than all other years.

Results:    FINALS  and PRELIMS    PHOTOS

STELLAR PERFORMANCES BY AT CORONA INVITATIONAL

For the past 7 years, the King High Track team has participated in the Corona Frosh Soph Showdown as their last invitational of the season. Most of the youngsters entered will, in all likelihood, not make it to the Big VIII Finals and so this is their last opportunity for a PR or simply a good effort with which to end the season. Others will compete to see where they are prior to going into finals or a final "workout" if you will, before stepping to the league final line next Tuesday and Thursday. Whatever, their reason was for being there, the Wolves preformed in stellar fashion on the day.

Things started out well as the girls 4 X 100 team of Julianne Malolos; Jullan Harb, Kennedy Hackbarth and Jade Roberts finished second to league rival Roosevelt in 51.98. Roberts overtook three competitors on the anchor leg to secure the finish. The boys team of Ryan Hernandez; Alonso Morris; Isaiah Donhauser and Matt Victorino got a 5th place running a very creditable 46.53. Hernandez (11.88), Donahuser (12.01) and Victorino (12.14) would all record PR's later in the 100 meters. Not to be outdone, Jullan Harb; Haeli Carola and Ysabella Alfaro also recorded PR's in the 100.

In the hurdles, Eden Yost nabbed a 3rd place in the 100 hurdles and Kathy Drake got 5th. The freshman duo almost repeated that feat in the 300 Hurdles as Eden got 4th in a PR 52.5 and Kathy was 6th in 54.7. Eamon Power got his PR in the 100 hurdles.

In the 200 Donhuaser got another PR at 24.34 while on the girls side, Harb (28.05) and Priscilla Cheng (29.45) got their season's best as well.

In the girl's 1600, Shelby Grossi almost won her heat and just let it slip away at the very end but she still came away with a huge PR. She came back later and was within a second of her 800 PR. Emily Richmond was the lone Wolf in the second heat and was just a second off her PR, but she raced very smart and moved up the second half. Emily would double back and PR in the 800 by just about 3 seconds. In Snows White's first 1600 of the year, she made it through in a very solid time that bested her PR from her freshman year. Chloe Urquizu also ran her first mile of the year, and of her career, and clearly had a lot more in the tank as she closed the last 200 very well and then came back in the 800 and just missed out on her PR. 

For the boy's, Malachi Cabanilla was content letting others do the pacing for him, which was a smart move. He managed to get 4th overall with a 4 second PR in the 1600. He was upset with himself afterwards because he had more in the tank, but but learned a valuable lesson in tactics.  Nikko Guzman was able to get under the elusive 5:00 barrier with a well raced 4:57. This sophomore shows some real potential. After a tough last couple weeks of practice and races for Bohdin Rush, he was able to show some of that talent that he was showing earlier in the year running a 5:04.  After dealing with injuries lately, Tommy Lu managed to somehow get a PR in a very fast race from the start! Luckily he was able to not get too ahead of himself and was fine being near the back of the race and picking people off.  In that same heat was Raymundo Ortega, who was just as fine sitting in the back of the race and letting everyone else fall back to him, as he came across with an 11 second PR! Tommy and Ray were the sole boys in the 800 for King. Ray had a tougher time with this one, tired legs got the better of him. Tommy, however, was within a second of his season best after starting out slow because of his own tired legs!

The distance contingent ran really well, earning either PRs or very close to one, and showed a lot of class, character, and courage both on the track and off. 

In the field events, the highlight was the effort of Myles Taylor, who got third in the triple jump and was the first place winner n the pole vault right at his PR of 11-9. Corey Thomas finished third in the vault at 10-3

RESULTS 

FIELD EVENTS SAVE THE RUNNER UP

King concluded it’s 2018 dual meet season on their home track with a healthy audience and a dozen-or-so alums who came “back home” to witness the final go-around of the year. But it was the events that don’t go around the track, namely the field events, that saved the day for the boys and they pulled out a final win over Centennial. The girls won easily.

“Centennial’s boys really took it to us on the track outscoring us 41-27″ head coach John Corona said following the meet. “We knew that was going to happen as they have some awfully good sprinters and distance kids. We were going to have to win this one in the field events and those kids in those events really came through for us. Today, you got to see the value of having a well-rounded team.”

Robert Kells and Aaron Costa were 1-2 in the shot, scoring 8 points of the 9 available. Luke Melton and Costa would minimize the Centennial attack in the discus by finishing 2-3 respectively. Carson Walder won the triple and long jump, scoring 10 points all by himself. King swept the pole vault, with Cameron Payo-McCracken, Ryan Bavier and Matt Perez doing the honors there.

On the track, Brian Green had a great outing, with a PR in the 800 and also in the 3200, scoring twice. Reyte Rash won both hurdle events. Thanks in large part to the “field day” the Wolves had, the boys won by a score 80-55.

The girls won without much of a struggle, as they outdistanced the Huskies on both the track and field. sweeping up all points in many of the 16 events. Kela Mavhera ran a season-best time in the 800 to win the event. Allison Janes also notched a season-best time in the event. Tresure Rucker took to the air and won both the long and triple jumps. The girls would go on to win 101-35. Sarah Ann Frank continued her amazing senior season in winning both hurdles.

The victories left both squads at 4-1 in the Big 8 league and Runners-up in the league behind the champions at Roosevelt. In a surprise move by several athletes, Coach Corona was doused with an ice bucket at the end of the meet. “That was a shock to the system” he said with a smile.

While ice buckets are usually the baptism of champions, the gesture could well have been a celebration of the system that King Track and Field, under Corona’s leadership enjoys. It's a program marked by excellence that had the aforementioned alumni coming back to watch and 200-plus uniformed teens proud of their accomplishments at the top of the league again. To the point, the girls have lost only 17 dual meets in the 19 seasons of King's history. The boys record since 2000 is 112-39 while the girls' stands at an amazing 134-17.

“Finishing second in the Big VIII with such an inexperienced group is a tribute to the effort

 and work of our kids and of our coaching staff. To have been able to maintain our program standards and expectations through this season has been most gratifying. It wasn’t always easy and I don’t remember having to have ever been this patient” he laughed “but I think as far as the dual meet part of the season, we accomplished what we set out to do.”

The team now heads into the post season with the League Finals next week and then, for some who will qualify out of league, the CIF Rounds.

To what extent those post-season warriors are from the field or the track, well, only time and distance will tell.

Results   

MT.SAC BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN A FEW

The 60th Annual Mt.SAC Relays was held at El Camino College in Torrance and King sent a few of it's top athletes to the three-day meet.

On Friday night, the boys and girls distance crew sent 4x1600 relays squads. The girls suffered from a bit of an off-night, as only Amanda Sosa in the third-leg would go home happy with her time. KaryLee Taylor, Allison Janes and Lauren Peurifoy were just off their best races.

The boys team of Garrett Vasta, Austin Fortenberry, Brian Green and Edgar Ortega had a terrific race, with all four guys racing aggressively and exchanging the baton in PR split times.  On anchor, freshman Ortega sizzled, running a 4:28.9 split, though unofficial, it's a time that is faster than any he's run for 1600 meters.

Saturday saw hurdlers Reyte Rash and Sarah Ann Frank going in their two specialty events. Rash finished 2nd in the 300 hurdles, running a PR of 38.26 in the process.  Sarah Ann also had a noteworthy day going 44.88 in the 300's for her best time ever. 

KING HOSTS THE CITY IN ANNUAL RAINCROSS TRADITION

King High played host to the city on Saturday, as the town came to Orangecrest to compete in the Raincross Tradition Track and Field Meet, otherwise known as the “The City Championships”. For the “home team,” it was a very good day.

Kela Mavhera had perhaps the best day of all, as she went home with two new City titles, in the 1600 and 3200. She was the only King athlete to have to make room on a Letter-Jacket for two new City Champ patches! Fellow sophomore Sheredyn Pfeiffer came close to matching Mavhera’s exploits with a first place finish in the 100 meter sprint and second in the long jump. But throw in the leg she ran in the 4×100 relay along with Kayla Seldon, Anna Berry and Grace Roberts which took home the victory, perhaps she can make a claim for it. Either way, the two sophomores were at the top of their game on a hot Saturday.

They were not alone. Both of the 4×400 relays teams finished off the meet with a two-fer, both gaining the victories over their cross-town rivals. Naomi Benson and Nawal Dandachi were 2nd and 3rd in 100 hurdles. Nick Beam won the 100 meter dash in a time of 11.30 while Jon Moncada finished in the runner-up spot of the 3200.

The field events had a field day. In the girls long jump, following behind Pfeiffer’s leap were Tresure Rucker and Taylyn Henry, both of whom placed. Rucker would follow that up with a victory in the triple jump. Aylissa Williams was third in the high jump. It was almost a clean sweep in the vault, with Lanie Bavier, Skye Hutchinson, Rachel Norys and Mia Beam all taking the 2-5 spots on the podium. Corey Thomas, Ryan Bavier, and Myles Taylor all placed in the boys vault.

King’s thrower did extremely well, with 2-5 places in the shot. Danita Young, Arizma Ranson, Kimberly Garza, and Keina Turner all took home hardware. Robert Kells was third for the boys shot put. Kimberly Garza would win King’s final City Champ title on the day in the discus, while Turner followed her in second place.

The meet has a long history, despite a hiatus from the mid 1980’s until 2010 when Coach John Corona brought the tradition back to life. Under a bright (and warm) Riverside sun, it was another good day to showcase the best track and field athletes in town.

Just so happened many of them wear a King uniform.

Results      Photos

A RIVALRY NO MORE, KING GETS WHAT IT NEEDS IN WIN OVER CORONA

In the second to last Big 8 meet of the season and one week after the Wolves lost to Roosevelt – the only loss on the season thus far – King Track and Field traveled to Corona to try and get back to their winning ways and secure the “runner-up” spot in the league behind the presumptive champions Roosevelt.

The match up between the King and Corona was once a pretty good rivalry, but on Thursday, King was unchallenged except in a few events. “We got done what we needed to do” head coach John Corona said, following the victory both his boys and girls teams victories over the Panthers.

“ We were able to rest some kids” Coach Corona continued, “and give others a chance to be on the varsity stage and we got the win.”

Two of those kids that moved up to varsity were Dathan Chann and Malachi Cabanilla who ran two very good distance doubles nearly matching or bettering their personal bests in the 1600 and 3200. Cabanilla would snag is first victory at the varsity level with a solid 10:31 effort in the the 3200. Robert Barraza had a PR in the 400 meters at 52.45. Reyte Rash rarely runs the 200, opting for the hurdles instead, but used a lighter fare of competition to dash along for half a lap and nearly ran himself into King’s all time list with a 22.80. Isac Meza, Brandon Avila and Elisha Hall all PR’d in the long jump.

On the girls’ side it was an equally good day despite the absent of pressure that usually produces results. Sheredyn Pfeiffer continued her strong sophomore campaign with a PR in the 100, and Sarah Ann Frank followed Rash’s cue and ran the 100 which is usually littered with hurdles. Unencumbered, Frank ran to a 12.91 clocking. She did the same in the 200 and finished behind Kayla Seldon who ran a lifetime best of 25.94 for the half-lap race. All told in that 200 meter race, over JV and Varsity heats, the King dashers notched 8 lifetime best times! Ashley Chruszcz, Grace and Jade Roberts, Brooklyn Black, Kennedy Hackbarth, Morgan Sjoerdsma and Jullian Harb all went home faster than ever. Kela Mavhera had a season best time in the 800 to win, while Joan Green ran a lifetime PR of 2:36. Talyn Henry PR’d in the long jump.

"Rivalry" may not be the best term to use when describing the competition between Corona and King anymore.  But that's ok. With the final dual of 2018 on the near horizon, getting the win over Corona, -- especially after dropping a big one to Roosevelt -- was just what King needed. Rivalry or not, they'll take the W.

Results     Photos

STRONG SHOWING ENDS STRONG WEEK OF COMPETITION

Because of overall team fatigue-especially after a dual meet with Roosevelt that demanded a full-on effort from the entire team-and the need to heal up injuries and aches and pains, it was decided by the King coaching staff to back off of major team participation in the Inland Empire Championships for 2018 on Saturday. This annual event which has become a showcase for entirety of the San Bernadino-Riverside area was reserved this year for King student-athletes who needed work on certain things or who needed a bit of a further gauge as to where they were at this point in the season. Though it was a very small group that participated, they certainly got the most of their efforts.

Things started out with a bang as the girls soph/frosh 4 x 100 team came away with Inland Empire Championship, clocking a 50.09. Julianne Malolos; Kayla Seldon; Jade Roberts and Sheredyn Pfieffer got the stick around in a time that was second only to their King Classic time of 49.7. Sheredyn Pfieffer got another S/F championship for the Wolves as she soared out 17-3 in the long jump to win by a foot over her nearest competitor. Sheredyn’s jump would have landed her in second place in the varsity competition. Not to be outdone, Reyte Rash won the IE Boys Varsity 300 Meter championship in a PR time of 38.68.

Sarah Ann Frank raced against some of the best hurdlers in the state of California in the 100 Hurdles finishing 5th and again in the 300 hurdles claiming fourth place. Kayla Seldon moved her PR in the 200 to 26.18 for a 6th place medal in the S/F division. The boys 4 X 100 relay of Nick Beam; Kai Sana; Isaac Meza and Rash put together their most consistent effort of the year running a 44.3. Taylen Henry was able to get her PR in the triple jump. Keiarra Turner and Danita Young hit solid marks in the discus and shot respectively. The very last performers on the day were soph/frosh pole vaulters Myles Taylor and Corey Thomas. The two sophomores have been improving by leaps and bounds ( so to speak) in recent weeks and this day was no different. They both PR’ed at 11-3 and tied for 6th place though Myles would win that medal on less misses. For Corey, he has now made almost a 3 foot improvement since the day he picked up a pole for the very first time after wrestling season.

KING GETS BLOWN AWAY BY ROOSEVELT'S TALENT AND DEPTH

The wind was blowing on Thursday, a hard wind that cut through Eastvale and blew away any hope that King track and field had that they might catch a break and beat the talented and deep squads of Roosevelt High. Despite the best efforts of the Wolves, it was just wasn’t enough to compete against the perennial Big 8 League power in Roosevelt.

“Sometimes your opponent is just flat better than you are.” said head coach, John Corona.

But the wind and the talent didn’t keep the King kids from giving their best effort which brought some solace to the day. In fact, all told on both the boys’ and girls’ side of the competition, King went home with 86 season or personal best marks.

Nick Beam enjoyed the wind at his back in both dashes with the 6th-fastest 100 time in school history and the 4th fastest 200 time in school history. Reyte Rash benefited as well from a gracious gust in the 110 high hurdles, dropping a 14.98 PR for the event. Treyjon Anderson leaped 21-9 in the long jump, missing the 5th best jump in school history by a mere 1.5 inches! Brandon Avila PR’d in the triple jump at 39-3. Senior Mazin Awad inspired many with a gutsy 800 meter race against a talented group of Mustangs. With 200 to go he punctured the wind and took the lead, charging down the home stretch until literally his body locked up in anaerobic fatigue and settled for second. Garrett Vasta placed 2nd in a very tactical 1600 that was impacted mightily by the wind, but would come back to win the 3200 in a lifetime PR. Freshman Francisco Zavaleta came close to a setting the 9th grade record in the event and placed 2nd.

The win over the Wolves puts the Roosevelt boys in line for their 9th title in the 10 years of the Big VIII and their girls their 7th.

The scores of both saw Roosevelt well in the lead, ultimately by some 40 points. King’s girls were finding themselves at best in 2nd place in almost every event, and in others, less than that. Sheredyn Pfeiffer looked good riding the winds in the 100 and 200. Kayla Seldon ran a PR in the 400 at 62.18. Danita Young PR’d in the shot put at 33-5, and Kimberly Garza landed the discus 112-6 for her best-ever throw.

“We went after them with everything we had” Corona said, “but it was a formidable challenge and you can’t get around the fact that they (Roosevelt) are not just a talented group but a well coached group as well. We walked into a buzz saw. We’ve been talking all year that we aren’t quite as good as our record might show. That’s not to say we didn’t show up yesterday. Our marks show that we competed but we also found out how far we have to go.”

If the winds ever turn in King’s favor within this annual rivalry with Roosevelt, well, only time will tell.

SMALL SQUAD ON THE BIGGEST STAGE

It was perhaps one of the deepest and most competitive meets in the 51 year history of the Arcadia Invitational. Arcadia is a Big Stage, if not the biggest, in all of the land for high school track and field. Though it is always a residence of top national and state marks, it just seemed like everywhere you turned last weekend, great marks were being meted out by the student-athletes from the 600 schools from all over the United States. In the midst of that flurry of great marks were the kids of King High School. Though, there wasn’t their usual big number of participants, the Wolves acquitted themselves well in a meet that was historically competitive.

The Boys and Girls 4 X 1600’s went off on Friday night. The Girls team of Kela Mavhera, Allison Janes, Karylee Taylor and Lauren Puerifoy clocked a 21:49 for 16th place in the Invitational division while the boys team of Austin Fortenberry, Edgar Ortega, Garrett Vasta and Francisco Zavaleta put down an 18:36.27. On Saturday, the distance medley teams came away with solid performances. Mavhera, Ashley Chruscuz, Amanda Sosa and Puerifoy finished 21stin the girls race. The boys DMR was in the hunt for at least half the race until the team of Ortega, Mazin Awad, Eric Roman and Vasta finished in 12th place at 10:53.6. Individually, Vasta ran the mile in what was for him a disappointing 4:31. He would come back in that DMR, however, with a blistering 3:14 1200 to led off the DMR.

Also on the individual stage were hurdlers Reyte Rash and Sarah Ann Frank. Despite being out with strep throat for most of Spring Break, Rash raced to a respectable 15.29 in the 110 Hurdles and to a first place finish in his open heat of the 300 hurdles in 39.27. Frank, ever the perfectionist, ran a 15.4 in the 100 hurdles but came back with a PR time of 45.34 in the 300 hurdles for a third place finish.

Only five of the members of the small group of King athletes who qualified for this national-level meet, a meet held on the biggest of stages, are seniors. Which bodes well for King and for these young athletes going forward. Big stages are hard to get onto, but once there, most want to return.

SERRANO AND KING TAKE THE TITLES IN 14th FROSH SOPH CLASSIC

Over the years, the King Soph/Frosh Classic has been known as a meet "Where the Stars of the Future Shine Today." The 14th running of that event last Saturday did not disappointment as the action, both on the track and in the field, was intense and tight as youngsters battled for individual and team championships. In the end, Serrano and King High Schools proved to be the class of a VERY tough boys contest as the Diamondbacks held off the Wolves 124 to 103. Rancho Verde, Murrieta Mesa and Riverside Poly rounded out the top 5. On the girls side of things, King defeated second place Murrieta Mesa 118 to 83. Serrano (3rd), Rancho Verde (4th) and Santiago (5th) finished out the top 5 for the girls The Wolves would edge Coach Ken Quinn's Diamondabacks 221-204 for the Sweepstakes Trophy (combined score of both boys and girls teams. The score for that trophy was tied at 183 with two events to go when the Wolves 3200 group of Austin Fortenberry (1); Edgar Ortega (2); Mitchell Machuca (5) and Fransisco Zavaleta (6) provided the points that would prove sufficient for the win.

There were 3 Meet records broken on the day. One of those came in the very first event of the day when the King girls 4 X 100 relay of Julianne Malolos; Kayla Sheldon, Jade Roberts and Sheredyn Pfeifer blazed to a 49.57 finish eclipsing the old record set by King in 2013. La Sierra's Donavan Nelson blazed to a 50.25 in the Boys 400 edging Serrano's Jaret Schmidt at 50.96. Kaelyn McCann, the lone representive from Linfield Christian, cleared 10-6 in beating the old meet record of 10 feet. Other outstanding performances were turned in by Sam Medure of Riverside Poly in the 800 registering a time of 2:03.52; Lorenzo McMillan of San Gorgonino who was a double winner in the 100 (11..1) and 200 (23.12); Jhordyn Holston was also a double winner in the girls 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles; Rancho Verde's Glen Mckenize ran an extremely creditable 41.47 in the 300 Hurdles while his team mates in the 4 X 100 blazed to a 45.28 victory. Ethan Sanders from Orange Vista tossed the shot 48-5 inches (10 pound shot) for the win there. Riley Corcoran of Santiago ran an impressive 1:01.04 in winning the girls 400.

It seemed that in the distance races that King and Serrano were just going toe to toe. Kela Mavhera of King would win the "I have a Dream Mile" over the Diamondbacks Madison Elliott by half a second and then would repeat the feat in the 800 (over Elliott again) 2:25.77 to 2:25.83. In the Boys version of the mile Serrano's Ian Crocker returned the favor winning in 4:38.29 to Edgar Ortega's 4:38.66. Austin Fortenberry finished 4th in 4:42. While Fortenberry went and won the boys 3200 as previously mentioned it was Maribel Agulair of Serrano winning the girls 3200 in 11:50.

For King overall; it was a day of great performances in heading toward their high team finishes. Sheredyn Pfiefer would follow her contributions to the 4 X 100 victory with a championship effort n the long jump (16-3) and a second place n the 100. Naomi Bensen got two second place finishes in the hurdles and Danielle Cabrera got second in the high jump. Skye Hutchinson pulled a fourth place in the pole vault and Chandler Sjoerdsma also got 4th in the discus. Kayla Seldon got third in the 200 with a PR mark of 26.24 and then electrified the crowd with a sub 60 anchor leg on the 4 X 400 relay pulling her team from about 40 meters back to the victory and a season best time of 4:10.

Myles Taylor was "King" of the field for the Wolves with a first place in the pole vault; a second in the long jump and a third the triple jump. Luke Melton tossed his PR of 120-10 feet to win the discus. Corey Thomas jumped to a PR 10-0 in the vault.

"I was very glad with the way the meet ran," said Coach John Corona. "We have a reputation for having well run and organized meets and we did nothing today to change that reputation. We got a lot of compliments today for which I am grateful. Our non-particpants today (juniors and seniors) did a TREMENDOUS job in helping us run this thing and of course, a lot of credit goes to our parent volunteers as well. Corona continued, "And as to our kids performances today.....what a great job they did. They had every excuse to just kind of go through the motions after 4 meets in a week but they didn't do that at all. What spirit they showed!!! What we did today helps put us in good stead headed into Spring Break and beyond."

WOLVES STEP UP AND OVER NORCO

For the third time in the last 5 days, the King track and field teams competed, and this time it was against Norco, a team that King has never lost to. That win streak extended as the Wolves won easily, even while resting out some of the normal varsity scorers.

Across the board, King athletes stepped up nicely into the limelight and handled their business well. Lanie Bavier and Rachel Norys both scored in the pole vault, while King swept both the long and triple jumps, along with the 1600, the 800 and the 3200.

Keiana Turner PR’d in Shot put at 33-00, Treasure Rucker improved her season best of almost 2 feet at 35-5 in Triple Jump-Kayla Sheldon jetted to a 26.5 in 200 and Karylee Taylor was a double winner.

The boys also had a strong outing despite “resting” some of their usual point-scorers. Mazin Awad was a double winner with an impressive 1600; Jacob Knerl had two big PR’s in 110 hurdles-16.1 and 300 Hurdles-41.55; Trey Anderson won twice in Long Jump and triple jump. Brian Green had an outstanding triple, scoring in the 1600, 800 and 3200; he was called upon at the last minute to fill in the vacant 3200 meters to assure King’s points, which he did with a smile. King swept the 300 hurdles, with Jacob Knerl, Cameron Jones and Ibraheim Al-Khahili earning the points there.

For King, the spate of meets is not quite over as they will go again tomorrow, as they host the annual Frosh Soph Classic on campus , an event that will bring nearly 20 teams here to compete at the frosh soph level.

Coach Corona spoke of what is and what will come next when he said, “It’s been a bit of a journey but we are where we want to be at this juncture in the season. Now that Spring Break is here that gives us a chance to rest-up a bit and take care of some of our injuries. We still have work to do and still have numerous challenges in front of us but at least for now take a bit of a breath.”

Photo Gallery        Results

RASH, FRANK AND PFEIFFER WRITE HISTORY AT SANTIAGO

The track and field teams traveled to take on the Santiago Sharks in the first Big 8 league contest of the 2018 season. After mixed results on Saturday at two different invitationals the Wolves competed in, coupled with a potentially good program at Santiago, there was some heightened anticipation over what the Sharks might do in head-to-head competition.

It turned out well for the visiting team however, as King was able to earn a victory on all four levels (JV and Varsity combined). The boys bested Santiago by a large margin, but the girls’ contest was a closer one, with King winning by just 13 points. (Click here for the breakdown of the scores)

The highlight of the day came in the hurdle races as both Sarah Ann Frank (100’s) and Reyte Rash (300’s) moved their names onto the King All Time lists for those events. Frank notched King’s third-fastest time in the 100 hurdles. The only two hurdlers faster than her are Gayle Hunter and record holder Tayler Fleming. She was visibly excited about the 14.99 clocking with a wind-legal reading of .7! Rash came later in the 300’s and put down a 38.75 mark, good for the 4th fastest mark in school history.

But the list making wasn’t done. Sheredyn Pfeiffer had a lifetime best in the 100 meters at 12.60 but put her name in the all time list in the long jump, going 17-7 for the #3 mark in school history!

Kayla Seldon finished second in the 200 and 400, with a PR of 62 seconds in the 400. Kela Mavhera ran her season-best time of 5:14 in the 1600 to finish second as well. Lauren Peurifoy scored twice, winning the 3200.

The boys were in control of the meet early. Garrett Vasta had two strong races in the 1600 and 800, scoring both times. Mitchell Machuca and Francisco Zavaleta went 2-3 in the 3200. Robert Kells and Aaron Costa went 1-2 in the shot while Luke Melton threw a PR in the discus to place second with Costa placing third.

With nearly 19 seasons under it’s belt, the all time lists for the track and field program at King High are no slouch, they record marks and times that outshine most schools in the Inland Empire with histories much longer than King’s.

After a good day at Santiago High, a few of those lists just got better.

RESULTS

KING ALL TIME LISTS

PHOTOS

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SUNSHINE

The weather at the 69th annual Chino Relays was on again-off again almost the entire day. For periods of time, the sun would find itself behind the clouds and there was a sort of darkness to the day. Other times the sun shone brightly across the crystal clear day giving off rays of positive vibes. In many ways the performance of the King track and Field team mirrored the weather. A lot of the performances of the day were on but numerous were off as well.

The results of the day was made up of some darkness which included missed relay exchanges; no heights and scratches in the jumps or just plain poor performances. “I am worried about the lack of consistency in some of our kids,” said Head Coach John Corona. ” Just when it seems like we taken a step forward, we take a step back. We can only use the excuse of being young and inexperienced for so long. We are getting to the point where we need to grow up–fast!”

A good part of the day may have been “off” but the day also had its “sunny” bright spots which included a 3rd place finish by the Girls team out of a field of 20. ” No question we saw some good things as well,” said Corona. ” The way our girls made a push through the final few events to climb into third place was extremely positive and what we saw from our girl long and triple jumpers was a big push forward in their improvement.” Soph Shereydn Pfiefer climbed into the 5th All-time spot in the girls long jump with a leap of 16-11. Seniors Treasure Rucker and Taylen Henry both made season best jumps in the long jump and in the triple jump where Treasure finished 5th in her flight at 33-2 and Taylen second in her flight at 31-10. Another King athlete who is improving with great strides is Cameron Payo-McCracken who got 2nd overall in the boys pole vault and very nearly cleared 13 feet.

Medal winning performances were put in by both the Boys and Girls Shuttle Hurdle teams. The boys team featured Jacob Knearl; Ibrahim Al-Khalili; Xavier Magana-Devries and Cameron Powers. The girls team members were Micah Mekbib; Amyee Stewert; Naomi Benson and Nawal Dandachi. Both 4 X 200 teams were medalists-Sarah Ann Frank-Anna Barry-Brooklyn Black and Ashley Chruczc doing the honors for the girls and Eric Roman, Robert Barraza, Kai Sana and Nick Beam making a successful run for the boys. Both the 4 X 400 teams made the podium as well.

Individually, Kim Garza got a fifth place in the girls discus and Keiana Turner got 4th in the shot put. Ryan Bavier pulled in a 5th place in the pole vault.

At the mid-way point in the season, the team has a few clouds hanging over it, but if the “Three C’s” of King Track and Field produce anything, give it some time, rays of sunshine will undoubtedly peak through.

DISTANCE RUNNERS ENJOY A PR-ETTY GOOD DAY AT AZUSA

Azusa Pacific University is nestled at the foott of the San Gabriel Mountains and hosts the annual New Balance Meet of Champions distance carnival for track and field. Saturday was a beautiful spring day with clouds and sunshine creating a beautiful canopy above the green mountains rising, literally, from the edge of the track where 2600 distance runners contested dozens of heats in the 800, 1600 and 3200 meter races over the span of the day.

Many of those kids came intending on running Personal Records (PR) in their event, and for the King High distance runners, they went home with 29 newly minted PR’s on what was a very pretty day both on and above the track. Each new achievement earned a flag hanging from the team’s canopy and by the time the sun went down the flags fluttered across the tent’s hem nearly from end to end.

It was highlighted, perhaps ironically, after nightfall, when King’s youngest runners set off in the meet’s fastest heats in all three distances. Freshmen Edgar Ortega and Francisco Zavaleta chiseled their names near the top of the King all time 9th grader lists in the 1600 and the 3200. Ortega notched a 4:33 1600 meter, moving within 2 seconds of the school record, while Zavaleta ran a 4:40 (4th all time) then came back just 50 minutes later to nearly topple the 9th grade best in the 3200 meters, running a stunning 10:05 on tired legs.

Sophomores Austin Fortenberry and Brian Green also had great performances. Fortenberry shaved 30 seconds off his 3200 best to go 10:01 while Brian ran sub 4:40 in the 1600. Fortenberry did that crunched double that Zavaleta endured with a PR in the 1600 a short 50 minutes before the 3200 going 4:35 in that race. During the day time, Brian ran a PR in the 800 going under 2:06 for the first time.  Mitchell Machuca won his heat of the 3200 meters with a lifetime PR of 10:13

Garrett Vasta dropped a big improvement in the 1600 as well with a 4:21.42 time, the 5th fastest in school history! 9th grader Bohdin Rush, who ran 5:35 in the opening time trial back in early February dropped down to 4:57. Jon Moncada had a good double in the 800 and 3200 with good PR’s, also with the two races painfully close together.

On the girls side, Amanda Sosa ran really well and scored a season-best in the 800 at 2:23, just a second off her PR. Jenna Bernath, Faith Chick, Justine Marshal, Sydney Grossi and Shelby Grossi all PR’d at that distance as well.  Mackenzie Peters won her 1600 heat with a time of 6:17, in her first race back after a long injury and rehab.

In the 1600, KaryLee Taylor had the fastest PR of the day for all King runners with a 5:21. Bernath added a second PR to her total on the day, while Emily Richmond, Gracy Lowry and Mariah Ngo all had significant drops in their best ever times.  The girls 3200 was full of great improvements, with Taylor, again, dropping a huge PR along with Joan Green who dipped under 12:00 for the two-mile race for the first time.  Sydney Magno also had a nice drop to 12:32.

Many of King’s athletes were smiling and happy after hard-earned improvements, which made for a PRetty good day.

Results 

A LITTLE RAIN AND LITTLE COMPETITION

Chino High School came to King High for the first-ever track meet between the two schools. The Cowboys’ small squads didn’t pose much of a challenge to the “army” that King Track and Field can put into competition at home meets and Chino had to acknowledge early on that they were over matched. King found little competition in almost every event and with a little rain dropping down through part of the meet, it was the setting for what could have been a complete wash-out in terms of performances. But resolve and drive kicked in for the Wolves, and the King kids kept apathy at bay and got a lot of good from the afternoon.

“Despite the lack of overall competition and the weather conditions, I thought our kids performed well” said head coach John Corona.

Amanda Sosa had a good double, winning both the 1600 and 800. Garrett Vasta had a lifetime best mark of 2:01.58 in the 800, putting him just outside the top 5 list at King, all time. This despite the fact that the rain poured in its heaviest form specifically during that race and he distanced his nearest rival by over 20 meters.

Reyte Rash, normally runs over hurdles, but instead took to the open track in the 400 and 200, going 51.66 in the full lap and 23.13 in the deuce. Luke Melton threw a PR in the discuss at 113-7.

In the 1600 and again in the 3200, the “Kiddie Corps” as Coach Corona refers to them as, a host of 9th and 10th graders running varsity swept the events. Freshman Edgar Ortega won it, but was followed by fellow underclassmen Austin Fortenberry, Francisco Zavaleta, Brian Green and Malachi Cabanilla to go 1-5. Zavaleta would come back to win the varsity 3200 in 10:32.50, the #7 freshman time in King’s history. “I love how they are developing and improving” Corona said after the meet of the band of frosh-soph distance runners that make up the bulk of this year’s varsity squad.

The girls throws had a great day, with Kimberly Garza dropping a 2 foot improvement in the shot at 34-8. Keiana Turner won the discus throw with a mark of 102-3. Newcomer to the event, Danita Young also got a big PR of over two feet from her previous best at 32-2 and a 20-foot improvement in the discus.

With the conclusion of the meet, the King concluded its preseason competition as well. The Big 8 league will open next week for the Wolves against a good set of teams at Santiago.

“Santiago is always a scary opponent and I anticipate a great competition next week.”

If that proves to be the case, one might predict even better performances than the ones delivered against Chino and a rain storm.

King Boys Varsity-93-Chino-29

King Girls Varsity-113-Chino-14

King Boys JV-101-Chino-3

King Girls JV-116-Chino-13

Photo Gallery      Results

RAIN DOESN'T DAMPEN GREAT EFFORTS IN SAN DIEGO

The track teams competed at the Bronco Invitational on Saturday hosted by Rancho Bernardo High School in northern San Diego County. King was the only Southern Section team in attendance at the popular and competitive meet.

A light drizzle of rain didn’t seem to dampen the efforts of the Wolves’ squad of mainly varsity-level athletes.

“This met always give us a bit of a gauge for our team” remarked coach John Corona. “If we can do well at the Bronco Invite, because of it’s level of competition, it bodes well for the season, and I felt we did well today” he said after the meet’s conclusion.

In the hurdles, Sarah Ann Frank and Reyte Rash both had outstanding performances. Frank, returning from a week off due to a shoulder separation suffered in practice, ran a PR in the 100 hurdles then came back and ran her second-best time of her career in the 300 hurdles. Rash did as well at 15.15 in the 110 highs, finishing second, and then came back later to win the 300’s in 39.39 over highly touted Josh Farmer of Rancho Bernardo. Sheredyn Pfeiffer won the “open division” of the long jump with an 8-inch personal best at 16′ 2.5″. With that leap, she’s closing in on the top-5 jumpers at King all time (KAT).

Shaelyn Johnson who starred in King’s women’s basketball program in the Winter is showing what great athletes do by crossing over into a second sport and was 2nd in the high jump with a clearance of 5-0. Kimberly Garza and Keiana Turner were 4th and 5th respectively in the discus and Lauren Peurifoy medaled in the 3200.

A handful of relay races are staged and in those King did well. The girls 4×100 squad of Anna Barry, Kayla Seldon, Grace Roberts and Pheiffer were third overall. The 4×800 team of Dathan Chann, Mazin Awad, Jon Moncada and Brian Green crossed the line in fifth, but it was the Distance Medley team (1200 meters, 400, 800 1600) of Joan Green, Skye Hutchinson, Carissa Avila and Kela Mavhera gradually moved from 7th, to 5th, to 3rd to first to earn the win after 2 1/2 miles of racing!

Garrett Vasta had a breakthrough race in the 1600 as he dropped a lifetime best of 4:26.88 in a soggy, tactical race where he beat several of San Diego’s top talent. In the freshmen-only version of the race, King’s top three 9th graders, Francisco Zavaleta, Edgar Ortega and Malachi Cabanilla gamely took over the race mid-way occupying the top three spots in lap two. At the bell, Cabanilla boldly made the first move going into the back stretch before Ortega would go ahead to finish third. Zavaleta finished with a PR as well. In the open 800 Mavhera and Amanda Sosa both medaled in the top three, while KaryLee Taylor ran a PR in the 1600, going under 5:30.

So it was a good day of racing, jumping and throwing. The weather seemed to have little impact on the meet, nor on the King kids who competed.

“We still have work to do” said Coach Corona of his very young and relatively inexperienced squad. But if the results from Rancho prove anything, it’s that it’s going to take more than a little precipitation to dampen the enthusiasm of the team.

Results Photos

AN IMPERFECT VICTORY ON A PERFECT DAY

The track and field teams took to their home track on Wednesday for the first time this season. The meet was conducted under cloudy skies and near “perfect” conditions as the temperatures were cool but not cold and, significantly, there was no hint of the ever present Orangecrest afternoon winds. Winds of any velocity tend to wreck a track meet’s potential and the cool afternoon was uncommonly still.

The Wolves competed against Yorba Linda High School and Alta Loma High School and while the home team won on all four levels, it wasn’t a perfect day.

“We didn’t do the little things well” commented head coach John Corona following the meet. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of the effort we showed and earning the win, but we still have a lot we can improve on.”

King’s ’18 squads are decidedly young and inexperienced and some of that showed throughout the meet. But there were some quality performances in a meet that ultimately showed King pulling away and winning by double digit scores over both opponents. In one of the first events of the meet, the 1600 meters, King’s distance runners swept, with Kela Mavhera, Amanda Sosa and KaryLee Taylor doing the duties; all with quality marks. Mavhera and Taylor would double back later to take 1-3 in the 3200 meters respectively. Ashley Chruszcz was third in the 400 with a season-best time.

All of the sprints had an uncommon occurrence in that the wind-readings were exactly 0.0 meters per second. That “perfect” environment of zero-head wind would aid the athletes who raced around the entire oval and was, obviously, a neutral factor for the sprinter. But those dashers did well, led by Sheridyn Pfeiffer in the 100 who placed second in a season-best mark of 13.01. She was 4th in the 200. Amanda Sosa and Joan Green were 2-3 in the 800 with well run races. Lanie Bavier won the pole vault and Keina Turner threw a personal record in the discus at 110′ 7″. She PR’d in the shot as well, an event King swept with Kimberly Garza for the win.

The boys were challenged early-on by a strong attack by Alta Loma, but the Wolves were able to gain day light between them and their opponents as the meet wore on. Aaron Costa helped make that happen in the shot with a PR of 41′ 4″. Cameron McCracken-Payo won the vault at 12′ 0″. Nick Beam was second in the 100 and Eric Roman was the runner-up in the 400.   Reyte Rash had two outstanding races in the hurdles.

Two of the distance races, the 800 and 3200 had exciting and impressive performances. In the 800, Brian Green and Mazin Awad were locked in a 2-lap battle with Max Mccarthy of Yorba Linda. All three entered the last 50 meters of the race essentially side-by-side but Awad and Green pulled away just at the end to finish in a near dead-heat. Awad took the victory but Green notched a lifetime best of 2:07 in the race.

Green would have the double of the day as he came back an hour later in the 3200, the second-to-last event on the docket and along with fellow sophomore Austin Fortenberry and three freshmen – Edgar Ortega, Malachi Cabanilla, and Francisco Zavaleta – the five ran consistent 80-second laps all the way to the bell lap when it was every-man-for-himself. Off they went in full sprint with Cabanilla briefly taking the lead before Fortenberry dug deep and got across the line first, dragging his young teammates with him just seconds in tow. Green finished third with a lifetime best of 10:36.

Cabanilla and Ortega notched the 8th and 9th fastest frosh times in school history; Zavaleta was just off the mark he ran last week at Vista Murrieta. It was a stellar race by all five young runners. Earlier, Ortega dropped the 10th fastest frosh time in school history in the 1600.

The meet had been close to that point, but the sweep by the 3200 runners and a 9-2 advantage in the pole vault that McCracken-Payo led broke it open in King's favor  

The youth movement that ended the meet is emblematic of the whole team this year. Which means a couple of things: There will be many highs and lows and we might just have to redefine what is considered “perfect”.

Girls JV: King-98-Yorba Linda-60-Alta Loma-12

Boys JV: King -71-Yorba Linda-36-Alta Loma-65

Girls Var: King-94.5-Yorba Linda-64-Alta Loma-11.5

Boys Var: King-75.5-Yorba Linda-43.5-Alta Loma-51

RESULTS   Some photos

TWO ARMIES SET ON ADVANCING

King Track and Field took to the field of competition on Wednesday against state-power Vista Murietta in the opening of the 2018 season. The two programs resembled something like an army, as Coach Coley Candeale of Vista and John Corona of King fielded a combined total of athletes that exceeded 550!

The meet was a scrimmage of sorts, non scoring; a way for both programs to get a feel of the the pulse of their respective teams. Candaele confessed that the flu had “ravaged” his team with a few dozen having missed considerable training time. John Corona, at the helm of King Track for 15 seasons, could sense the lack of team depth and experience. “It is a big concern going into the new season” he said. “Those two concerns were very evident as we went through the meet yesterday.”

Vista, despite their issues, was clearly at the lead of most events. They aren’t an annual State-ranked power for nothing after all. But even in their shadow, it was clear King’s young squad will have to double down on their efforts in practice in order to compete on a bigger stage.

Either way, it was a beginning and both armies, issues and all will undoubtedly move forward with purpose.

“As an entire program, coaches and athletes, we have a lot of work to do. Today gives us a great baseline from which to work. We will be getting better.” Corona said.

Despite being overwhelmed in a few events, the King kids gave their usual full effort which resulted in a number of fine performances on the day. Sarah Ann Frank ran a near PR in the 100 hurdles and an excellent early season time of 47.73 in the 300 hurdles. Naomi Benson was third in the 300’s with a lifetime best.

Reyte Rash has set notice for his junior year with a PR of 15.34 in the 110 hurdles and a sub 40 in the 300 hurdles. He looked very impressive in very cold temperatures and in the first meet of the season.

Keiana Turner tossed a PR in the discus at 101′ 8″ in the discus. Kim Garza had a toss in the shot over 32 feet. Akimi Scott recorded PR’s in the long and triple jump.

Garrett Vasta looked strong and comfortable in the 1600 and the 800, Eric Roman won the 400 meter in a solid time of 52.88. Sheredyn Pfiefer ran 12.88 in the 100 meters. Amanda Sosa who ran well in the 800 and finished third, seemed to reflect Corona’s attitude when she remarked, “It’s just the beginning, it’ll be a great track season.”

The day will go down in history as a cold one, with the wind chill shedding one’s sweats and stepping onto the track in the new light weight uniforms King debuted on Wednesday took a fair amount of bravery.

The same courage it will take to improve by May, when it’s likely going to be much warmer.

FIREWORKS, FRESNO AND A FAIRY TALE YEAR

The 99th running of the alifornia State Track and Field Championships was a spectacular event, just as it always is.  The stage is reserved for just the best of the bes in the State.  There are no divisions oftalent or school scize. There are no categories other than "competitive."  The meet is very hard to qualify for and after the final race is run, it ends with the boom and glitter of fireworks punctuating the brilliant fashion the close of an incredible track and field season.

Lauren Peurifoy was the lone King competitor at the meet, competing in the 3200 meters. Once again she put forth a ferocious race that capped off what was a fairy tale season and year for the young runner.

Lauren ended up doing the pace work for the field of 28, as Claudia Lane, (Malibu HS) the pre-race favorite and reigning national champion in cross country, scampered out at the gun to an insurmountable lead against a very impressive field of distance runners. The group tucked in behind her as Lauren led them through the mile at 5:15, some 30 meters behind Lane. She kept a consistent rhythm of 80 seconds a lap through the fifth circuit, then dropped it slightly through seven and closed with a 75 second final lap to finish in 8th place at 10:31.16.

The race capped off an incredible, even unbelievable, year of improvement for Lauren that catapulted her from a decent varsity runner as a freshman to one of the best in the state one year later. Last Fall in cross country, she finished within one second of the State title in D1, was runner up in the Southern Section and finished 25th in the country at the Nike Cross Country Nationals.

This season, Lauren set three school records and contributed to two more relay records. She earned a CIF championship in the 3200. She is ranked in the top 20 nationally for 3200 meters and her 10:23.14 PR for 3200 meters is the 7th fastest time for the distance in California this season.

Had you told her one year ago that this, an 8th place at the State Finals would be where she’d close out her sophomore year, Lauren may have laughed at it’s improbability.

But make no mistake. While getting to the State Championship in 2018 will be just as hard as it was this year, for this tenacious teenager, that goal has already been set.

2017 may be done, but bring on the next challenge.

Photos    Full Results

LANE ONE LEADS TO FRESNO FOR LAUREN PEURIFOY

For sprinters, lane one on the track is the least desirable spot to draw for a race. The tight turn at full speed is a disadvantage, and it’s reserved for the slowest seed in the race. For distance runners, lane one is the preferred choice, as it’s the shortest distance around the track.On Friday night at the CIF Masters’ meet, King’s sole contestant, Lauren Peurifoy took lane one for 8 laps of the track and found that if done just right, it leads all the way to Fresno. 

The Masters meet is an event held to qualify athletes from the CIF Southern Section on to the California State Championships held in Fresno the first weekend of June. For Lauren to advance, she’d have to finish in the top six spots (of the field of 12) or run faster than 10:36. She did both.

With Claudia Lane, the nation’s top runner at 3200 meters well out front, Lauren settled into the chase pack and held that spot until the final lap when it splintered just slightly. She ran well, splitting 5:10 at 1600 meters and closing with a 5:18 to cross the line in 10:28.81 and 6th overall. It was just off her personal best all time and was a very good race amid some of the best distance runners in all of California.

The incredible season (and year) that Lauren’s enjoyed will now go one more week, and as she had hoped for back in January, it will end in Fresno.

Event 17 Girls 3200 Meter ===============================

National H.S: # 9:48.59 5/24/1996 Kim Mortensen (Thousand Oaks)
CIF-SS Best: C 9:48.59 5/24/1996 Kim Mortensen, Thousand Oaks
State Qual: S 10:35.62

Name, Year, School Seed Finals

 1 393 Claudia Lane 10 Malibu 10:19.97 10:10.25S
2 853 Sylvia Cruz-Albrec 10 Oak Park 10:43.93 10:24.19S
3 857 Erika Adler 12 Northwood 10:32.89 10:24.62S
4 859 Elizabeth Chittend 12 Mira Costa 10:41.76 10:24.86S
5 856 Sara Leonard 11 Canyon/Anaheim 10:43.24 10:25.64S
6 862 Lauren Peurifoy 10 King, M.L. 10:43.75 10:28.81S
7 410 Annie Meeder 12 Paso Robles 10:44.37 10:29.03S
8 404 Trinity Ruelas 12 Bishop Amat 10:39.00 10:39.10
9 420 Evelyn Mandel 12 Great Oak 10:50.18 10:39.34
10 855 Sydney Hwang 10 Claremont 10:49.85 10:46.21
11 424 Sandra Pfughoft 11 Great Oak   10:56.18 10:46.46
12 423 Nicole Rice 12 Great Oak 10:53.63 11:05.89

PEURIFOY WINS CIF TITLE; BOYS TEAM FINISHES WELL

Sophomore Lauren Peurifoy closed out her freshman season 53 weeks ago with a 22nd place finish in the 3200 meter race at the CIF Prelims of 2016.  It wasn’t enough to even give her a sniff of the CIF Championship race.

Time, and a lot of hard work, has a way of changing things.

Since that race, the young runner has staged one of the biggest and measurable improvements in the state, not just in track but also last Fall in cross country were she was the CIF D1 Runner up in the Southern Section, at the State Championships, and 25th at the Nike Nationals.

She entered the CIF SS D1 Finals on Saturday at Cerritos College as the top seed and for 8 laps of the track she dared all contenders to chase her. She lead from the gun and never relinquished it to win her first CIF title. Her time for the two mile race was 10:43. Her accomplishment also qualified her to compete at the CIF Masters meet to be held on Friday, a meet that combines the top 12 finishers from four CIF Divisions into one race as a means to qualify for the State Championship.

Alec Jones closed out his high school career in the discus with his best throw ever, landing the disc 159′ 5″ from the ring. It was good for All CIF honors in fifth place. It stands the number-two throw in King history!

Phil Griggs competed in the 4×100 relay, the 400 and the 1600 relay and had another outstanding day, fitting for a kid who’s had an outstanding season. In the 400, he finished seventh but raced to an improvement on his own school record in the event.

In both relays, he helped the squads to fine finishes. The 400 relay of Griggs, Jaylen Moore, Nick Beam and Kyle Sana were 6th overall, just off their season-best time, but in that position, earned All CIF distinction.

The 4×400 team of Griggs, Jeremy Young, Blake Gelinas and Dillon Lay were seventh, and at 3:20.63, were just a fraction of a second off the school record they had just set one week ago in the CIF Prelims.

Lay competed in the 110 high hurdles, running 15.00 and finishing seventh to close out his career. While disappointed in that outcome, given that he was the second alternate in 2016, the growth Dillon demonstrated this year rivals the growth of Lauren’s.

While the boys’ season now comes to an end, Lauren will continue on, looking for an opportunity to take that lane one distance runners use all the way to Fresno.

Photos  Results

KATHRYN HAMMAR SELECTED AS KING HIGH'S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

ince the school opened in 1999, the Athletic Directors have chosen the "King High Athlete of the Year" and honored the recipients at the end of the school year.

It's an honor given to those who have achieved well on the "playing field" as well as exemplified the qualities of high character that all student-athletes are expected to maintain.

The 2016-17 student-athletes were Bradley Kleven who played football and volleyball and Kathryn who ran track and cross country.

To read the full story on both student-athletes, please click here. 

Kathryn is one of a long line of track and field athletes who have been selected for the honor. Here is the list of all boys and girls who have competed in track that have earned the top honor from the athletic department. 

2016 - Tyler Janes (Cross Country and Track) 

2011 - Lane Werley (Cross Country and Track) 

2010 - Justin DeCoud (Football, Track) 

2008 - Marques Lea (Football, Basketball, Track) 

2005 - Ian Peebles (Football, Soccer and Track) 

2004 - Michael Myers (Football and Track) 

2002 - Marvin Lea (Basketball and Track)

2017 - Kathryn Hammar (Cross Country and Track) 

2013 - Tayler Fleming (Soccer and Track) 

2012 - Cydnie Jones (Basketball and Track) 

2011 - Hanna Peterson (Cross Country and Track) 

2010 - Kelsi Tippets (Cross Country and Track) 

2009 - Kelsi Tippets (Cross Country and Track) 

2008 - Lotolelei Franklin (Basketball and Track) 

2005 - Stephanie Erdodi (Basketball and Track) 

2004 - Megan Fairley (Cross Country and Track) 

2003 - Markisha Lea (Volleyball, Basketball, Track) 

2001 - Markisha Lea (Basketball and Track) 

TICKETS PUNCHED TO THE BIG DANCE AT THE D1 PRELIMS

In sports, if an athlete or team makes it to “the Big Dance” it is universally understood to mean one has arrived, you’ve made it. The championship game is yours. To wit, the NCAA refers to their championship basketball game each March as “The Big Dance”

On Saturday at Trabuco Hills High School in Lake Forest, King track and field athletes were competing to qualify for a Big Dance of their own, the CIF D1 Finals, to be held one week hence at Cerritos College. The challenge was made a bit tougher for some, as the meet happened to coincide with another big dance known as Prom, that would pull, distract or flat out interrupt the quest of some to move on to the coveted competition in the sport of track and field.

Amid that “competition” with Prom, King faced real, human competition in the form of hundreds of other like-minded athletes who wanted one of only nine qualifying positions in each event for themselves. Many of them are among the best athletes not only in Division One of CIF-SS, but in the whole state! A few more are counted among the best in the nation.

Those were the stakes and King ultimately punched their tickets to the CIF Finals in six events.

King had male athletes in 10 different events and six of them would earn the right to move on, starting with the boys 4×100 team of Kyle Sana, Nick Beam, Phil Griggs and Jaylen Moore. They ran a stirring effort that placed fifth overall. Dillon Lay was next to go after running an outstanding race in the 110 meter high hurdles, to finish sixth. Phil Griggs was 8th in the 400 meters, and while Blake Gelinas would not qualify in the 200, he still managed to run (in lane two!) a PR of 22.41 that earns him the fifth best mark in King’s 18 season history!

Another PR and list-maker was Josiah Molascon who became only the second pole vaulter in King’s history to clear 14 feet! His mark, while exceptional, was not good enough to qualify for Finals, but he ends his career at King with the second-best vault in school history. Josiah is moving to Colorado this summer.

Alec Jones had an outstanding outing in both throwing events, with PR’s in both. It was in the discus however, where his toss of 155′ 5″ – the second-best throw in school history – was fifth overall and a spot into next week’s Big Dance. It is the first time in school history that King will put a thrower in the ring at CIF D1 Finals.

The meet was capped off with a second amazing effort by the boys 4×400 team of Lay, Griggs, Gelinas and Jeremy Young. Needing another outstanding race in two weeks to finish in the top nine, they did just that and set another school record after the one they had inked at the Big 8 League Finals. They lowered their SR to 3:20.42 which was the 8th fastest time on the day and will run again next week in Cerritos.

On the girls’ side, Lauren Peurifoy, the top seed of all contenders in the 3200, ran a solid effort to qualify relatively easily for the Big Dance. She would be the only girl to do so for King.

Sarah Ann Frank missed qualifying by just two places in the 100 hurdles, running 15.53. In the 1600 meters Kathryn Hammar and Kela Mavhera had outstanding races despite not qualifying for Finals. Kathryn – who is headed to UCR in the Fall – ran a lifetime best in her final 1600 meter race of high school, finishing in 5:08.18, the sixth-best time in school history! Kela, only a freshman, dropped her personal record to 5:12.26, and ended her outstanding 9th grade year with the second fastest 1600 for a freshman in school history, just two seconds behind Ruth Wiggins’ 5:10 set back in 2013.

For some the Prom was still waiting for them in Long Beach after their events and a needed shower were completed.

But for nine of King’s finest, another Big Dance is on the horizon. This one will be at Cerritos, and it’s dance floor will be made of track and field.

Results 

TEAMS PLAY THE KING OF HEART ... AND WIN

King track and field has long had a reputation for finishing big at league finals. It’s history is littered with exemplary performances on the “final night” of league competition and the 2017 edition of the Championships was no different.

They might have actually taken it up a notch.

Thursday night at Norco High School against the entire Big 8 League, what coaches, teammates and spectators witnessed may have just outdone what’s been done before. It was a spectacular display of grit, talent, desire and, maybe most importantly, sportsmanship. Coaches were choking back tears as they watched their athletes dig deeper than ever before. Across every event group, the King kids found themselves out-doing what seemed previously impossible. 

It really was a special night.

“What was great tonight was that few people expected us to do what we did. This group has come incredibly far. As frustrating as some parts of our season have been, tonight was truly a joy” Head Coach John Corona exclaimed. Sprint coach Mat Vasal added, “absolutely blessed, they ran their hearts out, every single one of them.”

While Vasal’s words could easily apply to the performances King’s athletes exhibited the entire evening, he was specifically referring the last event of the night, the 4×400 meter relay. In it, while the boys would finish a fraction of a second behind Roosevelt for second place, Jeremy Young, Blake Gelinas, Dillong Lay and Phil Griggs churned through four laps in 3:21.37; closing a gap to Roosevelt’s crew with each circuit. The effort rewrote the record-list as the mark is the fastest in school history.

Which happened more than once. Dillon Lay, whose last name might be appropriate given how many times you’ll see him sprawled out on the track just past the finish line, once again laid it all out in both hurdle races, pushing Roosevelt’s Anthony Easter – one of the best hurdlers in the US – in both of the difficult and exhausting races.

Lay would take second in the 110 high’s but in the 300’s, the two crashed the finish line, collapsing to the ground. The meet announcer gave a verbal win to Easter as that’s what the score board initially reported. But after the computer sorted things out, it was reversed as Lay and Easter were separated out by two-thousandth’s of a second, 38.156 to 38.158!

The crowd erupted as the call was corrected while Lay and Easter tried to extricate themselves from the ground and then congratulated the other on an all out effort that gave the crowd a thrill and Dillon Lay a new school record.

It was that kind of incredible sportsmanship that seemed to mark much of the night. Gregg Sjoerdsma, who was the judge of the high jump event and watched the meet was stunned.

“I heard tonight described (by someone) as ‘soul filling.’ I completely agree!! The effort, attitude and sportsmanship demonstrated by many athletes from many schools, but especially by King athletes, frequently brought me near tears” “The hand-shakes before and after races, the hugs of consolation, and the helping hand for the fallen competitor of any team truly demonstrated what many of (us) believe athletes can and should be, and it’s what is worn on the sleeves of our athletes and called PEAK.” he said.

What Sjoerdsma witnessed was not lost on anyone who was paying attention. In the 100 meter dash, Jaylen Moore at 80 meters in, literally bobbled a few steps to stay in his lane but still managed to win over the last ten meters of effort. In the 200, King’s boys swept all five of the top places, a feat that’s never been done in the nine years of the Big 8 League finals. Phil Griggs, Moore, Gelinas, Jeremy Young and Eric Roman looked like the Four (or five) Horsemen of the Apocalypse coming off the turn in tandem and storming down the straight for a sight few have ever seen outside of a dual meet. Griggs won the 400 as well to take both of the longer sprint championships.  

Kathryn Hammar was beside herself with exhausted excitement after she crossed the line in the 800 in third place, earning a ticket to advance to CIF. Her tears were not so much for the 3 second PR in the event but the recognition that a long return to fitness and CIF was complete. Last November, she was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her foot and missed competing in King High’s cross country team’s journey to a sixth place finish in the Division One State Championship. It was a long rehab and an exercise in patience for the senior. The tears fell liberally, bent in their path only by cheeks turned by shock and joy.

Lauren Peurifoy won a league title twice, scampering out ahead of all contenders in the 1600 and the 3200. Her 4:59.56 1600 meter time was just one second off the league record. Freshman Kela Mavhera ran another great race to take third in the 1600 and punch her ticket to CIF. Rebekah Pendleton ran a lifetime PR in the 3200 to finish third and also qualify for CIF.

Sarah Ann Frank raced well again in the hurdles, something she’s been doing for three years now. She finished second in the 100’s and third in the 300’s, behind Breanna Bernard-Joseph of Roosevelt and Shae Anderson of Norco, who have posted times that are nationally ranked this season. Sheredyn Pfeiffer ran a lifetime best in the 200 to finish sixth, an effort that was required of her as all but one of the five finishers ahead also ran their lifetime PR’s!

Andrew Wilde and Josiah Molascon qualified for CIF in the vault with 13-6 clearances. Alec Jones who earlier this season established himself as the fourth best shot putter in King’s history finished second in the discus with a toss of 144′ and was the runner up in the shot as well.

But something happened near the end of the meet, away from the track or field that seemed to exemplify all that King Track and Field is about, and perhaps illustrates the sense that Gregg Sjoerdsma had about the day.

Coach Corona gave a short talk to the Girls 4×400 team about 30 minutes before their race and found senior Breanna Fatten in tears.

“I was unclear as to why and eventually Coach Vasel told me that she had hurt herself in the 400″, Corona said.

“Fatty” as she’s affectionately called, was limping around and trying hard to make it look good. She desperately wanted to compete and finish her career out on the track.

“By the look of it, I believed she knew racing was near impossible” the veteran coach said as he assessed the situation. Given the injury, Vasel sent for Kayla Seldon, King’s freshman 400 runner (who thought she was done for the day) out to warm up and prepare to possibly take Breanna’s place.

Corona described what happened next, something that likely no one was privy to: “Coach Vasel, Breanna and I met by the fence and discussed the situation and the talk turned to taking her out of the relay.”

“But I want to run,” Fatty said.

“I certainly understood but to what end was all that going to lead? So I said to her, ‘Wanting to run and being able to run are two different things’ and the decision was arrived at, Kayla was in.” 

“We asked Breanna to go over and let Kayla know and to let her know that she was behind her.”

“Breanna did more than that” he went on. “She went over to tell Kayla what was going on and as she did, she folded her arms around her. The two athletes embraced for a long time and what Breanna had to tell her I have no idea, but as I watched I could see the ‘passing of the baton’ … the four-year senior co-captain, who had so many challenges during her career and overcame most of them, was telling her young counterpart, “I can’t go. It’s up to you now. You’ve got to do it for us and I know you can.”

Eyes glazed from near tears, Kayla nodded and held tight to her “track sister.”

The King High girls 2017 4×400 team of Kayla, Larissa Cesena, Ashley Chruszcz and Sarah Ann Frank finished in 5th place in the race. It was a far cry from a CIF berth but Kayla ran her fastest split of the year and the girls, overall, ran their best time of the season (4:07.70) in passing the stick around four laps of the track.

However, it was the baton that passed between teammates some 20 minutes before the race that exhibited what King Track and Field is really all about. A meet can have the heroics of a five man sweep in the 200, or an individual girl winning two titles or a kid splayed out on the track in the effort to earn a win, but it’s the hundreds of other little individual personal records and relationships that give kids the proof that crossing the finish line knowing you’ve given your all is what life is all about.

King will send a healthy contingent of 20 athletes on to CIF, and a host of others went home with medals or patches to commemorate the day. But all that is just icing on the cake, for what really mattered was measured in sweat and grit and high fives and maybe even too, a few tears.

They played the “King of Heart” and they won.

Results Prelims day (with a few field event and JV finals)  Finals

Photo Gallery

LAST CHANCE FOR A BEST EFFORT

The Corona Soph/Frosh Showdown has for the past six years been where students not headed to their respective league finals, have a last chance at a medal or that PR that can propel them into next season looking for more. That formula certianly fit for a number of the 100 or so King Track youngsters who took to the competition this past Saturday under blustery, warm conditions at Corona High.

A good number of Wolves hit their PR's (Personal Records) in what for many was their final competition of 2017. Sarah Stecher laid down a 10 second improvement in the 1600 while Jose Cervantes hit a 5:11.17 in the same event making that his best 1600 of the year. Alexis Fisher-Davis hit her best mark in the 100 hurdles coming in at 19.9 and earning a medal for her efforts. The triple jump quartet of Akemi Scott, Mia Brawley, Jalene Rodriquez and Kaylee Song hit PR marks and Scott also got her best jump of the season at 12-11 in the long jump. Tristan Knearl doubled PRed in the pole vault and Ashley Emerson also got her best ever in the discus. Yvette Ordanez also out-shined herself in the pole vault. Luke Melton got the discus out to his personal best at 110-1 inch which earned him a 4th place overall.

For those not hitting those best-ever marks, there was plenty of medal-earning going on. Grace Roberts dropped down from the varsity for a day to earn three medals in the 100, 200 and the 4 x 100 relay. Teammates Julianne Malolos, Naomi Bensen, and Brooklyn Black helped carry the baton in the relay to a second place finish at 51.5 Malolos and Bensen also picked up medals in the 100. Myles Taylor got two medals in the triple jump and the pole vault. Haley Marts tossed the discus out for a 5th place finish. Reagan Alley notched a 4th place finish in the high jump and Jakeem Walker earned a medal for his efforts in the same event.

The King hurdling crew picked up hardware as well with Cameron Jones and Roman Bohanek placing in the 110 hurdles and Roman doubling back to a medal winning effort in the 300's.

The best effort of the day and the most courage shown through the day though, probably came from Jada Ginwright. She was leading her heat in the 300 hurdles handily when she went down on the 6th hurdle, entering the home stretch. She got up and STILL won her heat. No medal and no PR to show for her efforts but a true exhibition of the 3 C's!!!!

Class, Courage and  Character are the three pillars upon which King Track and Field has stood for almost twenty years.  They uphold competition with integrity and the grit and perseverance to aim for one's best, even if ... or especially if ... it's the last competition of the season.

Results 

TEAMS SECURE SECOND PLACE AT CENTENNIAL

The last dual meet of the Big 8 season took place at Centennial High in Corona. While King won easily, the margin of victory was less than its historically been over the Huskies, indicative of a Centennial program that is starting to improve.

Still, for King, both the boys and the girls won and in so doing concluded the team portion of the Big 8 season with “runner up” status behind Roosevelt, to whom the Wolves lost two weeks ago.

Individually, the King kids performed well, collectively contributing to the victories. 9th grader, Kayla Seldon had a PR in the 200, finishing in second place and was exuberant in excitement after the clock revealed her time. “I got a PR!” she exclaimed with glee to coach Edwin Jones. In the 1600, Kela Mavhera, Kathryn Hammar and Amanda Sosa swept the race and notched lifetime best times in the process. Joelle Ramos PR’d in the 3200, finishing in third. Lanie Bavier and Rachel Norys both vaulted to PR’s, finishing in third and fourth respectively. The long jumpers had a tremendous day, with Gabriela Sanabria, Jenai Thompson and Tresure Rucker all PR’ing in the long jump to sweep.

Cardell Walder did the same in his long jump, landing at 20′ 9″, a PR and second place in the event. Markell Wells took third in the high jump with a best ever 5-4. Dillon Lay was once again amazing in the 110 hurdles, nearly tying his best ever race at that distance. Reyte Rash continued to show fine improvement in the event. Phil Griggs won the 200, while Jaylen Moore won an exciting 100 meter dash with a photo finish. Josiah Molascon, Ryan Bavier and Andrew Wilde swept the pole vault.

Next week the sport turns to “individual” as qualifying athletes will compete in the Big 8 League Finals, where, while no team scores will be kept, the stage will be set to crown individual titles for every event and in turn, give athletes the chance to move on to CIF.

Results

HOT DAY, HOT PERFORMANCES AT IE CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Inland Empire Championships, held yearly at Vista Murrieta High School and featuring many of the best track teams and athletes in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties is a setting that naturally will produce outstanding results, and 2017 was no exception.

Given that the temperatures rose on Saturday to the mid-90's, "hot times" had more than one meaning on the day in which many King athletes produced their best times and marks of the season. The boys team finished 7th of the 37 teams that scored at least one point on the day.

Heat is actually a blessing for sprinters as it allows for greater mobility and speed, and that showed. Among the 23 personal records (PR) King athletes recorded on the day, a sizable number of those came in races shorter than 800 meters.

“The theme of the day was PR, PR, PR” Coach Corona said after the number of quality performances was counted.

Phil Griggs, Jeremy Young and Eric Roman all ran PR’s in the 200 meters. Griggs ran near his best ever in the 400 while Blake Gelinas had his season best time in that event. Jericka Roshell and Kayla Seldon had best times in the 200 as well for the ladies.

The hurdlers were on fire, as Dillon Lay, Josh Fisher and Jacob Knerl all posted fast times for their season and career. Karla Lemus and Jasmine Jimenez did likewise in their heats of the 100 hurdles.

In the longer races, the heat played a factor in the times, but Rebekah Pendleton was able to snag a PR in the 3200 in the relatively cool temperature of the early morning. Garrett Vasta ran a really fine race in the 1600, finishing in second in the Frosh Soph race. Kela Mavhera did the same, finishing second in her 1600 FS race with a 5:19.93 race.

Andrew Wilde was also the second place finisher in the pole vault, but at 13-09, now owns the third best vault in King High’s history. Gabby Sanabria was third in the triple jump, followed in sixth Tresure Rucker.

Last, but certainly not least, Trey Anderson was the Frosh Soph champion in the triple jump with a leap of 41′ 6″, his best ever. It’s also the second longest triple jump by a sophomore in King’s history, just one inch by standout Blake Bergstrom, set back in 2012.

Results 

FINAL HOME MEET GIVES WOLVES TWO WINS

With the names of all the 2017 seniors on large posters hanging along the fence lining the finish stretch of the track, King Track and Field concluded their home schedule for this season, and for its seniors, their final competition on their home track and field. Appropriately for a final farewell, both the boys and girls defeated Corona handily.

One of those seniors, Alec Joneshad the best day, perhaps, of them all, out in the discus. In an event in which King’s top five all time list has remained unchanged for six years, Jones cracked the code with a tremendous toss of 153′ 6″ to land at the third all-time best throw in school history. He won the event, leading PR-throwing Jacob Melton and Nathaniel Punla who ended up in second and third respectively. Jones also won the shot put, leading the way for a King sweep of that event. He was followed in second and third by Brett Shiflett and Marcos Gonzalez. The team would go on to a commanding, 101-35 victory.

The girls contest was a bit closer than that in the score, but King prevailed 82-54. An outstanding result came in the girls 800 meters where Kela Mavhera and Amanda Sosa went 1-2, but all five Lady Wolves in that event, including Kela and Amanda ran lifetime personal records. Carissa Avila, Skylar Smith and Joelle Ramos were the other three who went home faster than they’ve ever been over a half-mile.

With one league meet remaining – Centennial next week on the road – both of King’s teams are sitting in second place in the league, behind Roosevelt.

EIGHT CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS EARNED IN RAINCROSS TRADITION

The Riverside City Championships had long been a feature on the track and field calendar, grabbing attention and headlines from 1968 until it’s demise in 1993.

Behind the vision of King head coach John Corona, the meet was brought back to life in 2010 and re-named “The Raincross Tradition.” In the seven years since that re-inaugural, the event has grown in popularity. Here in 2017, all but one of the schools “in town” attended. Included were Moreno Valley, Jurupa Valley and Rubidoux, while not officially members of the “city” of Riverside, all were participants during the early years of the meet and therefore invited to the party.

For host school, Martin Luther King High, (and, ironically, the newest school in Riverside) it turned out to be a very good day, especially after the tough and disappointing defeat they suffered to Roosevelt High just days earlier.

In all, King athletes earned 8 “City Champion” titles for winning their respective events.

Freshman Kela Mavhera who is having a very fine year contributing at the varsity level won TWO titles, coming in the mile and the 3200 meters. Her 3200 time of 11:48 is now the fourth fastest ninth grade time in school history. Rebekah Pendelton was the runner up in that event at 12:10.

Alec Jones had a monster day in the throws, winning in the shot with a personal record (PR) of 49′ 4.5″. He would be the runner up in the discus with Jacob Melton right behind him in third.

The girls 4×100 relay of Anna Berry, Sheridyn Pfeiffer, Grace Roberts and Amahari Pewett was the first event of the day and the first championship for King as the four girls carried the baton nicely — and quickly — around one circuit of the track for the win. Sheridyn would later place third in the 100 meter dash.

Soph Garrett Vasta had a very nice performance in the mile, running 4:33 and pulling away at the bell for the victory. In the 3200, Andrew Simpson would run his best-ever time of 10:03, while Austin Dai and Jonathan Moncada earned medals for top-five finishes.

Liz Curtis was the winner in her specialty, the shot put, placing the ball at 34′ 10.5″. Kimberly Garza PR’d in that event to finish in third, then came back to place second in the discus as well. Ashley Chruszcz (pronounced “crush”) had her best race of the season in the 400, running a season record of 1:00.46 for second place. Carissa Avila, while finishing fifth in the mile was smiling broadly with the PR that the effort brought her. Same was Sky Smith who was fifth in the 800, also with a lifetime best.

Last, but certainly not least, were the championships earned by Josiah Molascon in the pole vault, and Gabriela Sanabria in the triple jump. Josiah soared to a height of 13-6 to win in a lifetime PR, while Gabriela also leaped out to her lifetime PR of 34′ 8.5″. Alyssa Drake and Janai Thompson medaled twice in both of the horizontal jumps. Trey Anderson and Rick Gore were the runners up in the two horizontal jumps as well.

Riverside was once considered a “track town”, amid the shining stars of many talented athletes across the spectrum of sports. From Riverside have come numerous Olympians in the sport. While the title of “track town” no longer applies to the city, the Raincross Tradition is certainly an attempt to breathe life back into that idea.

Results     A Few Photos

RECORD ASSAULT AT MT.SAC RELAYS

Due to construction of a brand new track and field facility at it’s home in Walnut, the Mt.SAC Relays, long one of the most prestigious invitationals in the land, was moved to the stadium at El Camino College in Torrance.

From King, that's a much farther commute, but it proved to be worth the effort as the select group of King standouts used the opportunity to launch an assault on the record books. By the time they made the long drive home, significant changes were in order to King's all time lists.

Phil Griggs, who has been painstakingly chipping away at the 400 meter school record which has stood since Phil was three years old, finally came to pass. Finishing second in his best event wasn’t of much concern, as the coveted title of “School Record Holder” was finally earned with a 49.12 circuit of the track.

The Distance Medley Relay is a unique race that sees four runners exchange between 1200, 400, 800 and 1600 meters. King’s record in the event was a very good 12:19, dating back to 2010. For Kathryn Hammar, Breanna Fatten, Amanda Sosa and Lauren Peurifoy, there was only one reason to drive to Torrance and that was to break that record, and they did just that, taking it down by 14 seconds!

The girls shuttle relay team (4×100 meters of ten hurdle flights) of Sarah Al-Khalili, Jasmine Jimenez, Sarah Ann Frank and Larissa Cesena has used the 2017 season to not only set the school record in the event, but re set it numerous times over, which they did again, taking it down to 1:05.57. Frank was entered in the 100 and 300 hurdles as well, and ran a season best of 46.03 in the longer race.

The boys shuttle relay team did not set a record, but did race to a victory in their heat, taking home some very nice — and very heavy — medals for the win. Reyte Rash, Dillon Lay, Josh Fisher and Jacob Knerl did the work running 1:02.93. Lay would be busy, competing in the open of the 110 high hurdles and the 300’s where he ran solid season times and won the 110’s as a result.

The journey to El Camino College may have been a long one for the kids of Riverside, but that’s an illustration of what it takes to get to the top.

Just ask the nine who came back with a new school record. The journey may have been long, but the reward was well worth it.

Results

MUSTANGS RUN AWAY WITH IT IN LEAGUE SHOWDOWN

The Roosevelt Mustangs have been the dominant power in the Big 8 league for most of the last decade, and the early returns here in 2017 indicate they haven’t lost their stride. Though the King girls would beat Roosevelt by a point in the 2016 contest, gaining the league title in the process, this year’s edition saw the Mustangs at full gallop and distance King’s girls and boys teams by over twenty points on both sides.

“I have no problem at all with the effort many of you showed today” Coach Corona told his teams after the scores were announced. “Especially against a team that has a chance at winning the CIF D1 championship this year.”

Indeed, the outcome did not necessarily mean that King let the Mustangs get away without a fight. There was a sense of determination and King was able to find gaps in the Roosevelt armor that could be breached and that focus led to King setting 89 new personal records on the day in all events, JV and varsity combined!

One area of success was in the throws, where Alec Jones and Jacob Melton went 1-3 in the discus; Jones throwing a personal best of 147-03. Kimberly Garza and Liz Curtis were second and third respectively for the girls in the shot put.

The King girls distance runners did well, sweeping the 1600 meters behind Lauren Peurifoy’s win at 5:11. Kela Mavhera ran King’s second-fastest all time Freshman time at 5:15.19 and Kathryn Hammar ran a personal best of 5:17.48. The jumpers had a good day as well, sweeping the triple jump with Gabriella Sanabria, Alyssa Drake, and Janai Thompson taking the spots and all 9 available points. Drake and Thompson would go 2-3 in the long jump, Thompson leaping a personal best of 15-8.25.

Sarah Ann Frank and Larissa Cesena were 2nd and 3rd in the hurdles, but they were racing alongside Roosevelt’s talented Bernard-Joseph who ranks 19th in the country in the 100 hurdles.

Phil Griggs won the 200 meters and the 400 meters, with a time in the 400 that is 3-thousandths of a second behind the school record. In the 1600, though King would be shut out of the top four spots behind the Mustangs who boast one of the best distance teams in the state, the drive and mettle of Mario Machuca and Austin Dai was on display. Both seniors ran well, dropping PR’s in the process of 4:32 and 4:35 respectively. In 7th place was Jon Moncada who also ran a PR of 4:39.

Dillon Lay had two second-place runs in the hurdles, but won the long jump with a personal best of 20-11.5. Andrew Wilde was the runner-up in the pole vault with a clearance of 12-6.

Only time will tell if Roosevelt can indeed go on to a CIF title in May. Here in April they proved to be too talented and balanced for the Wolves to keep pace, and in the victories, likely locked up another league championship.

Results     Photo Gallery    Riverside Press Enterprise story

ARCADIA'S GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY GLITTERS

The 50th running of the Arcadia Invitational ended its second day with what any meet organizer would have wanted on such an anniversary. 600 schools, from 31 states in the nation, thousands of talented track and field athletes, national records set and the participation of a US Olympian, well, you couldn’t have asked for much more.

That’s what the best meet in the country draws, and Arcadia didn’t disappoint.

In the 300 hurdles, Rio Olympic Games alum and senior in high school, Sydney McLaughlin from New Jersey, made her season debut and proceeded to take down the national record in the event, eclipsing the previous national best, set back in 2001, by over a second. In her post race remarks, she reflected a maturity that would do well for an athlete of any level by saying, “I take it one meet at a time, one practice at a time. I don’t look to the future.” Click here for the LA Times story.

Yea, it’s not a normal high school meet when an Olympian decides to take part.

Tara Davis of Agoura, who has her own Olympic-sized talent set a state record in the 100 hurdles at 13.01 and won the long and triple jumps for good measure. In the boys 3200, where breaking 9:00 for the race is considered a feat of excellence, a full 25 boys dipped under that magic barrier behind Cooper Teare’s meet record of 8:41.

The girls 3200, in which King’s sophomore Lauren Peurifoy was competing, was just as exciting, as the 2016 Nike Cross National champion Brie Oakley of Colorado and the Footlocker National Champ Claudia Lane of Malibu met for the first time and raced side-by-side for all eight laps, only 3-thousands of a second at the line gave Lane the win. Lauren was busy doing her own version of amazing at the lead of the chase pack. Running the event for only the second time this season, she latched onto a field that was loaded with talent and took it for the ride it could offer. In fifth place for most of the race, she relinquished four spots in the final lap but ran an outstanding 10:23.14, a 21 second improvement off the school record she set back in early March.

Dillon Lay took to his specialty, the 300 hurdles, and in the day portion of the meet raced incredibly well. He was quick to the lead over the first flight but in the final 100 meters was caught, then passed as he clipped the final hurdle. But 10 meters remained and with a gutsy, competitive dive at the finish line he earned the heat win and at 38.76, dropped the third-fastest time in King’s history … just 3/10ths off the school record. He would double in the 110 high hurdles and run his season-best time of 14.86.

Phil Griggs had another good weekend of racing in the 400 after improving his best-ever in the distance one week earlier at the Trabuco Hills invite. Here at Arcadia he ran one lap of the track in 49.62, just off his personal best.

King also had a few relay races through the morning and early afternoon. The boys 4×100 group of Griggs, Nick Beam, Carson Walder and Jaylen Moore ran a 44.23 time and the distance medley team of Austin Dai, Blake Gelinas, Mazin Awad and Garrett Vasta raced to an 11:08.91 time, while the girls distance medley crew of Allison Janes, Ashley Chruszcz, Amanda Sosa and Kathryn Hammar raced to a 21:08.85 clocking.

There under a bright sun that eventually gave way and was replaced by the stadium lights, the 50th Annual Arcadia Invitational glittered. “We had a smaller crew than usual” head coach John Corona said, “but we had some really solid performances.”

Fitting for a golden anniversary celebration.

Full Results      Photos

TWO FOR ONE AT ARCADIA - DAY ONE STORY

With over 600 schools from across the nation represented at the 50th annual Arcadia Invitational, it takes two full days of action to pull off the most competitive and arguably the most prestigious high school invitational in the country.

Qualifying for one of the coveted entries is difficult and each of those hundreds of schools that arrived in the city just east of Pasadena sent only their best.

On “Day One” of the meet, King’s best did what the best often do … they set two school records. The first came in the 100 meter shuttle relay race in which four athletes race the hurdles alternating back and forth, one at a time. The team of Sarah Al-Khalili, Jasmine Jimenez, Larissa Cesena and Sarah Ann Frank had already set the school mark back in mid-March at the Chino Relays, but they used the electric and competitive atmosphere that is the Arcadia Invitational to lower their own school record by almost another second. They finished third in the “seeded” heat at 1:06.74.

The girls distance team, which is enjoying a banner year after finishing 6th in D1 at the cross country State Championships last November, brought that momentum to their event Friday night, the 4×1600 meter relay. Amanda Sosa, Kathryn Hammar, Allison Janes and Lauren Peurifoy each ran an outstanding carry to finish 12th in the “Invitational” heat, the fastest of the two heats the meet contested. Their time of 21:08.85 dropped a record that had stood since 2013 by 15 seconds.

While the group of Dillon Lay, Josh Fisher, Reyte Rash and Jacob Knerl didn’t set a school record in their heat of the 110 Meter Shuttle Hurdles, they did compete well and finished second behind Los Altos High.

More of King’s best will be on the line throughout Saturday.

SUPERSTITIONS ASIDE, FUTURE STARS GET THE STAGE

If one is given to superstition, the 13th running of the King High Frosh Soph Classic held on April 1 could have been considered an event to avoid. Coincidence of numbers and dates would have been just too much.

Fortunately, such things are silliness, useful only for humorous pranks and interesting speculation, and 16 schools came to compete, spurning numerology and mythology. Each school was limited to freshmen and sophomores, kids that due to the constraints of most high school invitationals would not get the chance normally to compete.

This was their stage and they did well on it. Murrieta Mesa got things rolling with a victory in the day's first event, the 4x100 relay, winning on the girls' side. Rancho Verde, a school that has one of the better sprint corps in the CIF Southern Section won the boys relay in a time of 44.84.

In honor of Martin Luther King, the school's namesake, the 1600 was bumped up nine meters to the full mile and dubbed the "I Have a Dream Mile" as the iconic distance slowly works back into popularity from its historic beginnings. Lauren Peurifoy of King, one of the best in the state this season in the distances was unchallenged from the gun and ran alone to a meet record of 5:03.77, which would have eclipsed the old 1600 meet record set by Claire Graves two seasons back. On the boys side, it was a much closer contest with Jacob Moran of Serrano High, Lorenzo Orozco of Rancho Verde and Garret Vasta of King all racing together until the separation at the end in that order. They were all at 4:35 or better. Later, in the 800 distance, Santiago's Cayla Ethridge and teammate Samantha Velazquez ran very strong, going 1-2 with only the camera separating out the finish in a photo split. Santiago's Riley Corcoran was third, giving the Sharks a clean sweep of the event. Trever Nguru of Rancho Verde won the boys 800 in 2:01 and then in the 3200, Moran would double back to take that event while Serrano's Maribel Aguilar would taste the victory in the girls' 3200.

King’s Reyte Rash was a double winner in the hurdles, but his 39.34 mark in the 300 hurdles not only set a new meet record, but ranks the 2nd fastest sophomore time in California this season! It is also King’s fifth fastest time for any ange in school history. Skye Lattimore of Rancho Verde placed twice in the barrier races, winning the 100’s in a time 17.30 then coming back with a 51.24 to place second in the 300’s behind her teammate, Gabrielle Samuel who won in a time of 50.55.

Three young sprinters from King swept the 100, with Sheridyn Pfieffer, Anna Barry, and Grace Roberts taking the top three spots in the shorter of the two dashes. In the 200 Murrieta Mesa's Chioma Okonkwo won in a fine 25.47 with no wind. Rancho Verde's Stanum Rudley had a head wind in his face in the 200, but he won in 23.22. The 100 also had head winds, but the Rancho Verde squad of sprinters took control of that event as well, with Jamar Simpson winning, Rudley in third. King's Nicholas Beam split the two in second.

Santiago's girls set a new meet record in the 4x400 relay with 4:06.33 effort. Rancho Verde and King would go 1-2 in the boys' relay.

In the field, the pole vault saw King's Lanie Bavier win with a personal best of 9-0, without a miss on clearance until she fouled out at 9-6. Tory SanAntonio of Rancho Verde won the boys high jump while Brittany Livermore of Santiago won the girls high jump. Kim Garza of King was the winner in the shot and discus. Malia Benson of Poly-Riverside won the girls triple jump.  Robert Kells was the winner in the boys shot, while Sultana's Ethan Perez took home the victory in the discus.

A well run meet, full of hard-competing kids, gave notice to superstition that reality is a far better realm to operate in. The day proved to be another fine setting for "Future stars to shine today." No fooling.

Results courtesy of FinishedResults.com

Photo Gallery

AZUSA'S PROMISE HOLDS 'FAST'

For each of its 18 seasons, King Track and Field has sent a squad of distance runners to the distance carnival at Azusa Pacific University called the Arroyo Meet of Champions. The reason is pretty simple: That meet, for whatever reason, promises to produce fast times. Every year. Bank on it.

Maybe the track is magic. Or maybe it’s the medals each kid can earn no matter what heat they are placed in … even down to the 50th heat of the 1600 – no exaggeration. Maybe it’s the top-notch competition the meet draws every year.

Whatever it is, it works, and 2017 was no exception. Of the 45 races the King distance runners contested, 40 of them saw a King kid match or exceed their personal records (PR) for the season or their career. Yes that’s right, it was a 90% success rate for the day. And, to solidify the point, the last race of the night for King produced a school record.

It really was that kind of day, just as it’s been for almost two decades.

The PR marks – from Ashley Haring and Allison Janes’ early morning efforts in the 3200 that set the table for King’s amazing day, to the breakthrough performances of a host of freshmen like Matt Somody, Chloe Urquizu, Snow White and Sydney Magno all of whom put down significant PR’s was a fulfillment of Azusa’s promise. The meet somehow just always produces incredible results. Snow and Jesus Martinez both won their heats, the first time they’ve ever done that!

Mario Machuca had a great performance in both the 3200 and the 1600, running PR’s in both. Jon Moncada and Austin Dai both eclipsed 10:00 in the 3200.

One of the most spectacular races came from Kathryn Hammar in the 1600, who had the race she’s been waiting for. After patiently and faithfully executing a long rehab from a stress fracture last November, she capitalized off of those weeks of waiting to run her first all-out effort and nabbed a 5:19 PR as a reward.

Garrett Vasta was another who had a breakthrough race with a stunning 11-second drop in his PR over 1600 meters, as he finished third in the Rated heat (second fastest heat of the dozens that were run) at 4:28.16, tied for the second-fastest sophomore time and the 10th fastest of any age in King High’s history. His mark was the 10th fastest frosh-soph 1600 time on the entire day, a day that saw literally hundreds of young student-athletes contest the race. Dathan Chann and Daniel Lopez both had solid improvements in the 3200; Lopez came back to PR in the 800 later in the day. Mazin Awad who is late to distance running (he just moved up from the 400 four weeks ago) is making up for lost time quickly and using that great 400 speed, putting down a 2:01 time which leads King runners here in 2017.Jacob Haas and Matthew Castro both had significant drops in their times as well in the 1600.

The last race of the night for King was the Invitational heat of the full mile, in which Lauren Peurifoy was entered along with a dozen of the best high school runners in California. She held her own, finished in 5th and dipped below the 5:00 mark, running 4:58.92 for the mile (1609 meters), and setting her second school record in as many weeks; the first coming at the Bronco Invitational in the 3200 meters on March 11.

Magic track? Doubtful. Perfect setting? Perhaps. Whatever it specifically is, the promise of Azusa seems to come true every year. Work hard, be consistent, grab hold of the opportunities before you and you can achieve something good.

Maybe even something you’ve never done before.

Results   Photos

BRONCO INVITE IN SAN DIEGO GIVES KING KIDS A CHANCE TO SHINE

For several years, now the King Track and Field program has made the journey south to Poway to take part in the Rancho Bernardo Bronco Invitational. It has annually proven to be a place where the Wolves could get great competition from schools they do not normally see and a chance to gauge themselves against the best individuals around San Diego County. The 2017 edition of “The Bronco” was no different and the Wolves showed well in their first Saturday meet of the year.

Lauren Peurifoy got things rolling with a first place in the Girls 3200, running a 10:44.88, a new school record. Also in the field was team mate Rebekah Pendleton who clocked a PR 11:49.27 for 8th place. They were followed by the boys 4 X 100 squad of sophomore Nick Beam, Carson Walder, Phil Griggs and Jaylen Moore who put in their fastest time of the year at 43.65. After that, it was a parade of medals for the Wolves who seemed to place individuals and relays throughout the day.

The boys 4 X 800 nailed a third place finish while the girls got a 5th place. the soph/frosh boys sprint medley relay naied down a 5th place and both 4 X 400’s finished in the medal count. the boys team of Lay, Jeremy Young, Phil Griggs and Eric Roman carried the baton to a second place. Ashley Chruscuz; Sarah Ann Frank. Larissa Cesena and Breanna Fatten got a solid fourth overall i the same race. The Girls Distance Medley team of Pendleton, Tayelee Holtrip, Amanda Sosa and Puerifoy won their race by some 15 seconds. Sosa also got a 5th place with a PR time of 2:22.63. Phil Griggs finished third in a hotly contested 400

The hurdle group got a lot of attention as Dillion Lay won both the 110 Hurdles and 300 Hurdles. Josh Fisher was 4th in the 110’s and 2nd in the 300’s while sophomore Reyte Rash got a fourth in the 300 hurdles. After a fall in the 100 hurdles Sarah Frank won the 300 Hurdles in 47.28 and Cesena came through for 5th overall. “You guys ALWAYS have hurdlers!!!” exclaimed one RB assistant to Coach Corona. “What do you guys feed them up there?”

In the field, the Wolves held their own as well. Brett Shifflett and Kim Garza medaled in the Open Shot put while Alec Jones nailed a 5th with a PR tying 47-1. In the open discus, Areena Zavala got the victory while Jacob Melton got a 3rd place. Jones finished second in the Invite portion of that event by a foot at 138-10. Shaelyn Johnson, just back fro the basketball team’s run to the CIF semi-finals got a third in the high jump at 4-11 while Gabby Sanabria got a second in the triple jump and Alyssa Drake a 5th. Markell Wells got a PR jump in the triple at 42-3.

All in all-a day of strong performances against strong competition and a day which helped King Track and Field set the base for what faces them down the road in 2017.

RAIN DOESN'T DAMPEN KING'S REIGN

King High has never lost to Norco at any level in either boys or girls track through the entire history of the two schools' membership in the Big 8 League, and despite rain that shortened the meet by a few events at the end, it wasn't enough to interrupt the win streak.

King had a good day and the victories came with some competition, but where it was lacking, the Wolves still had some solid performances.

In the sprints, Jeremy Young raced well in the 200 with a PR at 23.36 He doubled in the 400 and PR'd there too at 52.78. Nick Beam and Rick Gore went 1-2 in the 100 and both PR'd at 11.44 and 11.47. Garrett Vasta finished second in the 800 with a PR at 2:06.58, just two-tenths behind Mazin Awad who took the win. Vasta would also PR in the 1600 along with Austin Dai and Mario Machuca who ran best times of the 2017 season.

Skyler Jenson PR'd in the shot put with a heave of 42' 8.5" and Marcos Gonzalez finished third with a season best 41' 7.5" Jacob Melton won the discus.

The girls ran away with it. Kela Mavhera ran a studly double in the 1600 and 800, running well away from field to win both races with very good season times. Lanie Bavier, Nicole Skaggs and Skye Hutchinson swept the vault, while Alyssa Drake, Janai Thompson and Tresure Rucker swept the triple jump.

Anna Berry was very good in the relay and the 100 and 200 dashes. Her 27.62 in the 200 was her best mark this season. In the 3200, Joelle Ramos, Mackenzie Peters and Sydney Magno had a spirited battle over 8 laps with one Norco runner. Though they'd relinquish the lead and win ultimately to her, still they dragged each other all to PR's.

The last race of the day and a few more jumps in the vault and the horizontal jumps were cancelled as the rain fell, but it wasn't enough to wash away another victorious day for King Track and Field.

Results    Photo gallery

SWEEPSTAKES TROPHY EARNED AT CHINO RELAYS

In what has become the annual splitting of the King track team-the field events-sprints and hurdlers competing on one weekend and the distance kids competing at the Meet of Champions in Azusa on another, the Wolves made their way to the 68th Annual Chino Relays this past Saturday. Since 1949, the Cowboys have put on one of the toughest relay meets in the Inland Empire and 2017 was no different. In what would be a great display of team depth, the Wolves FullSizeRbattled to a first place finish by the Girls outscoring Elsinore 114 to 88. The boys battled to the bitter end, falling short in third place with 102 points. Division 1 winner Elsinore would tally 107 points and runner up Hillcrest High got 105 in a tightly contested competition.

The Lady Wolves would medal in 11 of the 13 events in which they competed and as did the King boys. Of those 11 medals, 9 were first place winners for the girls and the boys posted 5 first place marks. All in all, a great effort, especially when one considers that the distance team stayed home. With their combined scores the King boys and girls teams won the Meet Sweepstakes Trophy.

The meet got off to a great start with both the boys and girls shuttle hurdle teams winning victories in near record time. Both the boys and girls throws team won both the shot and the discus. On the female side of things Elizabeth Curtis; Areena Zavala and Kim Garza won three of the top four spots in the discus. Alec Jones had the number one shot put of the day (44-8) and the second best discus toss (138-8). Jones also ran a leg on the third place boys 8 x 100 relay. The Girls horizontal jumpers also won both the long jump and triple jump, highlighted by Treasure Rucker’s PR jump of 34-9.5. Lanie Bavier, Rebecca Early and Rachel Norys won the pole vault while the boys team behind PR jumps by Ryan Bavier (12-6)and Josiah Molascon (13-0) won second place in the vault.

On the track, the 4 x 200 of Anna Barry, Ashley Chruscz; Sheredyn Pfieiffer and Amarhi Pewett won as did the Sprint Medley team of Barry, Grace Roberts; Tayelee Holtrop and Kela Maherva. The boys 4 x 200 of Phil Griggs, Jaylen Moore, frosh Micah Brown and Jeremy Young also did the winning honors. In the final event of the day both the boys 4 x 400 team, Dillion Lay; Griggs, Young and Eric Roman ran a 3:29 for first place and the girls team of Larissa Cesena; Breanna Fatten, Chruscuz and Sarah Ann Frank put down a 4:13, outdistancing any rival by some 60 meters. An outstanding effort was put forth by the boys triple jump team of Josh Fisher; Ricky Gore and Markell Wells as each one recorded an over 40 foot jump for second place.

SHARKS ARE SWEPT IN BIG 8 OPENER

King opened the Big 8 season against an opponent in Santiago that always proves to be a challenge. While King has never lost to the Sharks, the dual meets have always been spirited as both schools aim to take the sport and competition seriously and give respect to the process and results of competition.

This season's rendition was as it's always been, with King winning at all four levels, but pushed and tested by Santiago along the journey through 16 events.

"I wanted our kids to get out fighting and keep fighting through every event, and that's what they did" Head Coach John Corona said after the meet was done.

On the boys side, King opened with a 4x100 relay win then followed with Austin Dai and Jon Moncada going 2-3 in the 1600. Dillon Lay, Josh Fisher and Jarrod Favors swept the 110 meter hurdles, while Phil Griggs, Eric Roman and Cardell Walder did broom-duty in the 400. Jaylen Moore won the 100, followed by Nick Beam and Walder. Mazin Awad ran his fastest 800 of the year to take third in the 800.

In the field events, Ricky Gore won the long jump, while Markell Wells took second in the triple. Andrew Wilde was the winner in the vault at 13-06, with Josiah Molascon and Cameron Payo helping sweep the event.

The girls were equally successful. Allison Janes ran a superb season-best 1600 to move from third to second behind event winner Lauren Peurifoy to get the ball rolling for the Wolves. Sarah Ann Frank continued her great season in the 100 hurdles, winning that event with Jasmine Jimenez taking third. Anna Barry was the runner up in the 100 meter dash, while Peurifoy and Amanda Sosa went 1-3 in the 800. Rebekah Pendleton won the 3200.

Alyssa Drake was victorious in the long jump with a 15-4.5 leap. Gabriela Sanabria, Tresure Rucker and Drake swept the triple jump at a time in which the score of the contest was close, helping to put King in the driver's seat the rest of the way out. Rachel Norys was the winner of the pole vault with an 8 foot clearance.

Liz Curtis, Kimberly Garza and Arreena Zavala swept the shot put while Keiana Turner teamed up with Zavala and Garza to sweep the discus.

So the Big 8 season got underway in a victorious fashion for the Wolves. Though the scores showed a Wolves program in control, the meet was as it's always been with Santiago, a good, solid track meet of honorable competition. The way it should be.

A HOMECOMING FOR COACH CORONA AND KING EARNS THE WIN

Last week, King track and field competed against Alta Loma High School and it was more than just the regular dual meet that comes week in and week out. Head Coach John Corona led his Wolves into the Braves’ new stadium and in so doing a homecoming of sorts was on. A graduate of 1973 from Alta Loma High, John Corona led his teams onto his old haunts with one goal: Represent.

Needless to say, he wanted to win and that is exactly what the Wolves set out to do. They wanted to do it for the team but even more so for Coach Corona.

The boys Varsity broke away with an early lead, with a nail biting 4×100 relay team of Nick Beam, Carson Walder, Phil Griggs and Jaylen Moore. The boys came out and took care of business showing the depth King has in nearly every event. Dylan Lay finished first in both the 100 and 300 Hurdles, Moore in the 100 and 200 and Austin Dai in the 1600 and 3200 were also double winners.

The boys continued on to victory in the 400 led by Phil Griggs, in the Shot Put with Alec Jones also placing third in the discus and Andrew Wilde in the pole vault with a leap of 13-0. It was a well-rounded meet for the boys in every event, dominating in the Jumps as well for extra points, ending with a final score of in Kings favor of 93-43.

On the girls side it was more of a chase in the beginning for the Lady Wolves. Second and third place points helped the Lady Wolves chip away at the early lead established by the Braves. Sheredyn Pfeifer along with Anna Berry finished second and third in the 100 to get the Lady Wolves on the score board, along with Amanda Sosa and Kela Mavhera finishing a strong second and third in the 800 after placing 2-4 in the 400.

King’s depth in every event, is what kept them in it and eventually gave them the push past the Lady Braves. The Lady Wolves swept the 200, led by Anna Berry, Kayla Seldon and Sheredyn Pfeifer. With two much needed second place finishes in the 100 and 300 Hurdles was Sarah Ann Frank. The Lady Wolves came away 16 points to 1 in the Horizontal Jumps, led by Alyssa Drake, Gabriella Sanabria and Treasure Rucker. After the Lady Wolves pulled away they ended the meet with an 81-55 Victory.

So it was a homecoming for Coach Corona and a good one at that, as his old home school, along with some old friends and former coaches, saw what his current school is up to.

HURDLE HIGH SETS ANOTHER RECORD

Ever since Coach Ken Bracy became the hurdle coach, those events have been a mainstay of the King Track Program. The successes of our barrier jumpers has been so great and so consistent that Coach Corona often jokingly says that Bracy's charges are going to "Hurdle High."

This past Saturday at the Paloma Valley Wildcat Relays, another chapter of success was written by the boys and girls shuttle hurdle teams. The King female quartet of Karla Lemus; Jasmine Jimenez; Larissa Cesena and Sarah Ann Frank not only finished in first place but set a new school record with a 1:07.58, edging a talented Rancho Verde team who came in at 1:07.98.

The boys team , though not setting any records, ran well and easily outdistanced the meet competition coming in first place. The team of Jarrod Favors. Reyte Rash, Josh Fisher and Dylan Lay turned in a time of 1:03.19.

WOLVES GET A GLIMPSE OF GREATNESS

The Vista Murrieta Broncos were the California State Champions in track and field last season and ever since they hoisted the state-shaped trophy aloft up in Clovis, California last season, Coach Corona had it in his mind that opening 2017 against a program like that was exactly what King needed.

“I want to be like them!” he told his athletes before the meet opened, pointing in the direction of Coach Coley Candaele’s famous and well-respected program, gathered at the other end of the stadium.

“They do it right, and I urge you to not only pay attention to your own events, but watch what and how they do this” Corona continued, exhorting the Wolves to use the opportunity to grow and improve in the example of one of the best coached and prepared programs in the country.

There would be no score kept as both schools looked at the meet as a “rust buster” from the off season and a chance to get their athletes a mark. King took five full buses to the meet and over 300 Vista student-athletes walked from their last class to the track.

It was quite a sight.

King had a good day. Sarah Ann Frank picked up where she left off last year in the hurdles, running some nice early season marks in the 100’s and 300’s. Phil Griggs looked outstanding in the 400, running 49 seconds and the 4th fastest mark in school history; marks 2-5 are all at 49 seconds. Lauren Peurifoy who finished cross country last fall as the runner up in the State Division One, put her name on two all-time lists with a 5:07.31 1600 – number four all time for King, and an 11:03:32 3200 victory that puts her tied for second on King’s all time list. Liz Curtis threw her second best shot in her career and Dillon Lay had a very good day of hurdling. In fact, all three of the 300 hurdlers, Lay, Josh Fisher and Reyte Rash ran under 42 seconds which is quite good, especially this early in the season.

Jonathan Moncada placed in two distance events, winning the 3200, while Andrew Wilde topped 13 feet in the vault. Alec Jones was second in the shot with a toss past 46 feet.

The sight to see came at the end when both teams, which numbered over 500 athletes cumulatively, circled the edge of the track while the 4×400 relays were contested. It was a one-side and vocal gauntlet that the relay runners were in and made for quite an ending to the night, punctuated by a come-from-behind win on the anchor by Phil Griggs who made up a 15 meter gap over the last 100 meters.

“Overall I’m quite pleased” said Coach Corona after what was a meet that both sides hoped for.

Whether Vista repeats as State champs here in 2017 is yet to be known. But this much is sure: King is better off having competed against them

SCHOOL RECORDS SET IN 2016

Long Jump ~ Dante Anderson ~ 22' 10.5"

100 Meters ~ Jonathan Essien ~ 10.60

4x100 Meter Relay ~ Saadiq Jennings, Jayden Moore, Korey Parsons, Jonathan Essien ~ 41.54

Distance Medley Relay ~ Daniel Gonzalez, Mohsin Sabrin, Andrew Boebinger, Tyler Janes ~ 10:12.84  Current #2 time in the nation this season  

Shot Put ~ Courtney Klosinski ~ 39' 11.75" 

 Mile ~ Tyler Janes ~ 4:05.97  Riverside County Record and current #4 time in the nation

1600 Meters ~ Tyler Janes ~ 4:04.33  

YEAR END ACCOLADES

Press Enterprise-All Inland-Area teams

Tyler Janes: First Team - Distance
Courtney Kolsinski:  Second Team - Throws
Jon Essien: Second Team - Sprints
Ryan Laudermilk  -Second Team - High Jump

Press Enterprise Boys Coach of the Year

Coach Corona was one of four runner-ups to Coley Candeale of Vista Murrieta

Final Riverside County 2016 Rankings

King Boys Track - 3rd in Riverside County
King Girls Track - 3rd in Riverside County

Boys finished 4th in CIF-Divison 1 and 13th in the State

AN INCREDIBLE SEASON ENDS WITH STATE MEET FIREWORKS

“Take the Next Step” was Coach Corona’s mantra when he met with the team on the eve of official practice in February. This statement, based on the tremendous accomplishments of 2015, was meant to inspire team members NOT to settle, that there was still more out there to accomplish and that 2016 could be even better.

Taking the next step was exactly what this team did, starting with a great performance by the distance team at the Meet of Champions back in March, then running the (at the time) second fastest mark in the country in the Distance Medley Relay (1200, 400, 800, 1600 meters) at the Arcadia Invitational in April and topped off with the boys winning and the girls just losing (by 1 point!)  the Big VIII Championship against Roosevelt.  

The incredible display of depth and balance at Big VIII Finals seemed to give birth to the historic run into CIF the CIF rounds of Prelims, Finals and Masters.  It all climaxed with the finest performance ever seen by a King Track team at the State Track and Field Championships June 3 and 4.

Prior to 2016, the most athletes King Track had ever earn a berth in the State meet was two. This year, six athletes traveled to the stunningly beautiful track and field complex at Buchanan High School in Clovis, CA.   And what a mighty six it was.  The boys 4x100 team of Saadiq Jennings, Korey Parsons, Jaylen Moore and Jonathan Essien spent most of the season toiling along in the craft of quickly moving a baton around a track.  Their times were respectable, but not great.  Then, after winning the league title in early May, "greatness" seemed to click into place and the foursome began a month-long assent that landed them at the Final of the State Championships.

There on Saturday, in front of 8000 spectators, they took their spot in the 9th lane (indicating that they were the 8th fastest of 9 squads from the previous evening's preliminary rounds).  Against the finest relay teams in the state, the foursome carried that "stick" smoothly with Essien taking it to the line crossing in 41.67, the second-fastest time they've run this season. Their 6th place finish gave them "All State" honors.  Remarkable ending to a story that went from "good to great" in a span of two months.

Ryan Laudermilk found himself in one of the toughest groups of high jumpers assembled in some time. In fact, it would take a leap of 7 feet to finish in the top 3 of the Final. Laudermilk, who just missed a State meet berth in 2015, not only made the meet, but with a leap of 6-6 on Friday night qualified for the Saturday final. There he cleared 6-6 again but struggled at 6-8 and settled for a very respectable 10th place in the State. He'll be enrolling at Brown University in Rhode Island next Fall and intends to continue improving his craft in the Ivy League. 

Tyler Janes has made his final season in the King uniform one for the history books.  With his future UCLA coach in the stadium looking on, Janes ran one of the fastest 1600-3200 combo races in the history of the State meet.  The 1600 should be considered his "specialty" of the two distances, and it came first of the two in one of the deepest fields ever assembled at the State meet.  No less than 5 of the top 1600 runners in the entire country were spiked up and ready to roll. (Tyler's 4:04.33 was the #10 time in the US, and he wasn't the favorite!).  A tactical start took the field through the 800 in 2:06 and then the race was on!  The group splintered with Janes in the lead pack as they dropped their pace down to a 62 second third lap then kicked at the bell.  Janes' put down a 57.8 last circuit to cross in 4:05.86 but it was only fast enough to get him to third overall.  Still, it was the highest finish of any King athlete at the State meet in our 17 years.  

Three hours later he took to his "secondary race" and even with a sixth-place finish, it may well have been his best race of the night.  Again, side by side with many of the fastest two-milers in the land, he matched the moves and found himself in the top five (of 32 in the field) with a lap to go.  There, the burn of the 1600 required its toll and a 61-second close wasn't enough to catch those who were on the track for the first time that night.  Remarkably, he finished with an 8:56.93 time, the King All Time #2 behind Lane Werley's 8:53.21 set five years ago in the same State Final on the same track.

Historically, the double Tyler put together was of elite status.  Only three guys in the 98 year history of the State Championships have run that same double with faster times.  In 2008, German Fernandez of Riverbank HS did the almost unthinkable, by going 4:00.29 and then 8:34.23, setting a national record in the process. In 1974 Rich Kimball ran 4:06.6 and 8:46 for the full mile and two mile. A few others have gotten close to the marks Tyler set down, but only two have eclipsed them.  The fireworks exploding in the night sky after the final event, and hardly before Tyler could catch his breath, seemed to be a fitting way to end the season King Track and Field had put together in 2016.

Collectively, the points scored by the relay squad and Janes in two events put King as a team in 13th place.  

“This weekend was an incredible finish to an incredible season" said Coach John Corona.  "I have no words for what our kids did today.  I'm humbled by what they accomplished.  Getting to State and then doing what they did here?  Incredible. What they did is a tribute to them and to our coaching staff.  It is all beyond anything I thought we could do previous to this year. Just amazing.”

VIDEO OF JANES' 1600 METER RACE    VIDEO OF JANES' 3200 METER RACE

Results     Photo Gallery

MASTERFUL PERFORMANCES PAVE THE WAY TO THE STATE MEET

The CIF Southern Section Masters Meet is a unique event in that it brings the best of the best from the bottom half of the state together on the same stage, head to head.  In a section that has over 500 schools, to be counted among the top 12 athletes (top 9 in lane events) from a grouping of schools that large is a tremendous accomplishment.   The meet showcases the best of the best from Southern California and serves as a qualifying meet to move athletes on to the State Championship, held June 3-4 in Clovis. 

Needless to say, competing on this stage requires composure and poise, and for the 7 King athletes who took to both track and field, those characteristics were on clear display.  Courtney Klosinski was the only one who went home with some disappointment as her 8th place finish in the shot put kept her from moving on.  Still, her toss was only two inches from her lifetime best and being the 8th best shot putter of 500 schools is quite a feat!  

The boys 4x100 squad of Saadiq Jennings, Jaylen Moore, Korey Parsons and Jonathan Essien were the story of the day.  They were the 8th of 9 squads based on seed time and thus were given lane 9 - somewhat of a disadvantage as the field is entirely behind the team for most of the 400 meters. Jennings got off to a great start and by his exchange 100 meters in, he said afterward he sensed that he and Moore were handing off in the lead (indeed they were) and yelled "Go!".  Moore did just that, screaming down the backstretch with only the eventual winners, Vista Murrieta, closing the gap.  Korey Parsons ran a great second turn and handed to Essien who did his normal amazing anchor and brought the 8-seed team across the line in second place!  Even more impressive was the 41.54 time, a full half-second faster than their previous best and put the new school record firmly into the middle of historically elite times. This team of three seniors and a junior are the first relay squad in King history to move on to the State Championships!

Ryan Laudermilk missed that State meet last season as he came up just short of the day he needed in the 2015 Masters meet.  This year was a different story as he missed not one attempt through the first three heights, capping out at 6-7.  By that point, he was in second place and on to State.  He'd finish there in second after three misses at 6-9.  Second best in Southern California and State-bound!  

Tyler Janes, competing in both the 1600 and 3200 meters, did something no male athlete at King has ever done. He qualified for State in two events!  The 1600 is his "main event" and there he ran a solid 4:08.81 for 5th place. In a field of 12 athletes, the Section showed it's depth and talent as every racer moved on to State having met the minimum qualifying time!  In the 3200, Janes had to work a bit harder to finish 10th in 9:06, just slipping under the 9:07.63 standard.

It was a masterful set of performances and set the stage for King to send the largest group to the State meet in school history.  

Photos     Results 

THREE C'S IN ALL CAPS AT CIF FINALS

When Coach Corona took over the Track and Field program back in 2002, he instituted a motto that has guided the program ever since.  Known as "The Three C's" -- Class, Character and Courage --  the program has stood for these values and they have remained unchanged; in seasons of great accomplishment and lesser, the Three C's have stood resolute.  

All three converged with great beauty and symmetry at the CIF Southern Section Finals on Saturday held at Cerritos College. The finals is a meet where only the best in the section and the division compete.  It takes a fair dose of courage in the heart of a young person to not only walk out on that stage with confidence, but then to perform at a high level against field that includ no slouches.

"It was a great day for the King program" said Coach Corona at the conclusion of the meet; after King had taken home six All-CIF distinctions, qualified six events into the elite Masters' meet and crown their first CIF Champion since 2004.  And for good measure, the boys finished 4th as a team, a high finishing place King has never accomplished prior to this weekend.  Indeed, a great day.

The boys 4x100 team of Saadiq Jennings, Jaylen Moore, Korey Parsons and Jonathan Essien kicked things off with a sterling effort that brought them across the line in 3rd to notch the first All CIF honors (top 6 in each event) of the day for the Wolves.  A couple less than perfect exchanges were made up for by Essiens incredible last leg as he moved the team from 6th to that third-spot with a last 50 meters that was simply stunning.

Tyler Janes was the next to earn an All-CIF accolade in the 1600 where he also finished third.  A tactical race in which the field was content to run a "casual" first half-mile, turned into a sprint where Janes' 57.8-second final lap wasn't enough to cover the winner's 55-second closure and he'd settle for third in 4:09.  Andrew Boebinger was also in the race, his first ever CIF Finals appearance in his great high school career, but he struggled in the race and finished in 4:32.

Janes would return in 3200 meters at the end of the day, and despite having run the event only a few times, he uncorked a run for the history books.  Patiently biding his time through six laps of the eight, he gradually moved into a top 3 position and on the final 200 put down the speed that's carried him to the national ranks in the 1600 and outkicked three hard-charging opponents to win the title outright in a time of 9:01.00.  The title was King's first since Orlisha Henlon pulled it off in the high jump, 13 years ago!  There have been a host of CIF Runners' Up finishers, but a long time has passed since a King athlete got to the top of the podium at Finals!

In the field events, things went just as well.  Sissy Underwood, used her first and last appearance at the CIF Finals to do really well.  She matched her lifetime best at 17' 1.5" and finished 8th.  Dante Anderson was in the triple jump where he launched himself to a new PR of 44-4.25! That leap was 5th place in the division and qualified him to move on to the CIF Masters meet as well.

Ryan Laudermilk made the Masters meet in 2015, so this stage was a bit familiar to the talented high jumper.  He had a very good outing, clearing 6-6 to finish 2nd overall.  Perhaps better than that, he called attention to the fact that the judges of the event were about ready to award him a 4th jump when the max is three, having overlooked (or forgotten) about one of his earlier misses.  One extra jump could have improved his position, but it would have done nothing for his character or integrity so he let them in on their error.  That's class!

Courtney Klosinski had another solid outing in the shot put.  The school record holder didn't have her best throw of the season, but it was good enough and landed her in third place, yet another All-CIF honor on the day and another King athlete who will be in the Masters meet in the next week.

Class, Character, Courage.  They are great ideas to build a life upon.  A track and field progam can be served just as well.  They are the building blocks of great things and they've served King Track and Field well for over a decade now.  For this one brilliant afternoon, all three attributes seemed to have been written in all caps, which made for a really, really great day to be King.

RESULTS    PHOTOS

THE PUSH OF PRELIMS PROPELS KING TO FINALS

Without question, qualifying for the CIF preliminaries in the Southern Section, Division 1 and from out of the Big 8 is no small trifling.  Earning a place on this stage, held at Trabuco Hills High in Lake Forest takes skill, training and a sense of timing.  But make no mistake, the point of the meet is to qualify for the NEXT round, the D1 CIF Finals held one week hence held at Cerritos College.  For King Track and Field, that process showed King having a very good day as the program put through more athletes into Finals than we've had in some time.

The boys 4x100 team led the way with yet another school record at 42.04, the third time this season they've eclipsed the SR.  Saadiq Jennings, Jaylen Moore, Korey Parsons and Jonathan Essien were on their game and moved the baton swiftly and smoothly around the track and finished with the fourth fastest time of the day.  After the 2015 version of this relay squad finished 9th at Finals, this group looks to be on the podium with a top 5 finish next Saturday.  They are also have an opportunity to be in the top 9 relay teams of all four divisions combined, and if they are, they'll move on to another week of CIF and compete at the Masters Meet.  Tyler Janes, who finished 8th in the State in the 1600 last season,  punched his first ticket for a return trip to Clovis as he qualified in both the 1600 and the 3200.  A nice advancement came from Andrew Boebinger who moved on to Finals for the first time in his career, also in the 1600. He was 9th and ran 4:18.

The last time King sent a girl shot putter to Finals was in 2000 and in Division 4 when Ashley Hearle accomplished the feat.  Courtney Klosinski put her name into our history books with another fine throw at 39' 11.5" dropping the ball in fourth place and moved on to Finals as one of the top 9 finishers. Sissy Underwood, who missed making the CIF Preliminaries each of the last two seasons by one place at the league final, made the most of her first and last opportunity at CIF by leaping into the finals in the long jump, landing 16' 10 from the board in flight one of three and making it stand up.  She is the 9th seed going into Cerritos.  Dante Anderson got through to the Finals with a triple jump of 43-11.5; just two inches shy of his PR.  In the high jump, Ryan Laudermilk cooly acted like he'd been there before -- which he has -- and the 2015 Masters qualifer began his return to CIF with an easy 6-03 clearance.

Dillon Lay had one of his best 110 high hurdle sprints ever to finish 11th and earn a spot as one of the two alternates on Saturday's Finals.  Sarah Ann Frank also had a big individual performance but, in a nod to the depth and talent in the Division, was still 13th on the day. Alec Jones had a great two throws in the shot and discus, and while he didn't advance to next week, his season was an advancement. The junior rookie to the sport, started this season at 69 feet in the discus but ended at 144-09, just shy of his PR of 147. His shot put on saturday was his best ever at 47' 1.5". Sweet season! In the girls 1600, while she didn't qualify, Allison Janes battled nicely and finished very close to her lifetime best times.  One of the more amazing stats on the day was Larissa Cesena running the 300 hurdles in 46.33, the KAT #5 time.  Amazing, in that she's only been doing the event for one month!  

The strength and depth of Division One did what it does best ... it pushes.  It pushes athletes to dig deeper and stretch for their best efforts.  While that doesn't gaurantee a top 9 finish and a pass on to the Finals seven days later, it does become a good task master for all involved. For a couple handfuls of King athletes, the push of prelims propelled them to the Big Dance, CIF D1 Finals, and that was the primary purpose of the meet.

Results   Photos 

KING KIDS FEEL RIGHT AT HOME, ROMP THROUGH BIG 8 FINALS

The 2016 Big 8 Track and Field Championship at King High was placed on the calendar over a year ago and held itself out as an opportunity for the Wolves to showcase their home, philosophy and program.  All season long the meet loomed and the goal to "Go Big" grew closer. There was a definite sense of anticipation by all involved.  

Last night, under cool, cloudy skies and bright stadium lights, King played host to the Big 8 League and from all accounts, the guests felt welcome.  But by the time the last baton crossed the finish line in the 4x400, it was clear whose "house" it was and how comfortable the King kids felt in their own home; hanging out and runnin' around in front of friends and family like they owned the place. So at ease were they, their performances sparkled. Of the 32 events contested, King will have CIF representation next week in 29 of them!  Indeed, it was a great night for King to be what we aspire to be.  

No points are scored in the championships, as the team contests are decided during the dual meet season.  But, had an invitational scoring system been in place, King's ladies would have scored 70 more points than their nearest rival.  While King crowned only one league champion -- Courtney Klosinski in the shot put who punctuated her fantastic season -- there were so many 2-5 places that the impression was King's girls felt very much at home. For example, the 1600 saw King's girls fall in line behind Centennial's Rylee Penn who won easily, but King swept the next four spots.  Allison Janes dropped a huge PR (personal record) to go 5:17, Lauren Peurifoy matched her PR at 5:19, Rebekah Pendleton PR'd at 5:21 and Kathryn Hammar was fifth at 5:25. With Alyssa Haring 2nd in the 3200, Peurifoy and Janes helped to clog up the victory stand in that race too.

In the sprints, Tia Parrish and Sydney Reid were two medal winners in both the 100 and 200. Sarah Ann Frank and Larisa Cesena were both top finishers in the hurdle races, with Cesena breaking into the top 5 King all time in the 300's.  Sissy Underwood, snake bit of sorts in the last two years of Big 8 Finals by finishing fourth and missing CIF by one place, finally broke through with two qualifying jumps, going 2nd in the long jump and third in triple. Gabriella Sanabria was the runner up in the triple going 34'10.  Jayda Gainer was fourth.   Both relay teams finished in 2nd.  

In the shot put and discus, behind Klosinski's heroics, Elizabeth Curtis had a huge day.  She PR'd in the shot to place, and at 36' 6", she has improved over six feet in just the last two weeks!  9th grader Kimberly Garza medaled in her first ever Big 8 Final! Nice!

Lots of smiles and good times were had as the King kids romped through the two-day meet and demonstrated who owned the house.  Their male teammates did likewise.

Just like the girls, had a score been kept, the King boys would have won on their side of the ledger by almost 70 points.  They did it not only by filling up the victory stand with multiple scorers, but with a handfull of league champions as well.

Tyler Janes had a fantastic last day at home before he heads off to UCLA.  Five years to the day after King/UCLA alum Lane Werley set the stadium record in the 1600, Janes put his own name on that list with a 4:14.60.  He came back in the 3200 and took another victory.  Somewhat overwhelmed, he described to a reporter for the Riverside Press Enterprise that his emotions were due a sense of "God's grace, to be honest.  Just to get to be at (league) finals my senior year, at home, it's just grace. I kind of get emotional, thinking about it. It's my last time here. I'm happy I got to go out with two wins. It's a blessing for sure."

Ryan Laudermilk's stadium record in the high jump may have been a lesser noticed accomplishment as it came early in the day before the track events began.  Sill, the high-flying, 4.8 GPA scholar who's headed to Brown University next Fall quietly put together a series of historic proportions as he erased six names that were log-jammed at 6-6 on the all time list on this field, upped his personal best by an inch and got just a little closer to the school record of 6-8. Dante Anderson launched himself to the victory in the triple jump.   Mohsin Sabrin had a stellar 400 meters as he came storming from third place over the last 100 to win in 49.97.  Jonathan Essien, a part of the winning 4x100 squad that included Saadiq Jennings, Korey Parsons and Jayden Moore, came back to win the 100 in an outstanding 10.87 without any aid of a tail wind.  Impressive stuff, that.  

Andrew Boebinger who will be heading off to the Air Force Academy in about 8 weeks made his last few jaunts around the home track meaningful.  He shadowed his buddy Tyler in the 1600, crossing the line in 4:18 and second place.  Then, in what became one of the most exciting races of the night, he got into an old-fashioned foot race in the 800 as five guys hit the final stretch almost side-by-side.  AJ, perhaps showing the chops of the fighter jets he hopes to fly someday, kicked in the after burners and sped home for the win.  Places 2-5 were 1 second apart!  He came back to help Mohsin, Blake Gelinas and Jennings take the third spot in the 4x400.  On to CIF they go!

Like the ladies, the guys made the victory stand at mid-field look a bit like a stairway just a few steps from their front door.  Making their way up the gloried steps and looking comfortable doing it were a host of King athletes.  Markel Wells was third in the triple behind Anderson; Anderson took third in the long at 22-0 and Ricky Gore was 5th there. Andrew Wilde and Noah Poole were medalists in the vault, Tyler Navarro was 4th in the high jump, Alec Jones medaled in both the discus and the shot; a PR of 46-3.5 was gained in the shot.  Brad Garza also placed in the shot. Dillon Lay and Josh Fisher climbed those steps twice after both hurdle races; Lay was 2nd both times.  In the 3200, Daniel Gonzalez was third to punch his ticket to CIF for the first time.  Essien and Moore added to their haul of hardware in the 200, and with Saadiq Jennings joining them in the 100, King put three guys on the victory stand in the 100. 

Most folks feel comfortable in their homes. It makes sense; it's where ythey live and play.  For hundreds of Big 8 athletes from across Corona, they came to King's house in Riverside and had a good time. King did everything they could to make their guests feel welcome, but by the end of the meet there was little doubt as to whose house it was.  

Results from thursday finals     Results from Prelims (includes a few finals)       A few photos

KING CLINCHES THE CROWN IN CORONA

After the big time win last week against the Roosevelt Mustangs - a team that hadn't lost a Big 8 meet in the entire history of the league, all King's boys had to do to clinch the 2016 Big 8 League Title was finish out the season against Corona High with a win.  That victory came easily for the boys and by the time the sun had set, King's boys had earned their first-ever Big 8 league title and the first league title since the school's Ivy League days back in 2008.

The meet did not provide the pyrotechnics of the Roosevelt dual and the unhurried pace and effort throughout the afternoon by both teams were like the falling embers of spent fireworks; pretty to look at but the boom was gone. It was an anti-climactic ending to what was really a fantastic season in which King's boys lost not one meet.  A fade, but nonetheless effective.

For the girls, their season ended just two points from a league title.  Like the boys, the match up against Corona was anticipated to be a decent battle, but that conflict never manifested itself and King found itself pulling some of its athletes from events as the outcome became a foregone conclusion.  To point, the girls 3200 and both 4x400 relays were not contested.  

But two points against a talented group from Roosevelt is as near to victory as a team can perhaps come and still fall short.  It was a bitter pill to swallow, but does not diminish the effort the ladies of King put forth all season despite injuries to key performers and the wearing grind any season can be.  

What is left is the League Championships, to be held next week at King High.  The team contests have been decided and what is left is a showcase of the best the Big 8 has to offer.  Many of those will be wearing the King uniform and the Championships will be a stage, once again, for King to demonstrate class, character and courage.

A WOLFPACK BRINGS DOWN THE HORSES

"It was a phenomenal, team program win tonight" said Coach Corona at the conclusion of the annual rivalry between King and the Roosevelt Mustangs.  Words aptly spoken as it took a full-team effort for the boys from King to finally hand Roosevelt's boys their first-ever dual meet loss.  From the opening relay, to the conclusion of the pole vault, every corner of the track and field contributed to the win.  While the girls lost, the two-point margin between the two teams made for a wonderfully competitive and spirited battle despite the sliver of daylight that separated the prospective League Champions from the Lady Wolves.

King's boys 4x100 victory made many eyebrows rise and had both coaching staffs admitting, "we didn't plan on that".  That, being, King's squad winning by a couple of steps and that, being, King's time of 42.11 setting a new school record. But it was an auspicious beginning to a battle that on paper looked to be very tight throughout. Tyler Janes and Andrew Boebinger were next up and scored 8 points by finishing 1-2 in the 1600 and having to work to do it, running 4:20 and 4:23 -- much faster than would be necessary in most dual meets to earn a win. But the meet was two events in and already King's Pack was grabbing points in chunks.  Other points came at the margins and Roosevelt's talented squad would win many other events, only to see their advantage minized by King's second and third place finishes.   Dillon Lay and Josh Fisher went 2-3 in the 110 high hurdles after Roosevelt borrowed their standout 300 hurdlers Anthony Easter to run the 110s for what is apparently the first time this season. Easter won, as he did again in the 300's but Lay and Fisher's 2-3 there kept King close. Jonathan Essian blasted out of the blocks in the 100 dash, finishing second but ran a new school record of 10.60 in the process.  That effort and a sizable tail wind pulled Saadiq Jennings along to a PR and KAT #3 at 10.85.  Second and third place, again, combined efforts that kept the Pack circling.  

in the 800, Andrew Boebinger ran away from a herd of Mustangs.  It was a battle though, as he and three from Roosevelt were side by side with 300 to go before Boebinger surged to an impressive win and his 8th point on the day.  In the 200, a faulty set of blocks had Jonathan Essien slip and fall at the gun -- the race was not called back as the starter didn't see it -- but Korey Parsons stepped up to score in second.  The Pack, it would appear by this point, had more Wolves imbedded in it than previously seen.  The 3200 had Janes and Daniel Gonzalez shadow Roosevelt's talented sophomore, Raymon Ornales, the reigning Big 8 Champion in cross country.  For over six laps the two sat and waited until the move was made with 500 meters to go and it was strong enough that the two gained 8 points for the cause and ran lifetime PR's and KAT's #2 and #3 times at 9:19 and 9:20.  

The field events contributed in no small way.  A loud cheer erupted from the long jump pit as Dante Anderson, locked in a tight match with Roosevelt's Jordan Manier, leaped out to 22-11 and figuratively leaped over 5 of King's all time best to land with a new school record.  Dante had never even surpassed 22 feet before this big flight.  Not to be outdone however, on the very next leap, Manier had his teammates cheering as he landed over 23 feet from the board to set their school's all time best. But true to form, Ricki Gore for King was third and despite the fireworks in the event, Roosevelt edged King by only one point.  Alec Jones and Jacob Melton went 2-3 in the discus while Jones and Brad Garza took 4 points in the shot. Andrew Wilde and Noah Poole were 2-3 in the vault; Ryan Laudermilk won in the high jump with Jordan Murray taking third.

And so there it was, a "program win" as the talent, depth and spirit that has been nurtured by the coaching staff and community won the day and sets the boys up for a run at a League title with only Corona High School in the way.

For the girls, while victory wasn't tasted, the effort put forth was truly victorious all through the afternoon.  Allison Janes and Lauren Peurifoy were 1-3 in the 1600 to get things going after the team lost the opening 4x100 relay.  Tia Parrish returned nicely from injury with a 2nd place finish in the 100 and 200 meters, and Sarah Ann Frank kept King close in both hurdle races, placing twice, despite Roosevelt's renowned hurdle aces they produce annually.  A big push in the right direction came from the throws, as King swept both of those events, earning 18 points in the process.  Amanda Sosa and Jessica Ferguson were consistent in the 800 and crossed in 2-3, while Alyssa Haring and Peurifoy ran very tough 3200's to go 1-2 there.  It would have appeared that Roosevelt's Paloma Barron was set up to take third as Allison Janes was some 20 meters behind her with 150 to go, but Janes dug deep to finish the King sweep.  

Sissy Underwood and Alyssa Drake battled ferociously in the long jump finishing in 2nd and 3rd; Drake spraining her ankle in the process which kept her out of the triple jump leaders.  Gabriella Sanabria and Underwood went 1-2 in that event to keep King in the match.

Despite the narrow loss for the girls, the meet was truly entertaining.  After a number of "blow outs" during the early weeks of the season where both squads gapped weaker opponents by 70 or 80 points, King met their match, finally, in the form of the Mustangs from Roosevelt.  The back and forth nature of both contests was truly entertaining and proved the truism, that win, lose or draw, competition will make you better.  With three school records, multiple season and personal best efforts by many on the day, King won't need much convincing.  The Mustangs are a talented bunch, but on this day, they got all they could handle from a pack of Wolves.

Results  

A CALM BEFORE THE BIG 8 CHALLENGE

With the Big 8 league powers Roosevelt and Corona looming on the horizon - Roosevelt is next week - the Norco meet at King proved to be a calm and comfortable track meet that allowed King to win on all four levels with relative ease, despite resting many of the normal scorers at the varsity level. That respite was perhaps a welcome one for the athletes before the strong winds of competition blow in from the other parts of Corona and present the final challenges to the conference schedule.

Despite the conditions, many King athletes had a fine day.  Cardell Walker had a lifetime PR in the 400, going 53.95. Blake Gelinas, normally a 400 runner, moved up nicely and took second in the 800 meters, a race he's never run before, but he crossed the line in a solid debut at 2:07.15. Jefrey Ortiz had a fun PR in the same event, now ten seconds faster than where he started at the beginning of the season. Garrett Vasta had his best-ever mark in the 3200. Dillon Lay had his fastest time ever in the 110 hurdles that wasn't wind-aided, going 15.24. In the shot, Alec Jones had his lifetime best in the shot put, throwing it 45' 7.5" and he doubled the feat by throwing his best ever in the discus. Freshman Jordan Murry won the high jump with a personal best of 5'8".  

Larissa Cesena had a good run in the 200, an event she doesn't do that often, crossing the line in 27.24.  That was the backup race to her lifetime best of 15.80 in the 100 hurdles that earned her a second place finish behind Sarah Ann Frank.  Jasmine Jimenez had two lifetime bests in both hurdle races!  Allison Janes ran her season best in the 800 at 2:30, showing that a nice second half of the season is opening up for her. Lauren Peurifoy was right there with her and had her lifetime best at 2:30.88. Kathryn Hammar ran tough in that race also, and put down a 2:31, her best of the 2016 season. Allison would return in the 3200 to drop her first ever race at that distance and recorded a fine, sub 12:00 mark. 

In the throws, Liz Curtis improved her lifetime PR out to 97'-plus in the discus, just 17 feet farther than she started the season at! Nice!  Jayda Gainer and Treasure Rucker had lifetime PR's in the triple jump, while Gabby Hasemeyer had her best-ever time in the high jump at 4-6.

So despite the lack of sharp competition, the teams performed well and well enough.  Whatever, the big storm is coming next week in the form of Roosevelt and for good measure, Corona to conclude the season.  The calm before those storms may be nice, but it won't last long.  

Results    A Few Photos

ARCADIA IS STORMED

When Tyler Janes crossed the finish line of the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) on Saturday night at Arcadia, he threw up both arms in celebration. They formed a pair of exclamation marks at the end of a thrilling, come-from-behind victory that he, Daniel Gonzalez, Mohsin Sabrin and Andrew Boebinger put together, earning an upset win over several ranked and favored teams from several states. Their time of 10:12.89 set a new school record and is #2 time in the nation this season.

Under the lights on Saturday night at Arcadia is arguably the finest moment of any season for any high school track and field athlete in the country.  Literally dozens of "national leading" or "nationally ranked" marks are recorded at Arcadia and for good measure a handful of state or national records are set at the esteemed meet every year.  

For the four horsemen from King, this was a big stage that they performed exceptionally well on. Daniel Gonzalez led off and after three laps, he handed to Sabrin about mid-field of the 24-team race.  Sabrin held his position for his 400 meters, then gave to Andrew who was 24 hours removed from the stomach flu but took the stick from 9th to third over an 800 meter leg he covered in 1:56.  Janes calmly took three of his four laps to catch the leader and ran away with it on the last circuit to the upset victory and a memory for the group and the King program that will last for some time.

That kind of solid, hard effort was displayed by the King contingent throughout the two-day event. When Coach Corona was asked what he thought of the efforts of his team, "Solid" was the first word that came out. Despite raining, inclement weather which created anything but ideal conditions and a bit of a Spring Break hangover, the Wolves battled and preformed admirably throughout what is generally regarded as the biggest and best high school invitational in the country.

On Friday night, Dante Anderson, fought through the rain; a wet runway and a soggy pit to place fifth in the Boys Long jump at 20-8.5 inches winning a medal for his efforts. Both boys and girls 4x1600's also did well.  The girl's team of Allison Janes, Amanda Sosa, Lauren Peurifoy and Alyssa Haring ran very well despite their youth (only Alyssa is an upperclassman) while the boys, absent the services of impaired Boebinger, put together a fine effort.  Mark Werley, Michael Robinson, Gonzalez and Janes all raced near their PR's.

On Saturday, the boys 4x100 comprised of Saadiq Jennings, Jaylen Moore, Jason Gonzalez and Jon Essien put together a 43.5 mark finishing fifth in their heat while the girls team (Anna Barry, Charizma Guzman, Larissa Cesena and Sydney Ried) recorded a 50.0. Ried moved her team from 7th to 4th on a strong anchor leg. Dylan Lay in his first individual foray at Arcadia (he was on the shuttle hurdle championship team last year) went 15.58 while Essien came back in the 100 and with his typical strong finish nabbed second place at 10.9 . Ryan Laudermilk tied for fifth in the high jump against steller competition. The girls distance medley team of Allison Janes, Maryjane Smith, Jessica Ferguson and Lauren Peurifoy were very competitive in their efforts.  In the day-portion of the meet, the girls DMR of Janes, Maryjane Smith, Sosa and Peurifoy raced very well and at 12:46, ran the sixth fastes DMR in school history.  Seven hours later, the boys DMR took the stage, punctuating brilliantly what had already been done very well by whole group.

An invitational the stature of Arcadia can leave many young people shaking from the perceived pressure.  For many others, it's a stage to be taken by storm and punctuated with excellence.  On this wet weekend, King got to see the latter by many of this year's best and the final race was the thrilling finish to an exceptional weekend.

 results

KING RUNS AWAY WITH THE CROWNS AT 12TH FROSH SOPH CLASSIC

For the host school, winning the Frosh Soph Classic hasn't ever been a given but right from the start of this, the 12th annual event, the King Wolves were able to establish early points and move steadily away from all pursuers.  On the girls side it was Serrano that finished closest in second place and on the boys side it was Rancho Verde, but on both sides of the gender divide King won handily. 

King's girls won the first event of the morning, the 400 relay with a 51.09 mark and never looked back.  Lauren Peurifoy won two events, the 1600 and the 3200, scoring 10 points between them.  She was shadowed by teammate Amanda Sosa who finished 3rd in the 1600 wth a lifetime best of 5:20 and 2nd in the 800.  Also in the 1600 was Allison Janes in 6th who ran a lifetime PR of 5:25 making that race an exciting one for all involved.  In the half-mile, Murrieta Valley's Paige Seigal ran away from the gun and closed with an impressive 2:24. She'd come back in the 3200 and finish third to score nicely on the day for the Nighthawks. In the hurdle races, Sarah Ann Frank was a double winner.  In the 300's she ran 1/1000th off her lifetime PR.   Serrano's Sandra Arteago was the runner up in both races as well while Kaleigh Giannone was third in both, making it a unique double sweep for the three ladies. King's Sydney Reid had a very fine day helping to win the 400 relay while dashing to victory in both the 100 and the 200 sprints. 

Natalie Lin of Serrano won the triple jump by over 3 feet and for good measure won the long jump by 7 inches.  Ashlyn Blotzer of Santiago soared above all other in the high jump, clearing a very impressive 5-4.  In the vault, Madison Kast of Murrieta Valley was over a foot-and-a-half better than the nearest competitor and won easily clearing 10-00.  Kimberly Garza of King won the shot put with a throw past 32 feet while Brittany Everly of Santiago was able to just nip Garza in the disc, winning by a half-inch over her King opponent. 

On the boys side, Rancho Verde's sprinters had some really nice showings through out the day, but that's nothing new for the Moreno Valley school.   In fact, in the 100, they finished 2-3-4 with Jamar Simpson, Chandler Owen and Jasiah Richard-Lewis doing the honors there, then in the 200 coming back with Richard Lewis finishing 2nd behind James Phillips of Heritage who took the victory. King's young distance team scored well in all three multi-lap races.  In the 3200, Jonathan Moncada, Aman Rana and Chris Barba pulled away from the pack mid-way and went 1-2-3.  Garrett Vasta, Rana and Barba also scored in the 1600.  In that race, Marcos Milla of Santiago-Corona was the winner and just behind him was Humberto Gonzalez second.  Gonzalez would win the 800 in a time of 2:03.  Rancho Verde swept both the boys and the girls 4x400 races.

Santiago's Darney Smith won the long jump at 19-10.5, Valley View's Sidney Robinson would take the triple jump by over 2 feet beyond his nearest opponent. In th ehigh jump, Jordan Murry of King would win with a leap of 5-6. Brandon Forbes of Serrano took the vault victory with a clearance of 12-0. In the shot, Santiago's strong man, Silas Hurst tossed it 49-8 and crushed the discus competition by almost 20 feet, throwing the disc 145' 5".  Incredible.

King's two victories were by a large margin, but the competition and the quick pace of the meet was a good stage for younger athletes to shine on.  And that's the pupose of the event, to build a stage that tomorrow's stars could shine today. 

Results   Photo Gallery 

KLOSINSKI, KING TREATED TO SPIRITED BEAUMONT TEAM

Beaumont High School rolled into town with the complimentary intent of competing against King.  The growing Beaumont school has long been a smaller division team, but with increased numbers and a wise and competitive coaching staff, they came to town to up their game.  "We wanted to compete against big schools like King for some time so we can begin to put away that 'small school' mentality", said their head coach prior to the first event. 

And so in the Cougars came with their talent, breadth and effort which spurred King to victories earned by working equally hard and demonstrating a collective sense of teamwork that has been missing in strong doses all season.

The ladies' contest was the closest King has had all year, and was highlighted by Courtney Klosinski's school record in the shot put.  Her throw of 39' 3.25" was 2 feet beyond her previous best and surpassed Anissa Claiborne's old mark of 38' 7.5" by 8 inches! The team battle was a good one as King lost both relays and were swept in the 800, an occurence that doesn't happen very often!  That tenacity by an opponent was good for King's girls team and brought out not only Klosinski's record-setting marks but quality efforts throughout the afternoon. Sydney Reid had her best mark of the year in the 100 going 12.73. Larisa Cesena improved on her KAT 5 mark in the 100 hurdles, with a 16.04 time. Jasmine Jimenez in the 300 hurdles ran her best ever mark at 50.1. 

In the shot, Courtney's school record effort was matched by a PR from Elizabeth Curtis who threw it 31-6, her best ever.  Areena Zavala had her best-ever discus throw reaching out to 94-11.

The boys had a run-away victory, winning by a large margin.  Andrew Boebinger had a very solid double victory in the 1600 and 800, pressed by Beaumont's talented distance crew.  After running the KAT #3 1600 on Saturday night at Azusa Pacific, Andrew had to dig down here in a dual meet and to earn a 4:25 victory.  He came back and went 2:00.38 in the 800 to win there too.  Jonathan Moncada had his best time ever in the 3200 at 10:17, scoring for the cause.  Korey Parson PR'd in the 110 high hurdles, Jaylen Moore took the win in the 100 meter dash in a near-best of 11.84.  In the discus, Alec Jones had a throw that was almost 10 feet beyond his previous best, landing it at 121-5!  Dillon Lay and Rick Gore both PR'd in the long jump. 

Perhaps the best sight of the day came in the 4x400 relays as both full squads (and Beaumont had large numbers)  lined the track - King on the home stretch, Beaumont on the back - to cheer on loudly their respective teams in the final event of the meet.  It was a scene we've never witnessed in King's 17 year history and was a picture of the spirit that embodies team-oriented high school athletics.

The meet was a first for the two schools, and while Beaumont may not have gotten the victory they were looking for, they certainly pushed King and together the programs got a better insight into what good track and field looks like. 

JANES' COUNTY RECORD MILE HEADLINES BIG DAY AT ARROYO DISTANCE CARNIVAL

The annual Arroyo Distance Carnival held at Azusa Pacific University saves the best for last as the marquee "rated" and "invitational" heats of the dozens of 800, 1600 and 3200 races contested throughout the day go off after the lights go on. For each distance, the fastest two heats are electric as many of the state's fastest distance runners converge for incredible races before a packed stadium and accompanied by a stellar play-by-play announcer.

Tyler Janes, 8th in the 1600 meters last year at State, entered the invitational mile (1609 meters) on that big stage along with most of the very best that California has to offer this season, including Austin Tamagno, the defending State Champion. The field took it out fast and Tyler crossed the 800 split in 2:00.  On the backstretch of the last lap, Tyler took the lead of the race and held it until the final 100 when he was passed by three.  He finished fourth, but his 4:05.97 set a school record (Lane Werley's 4:13 was five years ago to the day), a Riverside County record and was the fourth fastest time in the nation this season.  In fact, his bold move helped drag 11 guys in the race under 4:11.00 ... an incredible display of the depth California has to offer in the event. 

But his was only one part of an amazing day for King's distance runners.  Andrew Boebinger preceded Tyler in the rated heat and AJ impressed with his own incredible race going 4:16.47 for 1600 meters, finishing third and also inking himself third on King's All-Time (KAT) list.  He is also sitting in the KAT 2 spot in the 800 with a 1:55 last season.  Also under the lights were Mark Werley and Daniel Gonzalez in the rated and invite heats of the 3200.  Both guys were doubling off PR's run earlier in the afternoon in the 1600 meters, but came back with great strength and poise to run two more personal records.  Mark's 9:42 is the KAT #8 and Daniel's 9:22 is the KAT #3.

It was a day for PR's as the squad ran incredible well from the very beginning and kept it going through the 15 hour day.  Skylar Smith's amazing PR in the 3200 at 7:20 AM started it rolling and the marathon of records lasted the entire time. Alyssa Haring notched the KAT #7 in the 3200 with an 11:14 effort. Freshman Lauren Peurifoy went 11:21 in the same race to post King's #2 fastest freshman time in that distance all time.  She'd duplicate that listing in the 1600 later in the day going 5:20. Aman Rana was another double-PR with an incredible 3200 of 10:07 then a 1600 in 4:48.95, an 11 second drop off his previous best.   

Eric Soholt and Wyatt Smith ran the 800 with aggressiveness and skill, both putting great PR's together in the early hours of the meet. Garrett Vasta ran 2:08.77 at the same distance, just missing the #7 spot on the freshman KAT list. Alvin Agatep PR'd there as did Amanda Sosa who, at 2:25.90 is now at the 4-spot on the 9th grader KAT list.  Jessica Ferguson really sparkled in the 800 as well, running a season best after a recent bout with illness that hindered the early season training. Sophmore Carissa Avila and freshmen Roman Hernandez, Tony Lorenz, Daniel Wilbert, Isaiah Cunningham, Matthew Castro and Dathan Chann all PR'd.  Junior Austin Adams had his best ever time as did Sydney Grossi and Emily Arteaga.

In the 1600's, of which there were over 50 heats(!) King's kids ran very well. 19 of the 21 who raced the distance came home with a lifetime best!  Guys who had really big drops in time were Jacob Call, Mathew Castro, Michael Robinson and Daniel Gonzalez who at 4:22 became the KAT #6 runner.   David Huff doubled and looked good in both the 1600 and 3200; getting very near his best marks all time. Jacob Mitchell had a 5:04 PR in the 1600 which was about 10 seconds faster than his previous best.

It's hard to know exactly what it is about this meet that yearly pulls from the King runners the best of results.  At night, under the lights, you could pin it on the "electric vibe" of the night and the elite competition.   But to say that is to ignore the amazing results that come in the middle of the day, under the sun.  

We do know however, that King's marathon day in Azusa may have ended with the headline-grabbing run of Tyler Janes, but it  had equally interesting stories of  dozens of kids who wrote their own headlines of their own special accomplishments that made the beginning and middle of the day just as much fun as its ending.

Results   Full Results   updated KAT lists    Pictures 

SHARKS CAN'T MAKE LUNCH MEAT OUT OF WOLVES

On paper, or at least on the internet, the dual meet between King and the Santiago Sharks appeared as if it may be the closest meet of the year with a strong opposition lined up - especially on the girls' side.  During the early minutes of the meet even, one of the Santiago coaches could be heard telling one of the members of their team, "We're doing much better than last year." 

And indeed the Lady-Sharks did just that and the battle between the teams was a lively one.  It was also one that King was able to pull away and win at all four levels.

As stated, the girls got the closer of the competition as the Sharks were within 20 points of the Lady Wolves until the very end.  In a season where King has gapped their opponents by 80 points, 20 was an unusual margin.  But the team prevailed with solid efforts everywhere.  9th grader Kimberly Garza won the discus with a toss over 90 feet and enjoy "center stage" as the discus event was brought into the infield of the track, a rarity.  Alyssa Haring won the 3200 meters, while Sarah Ann Frank took victory in the 300 hurdles -- with a bit of redemption tossed in as she stumbled over a hurdle in the 100's and gave up what looked like a sure win there.  Ashley Chruszcz and MaryJane Smith went 1-2 in the 400 and both relays won.

The boys enjoyed a comfortable run away win, led by Tyler Janes who scored 10 points combined in the 1600 and the 800.  He was pressed in the 800 by Kyle Pendleton of Santiago and had to run a PR and the KAT #5 at 1:57.68 to win.  Daniel Gonzalez took second in the 1600 while Austin Dai, Jonathan Moncada and Aman Rana swept the 3200.  Like the ladies, both relay teams were victorious.  Dante Anderson was jubilant upon his 21-3.5 leap in the long jump that landed him in second there.  He'd go second in the triple as well.  Dillon Lay and Joshua Fisher were scorers in both hurdle races.  Jonathan Essian had his second-best performance ever in the 200, winning at 22.19.  Finally, Mohsin Sabrin won the 400 in a PR of 50.57, bumping Coach Vasal from the KAT5 list, and placing himself in that fifth-best all time mark!

Both teams remained undefeated on the season and again by large margins despite what the prognostications seemed to say in the lead up to the meet.

Results      Some photos

WOLVES MOVE PAST THE CENTURY MARK WITH RELATIVE EASE

The Wolves surpassed the century mark in the points column against Centennial High yesterday in a fast-moving and relatively easy Big 8 leage meet on Thursday.  The rapid movement from event to event made for a 3 hour time span from the first to last gun and along the way, all four King teams at both levels cruised to victory.

Courtney Klosinski continued to amaze in the shot put ring as she notched another PR and put her already KAT third-ranked mark within a foot of the school record.  Danielle Abboud won the 400 with a 62-second split, while Charizma Guzman took victory in the 200.  In the 800, King was privieged to host the reigning State meet runner up, Centennial's Rylee Penn.  Admittedly the speedy sophomore was in "training mode" as she sets her sights on the State meet in June, but that didn't keep her from running unpressed to a 2:16:70, good for King's stadium record.  She'd come back at the end of the evening to carry a leg on the 4x400 and help the Huskies to a victory there as well. Impressive!

King's Lauren Peurifoy took two victories, in the 1600 and 3200, while fellow freshman Amanda Sosa ran a sweet little PR in the 1600 to finish second. Sarah Ann Frank was another double winner on the day in the hurdle races.

On the boys' side of things, King was equally unchallenged in almost every event.  Daniel Gonzalez impressed with a lifetime PR in the 1600, going 4:33.32.  He'd double back with a controlled effort in the 3200 to finish second.  Phill Griggs won the 400 and Mark Werley moved himself into the 800 and impressed there with a PR and a win. Dylan Lay scored twice in the hurdles, while Alec Jones, Marcos Gonzalez, and Terance Thompson swept the shot and Tanner Sebastian and Jacob Melton went 1-2 in the discus.

So it was a day where the team had an opportunity to cruise a bit while racking up a lot of points.  Enjoy it now, for most of the rest of the Big 8 teams -- including the Sharks of Santiago next week -- will pose a much larger challenge.

KING TEAM CRASHES THE PARTY AT RANCHO BERNARDO

The girls 3200 was the first event of the day of the Rancho Bernardo Invitational and it saw Alyssa Haring lead for much of the race before finishing in 4th with a season-best time.  The next two events were the 4x100 relays in which the King girls and guys won.  That early showing of talent by some of King's elites on a San Diego track where King was the only out-of-section school competing, led the meet announcer to playfully remark that King "wasn't being a very good guest".

It was a jovial statement that was backed by the host school's head coach who said to Coach Corona at the end of the day that the Wolves had "impressed him each and every year as solid competitors and great kids that embodied a true team."  In a sport that can easily lend itself to selfishness and a cancerous case of individualism, such a comment was decidely encouraging. 

That team element was on display throughout the day as the King kids showed a remarkable spread of accomplishment across both the track and the field. Daniel Gonzalez won the 3200 meters in 9:26, while Mark Werley ran a lifetime PR of 9:53.  Jonathan Essien helped the relay team to a season-best time and victory then came back in the 100 meters and finished in 2nd there, by 1/1000th of a second!  Saadiq Jennings was third in the same event.  Andrew Boebinger finished runner-up in the 1600 where his 4:21.71 split put him 4th on King's All Time (AT) list.  Garrett Vasta was fourth in the freshman 1600, and dropped an incredible 4:43.02, the 6th fastest KAT 9th grade mark.  The boys 4x400 team of Joshua Fisher, Jeremy Young, Blake Gelinas and Mohsin Sabrin ran 3:28 to snag second place.

In the field, the boys team had just as fine a day.  Ryan Laudermilk won the high jump with a 6-5 clearance, and just missed at what would have been his PR at 6-7.  He's off to a fine start this season!  Jacob Melton had a very good PR in the discus varsity finals, throwing it 133-06.  Carson Walder was 3rd in the long jump open flight with teammate Ryan Bardin just behind him in 5th. In the triple jump "invite flight" Dante Anderson would finish 4th wiht a mark of 41-02. 

The ladies had just as good a day.  Tia Parrish and Sydney Reid went 3-5 in the 100 meter dash.  9th grader Lauren Peurifoy had a stellar day.  She took third in the freshmen 1600, matching her season and career best of 5:27.  The next event on the track - no more than 15 minutes of rest for the miler - was the distance medley where she ran another 1600 to anchor and did it in 5:30 ... moving up three spots to take the victory after Rebekah Pendleton, Valentina Sanabria and Kathryn Hammer all contributed mightily to put the team in the hunt.   Sarah Ann Frank had a very good day hurdling, with a 4th place finish in the 100 and a third place finish in the 300.  Larisa Cesena in the 300's ran 16.18 and dropped an 11-year old mark of the KAT5 list, making her the 5th fastest 300 hurdler in school history!  Not bad considering one of those ahead of her is Frank, and the other three made the State meet during their day at King.  The 4x800 team of Carissa Avila, Pendleton, Joelle Ramos and Amanda Sosa all ran very solid legs each to take the stick across in 4th. 

In the field, Courtney Klosinski continued her early season accomplishments with a 3rd place finish in the shot put, going 36-6.5, just a few inches off her PR.  In the open division of the long and triple jumps, Alyssa Drake took 1st and 2nd respectively, while Gabriela Sanabria took fourth in the invite section of the triple, going 34' 2.5".  Sissy underwood was 5th in the invite portion of the long jump with a leap of 16-6.

The spread of talent on King's team was evident throughout the day but what was, perhaps, more encouraging was the team part of the 2016 season that was more rewarding.  King may have crashed a San Diego party, but at least they did it together.

WINS IN SEARCH OF A DEFINITION

The 2016 campaign notched its second and third victories of the short season on Thursday as all four squads won by significant and large margins over Hemet and Chaparral High Schools in the annual double-dual, this time held on Chaparral's brand new all weather track.  And while winning is certainly a value of King Track and Field, there still seems to be missing from the early action a sense of collective unity, purpose and connection amid the pieces that make up the very large teams this season.  Perhaps its due to relatively easy competition faced this season, or maybe its due to something else entirely, but the core of the team is clearly still something to be pursued as the Big 8 season looms next week.

The closest score came in the girls varsity contest where just a couple-dozen points gapped King from the host school.   The ladies had some really strong performances that afforded them the win.  Tia Parrish scorched the 100 and 200 to score 10 points.  Ashley Chruszcz won the 400 with Daniell Abboud and MaryJane Smith also scoring.  Freshmen Amanda Sosa and Lauren Peurifoy both scored in the 1600 and the 800. Alyssa Haring ran a solid race to score in the 3200.  Sissy Underwood and Alyssa Drake did damage to their competitors in the long and triple jump with Gariela Sanabria winning the later. Courtney Klosinski won the shot.  Sarah Ann Frank PR'd in the 100 hurdles, improving on her own #3 AT mark. 

Neither Hemet nor Chaparral could match what the King boys put down and the gap in the scores was very large as the Wolves amassed over 100 points. It started well with the number-two mark in school history in the 400 relay as Saadiq Jennings, Jaylen Moore, Korey Parsons and Jonathan Essien carried the stick to a mark of 42.78.  For Essien the deuces were wild as he would later notch the number 2 time in the 200 finishing second.  Daniel Gonzalez ran a come-from-behind effort to snag the win in the 1600 at a very good early-season mark of 4:35.09.  Ryan Laudermilk had the floor to himself at the end of the night as he cleared 6-6 in the high jump, matching his best leap from 2015.  Dillon Lay and Joshua Fisher went first and second in the 110 hurdles; Lay came back to win the 300 as well.  A quartet of Noah Poole, Andrew Wilde, Blake Simpson and Matthew Perez swept the pole vault.  

So yes, there were the victories, but those wins ... while certainly not hollow ... seemed to be lacking something.  Maybe that something, that spark of team comraderie, purpose and poise will come in time and with greater testing that teams still out there in the schedule may create.   Only time will tell.

Results     Photos

MIXED RESULTS FROM PALOMA VALLEY INVITATIONAL

The King Wolves were off to their first invitational of the season yesterday in traveling to the 2016 Wildcat Relays held at Paloma Valley High School. With a number of student-athletes unavailable for competition this weekend it was a day of mixed results. There were points in the meet where the coaching staff was running triage for the injured and re-working relay entries all at the same time. As in any invitational, there were some disappointments, but facing some high level competition from schools like Vista Murrieta; Rancho Verde, Yucaipa, Chaparral and Santiago, there was also some fine performances that bode well for the remainder of the season.

Coach Ken Bracy’s hurdling crew got things off to a fine start as the King shuttle hurdle teams did extremely well. The King girls B team competed at the Divison 2 level of the three level meet and won first place. Destiny Gardner, Sarah Al-Khalili, Danielle Ragan and Jasmine Jimenez did the honors. Their Division 1 counterparts –Sarah Ann Frank, Larissa Cesena; Karla Lemus and Amber Hylton finished second to Vista Murrieta by less than a second. The boys team of Dillion Lay; Jacob Knerl; Josh Fisher and Riley Lung won the event in 1:07.72. Both 8 X 200’s finished in third place. The girls 4 X 100 came in second place at 50.36 while the boys ran a very respectable 43.7 for fourth. The girls 4 X 200 team of Mary Jane Smith, Tia Parrish, Sarah Ann Frank and Sydney Reid were just a tick off the school record at 1:46.46. The girls 8 X 100 team salvaged a third place finish with a blazing anchor leg from freshman Anna Barry.

Like on the track, performance in the field was uneven. Though there weren’t a lot of team medals won, individual performances gave the team some light. Shaelyn Johnson went 4-10 in the high jump and Madison Canderlaria went 4-8-both PR’s, seemingly filling up a hole in our lineup that Coach Corona had been worried about all pre-season. Marcos Gonzalez, a newbie to the sport, finished second overall in the boys shot put with a toss of 45-5. The Girls shot put team, led by Courtney Klosinski’s toss of 36-1, won first place in the meet. Gabby Sanabria PR’d in both the long jump and triple jump in helping both teams place for medals. Alyssa Drake and Tresure Rucker racked up PR’s in the triple jump as well. On the boys side of things, Dante Anderson duplicated Gabby’s feat with PR’s in both the long and triple jump. First year jumper Hunter Fisk soared to a PR of 36-3 in the triple.

2016 CAMPAIGN KICKS OFF WITH VICTORIES OVER MESA

The 2016 season started at home against the Rams of Mesa Murrieta.  With two large squads representing both schools, the meet went well past the three hour mark as there were multiple heats of the lane events, but when it was all settled and done, King won handily at all four levels.

Despite the short season thus far, there were some strong marks recorded.  The boys 4x100 team of Carson Walder, Moore, Essien and Jennings launched with the third-best time in school history, going 42.97 for the victory.  Courtney Klosinski threw the shot put 36-10.5 to put her name on the 3-spot in King's history in the ring.  Freshman Lauren Peurifoy won the 1600 and 3200 with marks that put her 6th fastest ever in those two events for freshmen.  So it was an auspicious beginning.

But the teams told the story as in event after event there were impressive performances.   Tyler Janes, Andrew Boebinger and Daniel Gonzalez swept the 1600, the first sweep of several on the day.  Lay, Fisher and Lung swept the 110 high hurdles, Chrusczc, Reid and Drake the girls 400, Peurifoy, Haring and Pendleton in the girls 3200, Gonzalez, Werley and Janes in the boys 3200 and both genders in both relays won.  

In the field, Anderson, Walder and Bardin took the top three spots in the long jump, Laudermilk, Navarro and Soyemi swept the high jump; with Laudermilk - a CIF Masters qualifier last season opening nicely with a 6-2 leap. Poole, Wilde and Simpson swept the pole vault.  The shot put win by Klosinski was backed up by Zavala and Garza in 2nd and 3rd, while Marco Gonzalez, Alec Jones and Tanner Sebastian cleaned up in the boys shot.  Jacob Melton won the discus.

While there were things the Wolves can definitely improve on as the season goes forth, this meet proved to be a nice beginning to the 2016 campaign.

Results 

SCHOOL RECORDS SET IN 2015

100 Meters - Jonathan Essian - 10.84

4x100 Relay - Saadig Jennings, TJ Noland, Jason Gonzalez, Jonathan Essien - 42.42

1600 Meters - Tyler Janes - 4:10.71

110 High Hurdles - Nick Abboud - 14.23

Pole Vault - Marcos Zavaleta - 14' 03"

Pole Vault - Hannah Chang - 12' 00"

Distance Medley Relay - Carlos Ramirez, Jacob Norys, Andrew Boebinger, Tyler Janes 10:19.64

A PURPOSEFUL DRIVE ENDS IN CLOVIS AT THE CALIFORNIA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

The California State Championships is a true championship.  There are no divisions.  No one cares if you came from a little school or a big school.  It doesn't matter if your team had 200 or 20.  If you're good enough to pass through the rounds of your CIF Section (there are 12 of them across the state) you're deemed good enough to run, jump or throw on the impeccable and impressive stage at Buchanan High School in Clovis.  It is a meet for the best and of the best. 

Of course the athletes must have talent, but beyond that there must be a drive and a purpose imbedded inside the hearts and minds of those who would make Clovis the final stop on their spring tour. For Hannah Chang and Tyler Janes, two of King's elites of Field and Track who made the trek north this past weekend, it was the culmination of five months of training,  pushing and competing with the purpose of having a shot at Clovis in June.  

The meet requires all athletes (save the 3200) to qualify for Saturday's finals during preliminary rounds on Friday night.  For both Tyler and Hannah, that endeavor alone would require a mettle and a determination to not allow the temptation of "being at State" be enough of a prize to keep them from the Finals.  

Tyler was the first to go in the 1600 and despite some butterflies, he managed the pressure well and ran negative splits on all four laps.  He deftly moved with the leaders and finished third, inside the top four auto qualifiers, despite having to run the final 300 meters with one shoe missing.  At the bell, he had been "flat-tired" by someone and after trying to navigate the penultimate turn with his heel hanging out, he ended up flipping the shoe off and kicking it in with sock and shoe sharing the work.  

Hannah had been here before and while she didn't have to vault without a shoe, she did have to remember that in 2014, she wasn't able to move past the preliminaries.  The competition here in 2015 was solid and she cleared the first two opening heights of 11-3 and 11-9 on her first attempt before fouling out at 12-3.  Some anxious moments ensued following, as the judges determined the cut for Saturday based on attempts and when a big smile creased her face it was clear she had been passed through.

Saturday's finals were quite a show, with the very best of the entire state assembled in one location. A new national record was set and there were five National Best marks recorded on the evening!  Tyler Janes' 1600 meters race was the third event of the night and while it started somewhat tactically with a large group clumped together for the first 600 meters, when the break happened after the 800, Tyler was unable to respond to the charge but would hang on admirably for an 8th place finish and a mark of 4:13.  It concluded a breakout season for the Junior, as he left his sophomore season with a 4:24 1600 personal best and would by April of this year drop that down to 4:10.71, setting the school record and moving himself into the State's elite milers.

Hannah would struggle in her final, never seeming to really click and after clearing the opening height would foul out on the second increment at 11-9.  Her efforts placed her 11th.  She will advance onward however to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where she'll continue to reach for new heights in the vault.  In her two quick years at King, she set a new school record at 12-0 and helped to continue the legacy of fine vaulting that Coach Roll has established in our school's 16 seasons.

The night ended with fireworks shot up into the darkened night sky over Clovis.  Given the accomplishments of the King kids -- not just on this day but thoughout the season, it seemed a fitting way to conclude the season of 2015 

Results    Photos

A COUPLE OF HITS, A COUPLE OF MISSES AT THE CIF MASTERS' MEET

The TRUE Southern Section Championship is the CIF Masters meet, held one week after the four divisional finals are held.  The meet puts the top combined finishers of the Divisions against one-another, head to head.  The top finishers are therefore truly, the best of the best in the best and most competitive CIF Section in the state.  The Masters meet also serves as a qualifying meet for the State Championships.  Needless to say, there's a lot on the line at the meet.

King sent its largest ever squad to the meet, with Ryan Laudermilk in the high jump, Tyler Janes in the 1600 meters, Nick Abboud in the 110 hurdles and Hannah Chang in the pole vault.  Only Hannah had prior experience on this stage, having earned a Masters Meet berth in 2014.

Hannah would make the most of her second opportunity at the meet and after passing on the first height, cleared the State-meet qualifying mark of 11-7 on her first attempt.  She wouldn't clear the next height at 12-1, but the earlier clearance was enough to punch her ticket for State.  Tyler Janes was the next King athlete to compete and he ran a brilliant race, matching the tactical pace and making a definitive move in the last 400 -- which he covered in 60 seconds flat -- to finish third and also move on to the State meet.

Nick Abboud and Ryan Laudermilk had less fortunate outcomes.  Nick had a start of his 110 hurdle race that left him in catch up mode from the first hurdle on, and though he made a valient effort, he ended up one place and 2-10ths of a second off the qualifying.  Ryan Laudermilk cleared 6-3 quickly, but had difficulty at 6-6 and fouled out, one inch below the cut off.  

Nick will be headed to UCR to continue his track and field accomplishments, following his successful older sister, Noelle.  Ryan is only a junior and is likely headed to even greater heights in his senior year, now that he's gained invaluable experience.   Tyler and Hannah will add one more week to their season, as they'll travel to Clovis in the coming weekend to compete Friday night in the State preliminaries with the goal of competing on the biggest stage of them all, the California State Finals to be held Saturday night.

CIF FINALS BRINGS THE END OF THE ROAD FOR SOME, NOT FOR OTHERS

With several thousand spectators in the stands at Cerritos College and all four divisions of the powerhouse CIF Southern Section competing on the track and field, the CIF Southern Section Finals is one of the biggest and most competitive meets in the entire country.  Earning the right to compete in the meet is a very high accomplishment ... to do well once there is even more so.

For many, the Finals is exactly that, their final race of the season.  But for a select few, the Finals isn't the end of the road but rather becomes a stepping stone to even greater heights ... a spot at the Masters meet in one week and from there, a potential spot in the State Finals two weeks hence.

King sent its largest squad in our history to the CIF Finals, with 16 athletes under the King uniform on the day.  By the end of the afternoon, the Wolves had earned four All-CIF honors, set two new school records and earned four spots in next weekend's even more prestigious CIF Masters meet.  While 12 of the 16 would see their season completed, it wasn't without great effort and competitive spirit. 

Hannah Chang was the last of the competitors for King to finish on the day and she did so in such a way that it seemed we saved the best for last.  The pole vault runner up in 2014 at 11-9, she needed to pull out an even bigger performance this year to finish in the same spot, which she did.  She was the first in Division 1 to clear 11-6, but her nearest rival, Clair Kao, matched the leap.  Both then moved to 12-0, which Kao cleared on her first attempt.  Hannah would take two tries to make the height which put her in second place, CIF Runner-up for the second straight year.  But she improved her own school record and punched her ticket to Masters.  

The Masters meet is a truly "masters-level" event, and athletes must finish at the Finals in the top 9 (12 for the distance events) of all four Divisions combined, a tough feat in that the divisions do not compete head-to-head.  Athletes can therefore be excused of doing a little "scoreboard watching" as they plot their chances.   Tyler Janes was masterful in the 1600.  In an absolutely loaded field and against other divisional races that were equally talented, a "go for broke" strategy was in order to not only finish high in his race, but defend against the fast guys in the other three races.  Opening with a 62 second first lap and followed up with a couple of 63's, the race was on in the final lap which he closed at 62 to finish 6th in 4:10.71.  His own school record dropped by a full second and the effort proved necessary as the results showed that 4:12 was "too slow" to make the Masters meet here in 2015!  

Ryan Laudermilk soared into the next round with a high-flying act in the high jump.  He cleared 6-5 on his first attempt which sealed the deal but couldn't get over 6-7. Still, he finished third in the division and will leap again next weekend.  The final "Master" for King was Nick Abboud who has been masterful all year in the 110 high hurdles.  A slow start put him behind by the first flight, but his powerful form gained him precious ground and he wound up in 3rd with a near SR of 14.24; just 1/1000th off his best ever.

The rest of the King contingent performed well at Finals, and the name of the meet became the descriptor of their season despite strong efforts.  The 4x100 team of Tia Parrish, Sydney Reid, Larissa Cessena and Khaysa Cunningham ran the #3 time in school history and finished 8th.  Freshman Sydney Reid, inspired by the moment, told Tia, "We'll be back next year!"  The boys team of Jason Gonzalez, Jonathan Essien, TJ Noland and Saadig Jennings had a bobble in one of the exchanges and finished 9th, a second off their best time.  Madison McPeak cleared 10-0 in the vault -- a good performance.  Freshman Sarah Ann Frank who has improved mightily this season also finished 9th in her race but threw down a PR of 15.58, the #3 time in school history!

So the 2015 season came to a close, sort of.  Well it did for many of the best of King's 2015 squad, and though that comes with some disappointment, the fact they made it to this "Final" is nothing to hang one's head low over. For four others, their "final" is still somewhere out there in the next two weeks.  Should they master the nerves and competition one more time, they can be assured their final day will come in Fresno.

Photos    Results

A BIG DAY FOR KING AT D-1 PRELIMS

Division 1 of the Southern Section is packed with big schools full of big talent.  Just getting into the preliminary round is an accomplishment in and of itself.  Punching one's ticket to the Final, well, that's a big deal.

King had a big day getting athletes into that "big deal" and it happened seemingly in a flourish as the both 4x100 relay team -- the first running event of the day -- got through the five heats of teams with a top-9 clocking.  On the third exchange of the boys race, the outcome looked doubtful as Jonathan Essien took the stick in fifth place.  He powered down the straight and overtook all the others and leaned for a heat win by 1/1000th of a second over Great Oak.  They set a school record in the event, breaking the old mark from six seasons ago at 42.42.

Tyler Janes was the next to get through, racing the 1600 superbly in 4:13 and cruising to a third place finish in his, the fastest of the 3 heats on the day.  Andrew Boebinger raced well in the 800, matching his lifetime best at 1:55, but will have to await a spot on the line next Saturday in Cerritos, as he goes into Finals as an official alternate.

Nick Abboud sits as one of the top-ranked 110 hurdlers in the whole state, and it showed as he seemed to glide over the hurdles and won his event to take an automatic spot.  Sarah Ann Frank, who as a freshman has yet to scale the heights of state rankings, didn't allow that to keep her from racing as a seasoned veteran and qualified in the 100 hurdles as well.  While she didn't qualify for Finals, the freshman Ashley Chruszcz ran 59.60 for a PR and the KAT#5 mark.

King had a field day in the vault.  Hannah Chang took the top spot out of prelims and seeming cruised into the Finals.  It was teammate Madison McPeak who had to sweat a bit, as she entered a jump off with an opponent for the last ticket.  They both missed on the first attempt, but after one more miss the spot was hers and King will send two vaulters to Finals for the first time in our history.

Ryan Laudermilk concluded the contingent of qualifiers for King as he again cleared his personal best in the high jump at 6-6.  He's set up to be a potential scorer and medalist in the Finals if he can clear that height again.

Among the biggest schools in Southern California, the biggest school in Riverside had a big day.  Time will tell if they will take that same big spirit of possibilty onto the even bigger stage of the CIF Finals.

 RESULTS     PHOTOS

BIG 8 FINALS GIVES KING A BIG NIGHT TO CELEBRATE

With a raspy voice that masked his enthusiasm, Coach Corona stood before the athletes assembled in the stands at the end of the Big 8 League champioships and said, "Coach Peters, myself, and Coach Jones have been here for 16 years and I can't remember having a better night than we did tonight.  I asked you to remember who you are, who came before you, and you did just that." 

The deep sense of satisfaction that comes from a season of hard work and pushing toward class, character and courage was as much on display throughout the meet as it was in the voices of those athletes at the end of the meet as they basked in the glow of what had just transpired.

It was indeed, a big night for King.

There were two new school records set on the night, both by young men who already owned the mark but nudged them a bit with outstanding efforts. Marcos Zavaleta took his 14-01 vault up to 14-3, to win the individual title by 9 inches!  Jonathan Essien, who blasted out of the blocks in the 100 in Tuesday's preliminaries, got off to a shaky start in the Final, but came roaring back over the last 50 to move four places and steal the victory while dropping his own SR to 10.84, down from 10.95 set just 48 hours earlier.

There were many, many personal records (PR) on the night and some outstanding performances.

In the field, Hannah Chang won two events, the high jump and the pole vault.  In the vault she led a King sweep as Alexis Boonkukoa and Madison McPeak took 2nd and 3rd.  Ryan Laudermilk cleared 6-6 in the high jump to win and also notch his name as the #2 all time leaper at King, only Michael Albrecht has gone higher at 6-8.  Destinee Underwood had a sweet PR in the long jump landing 17 feet from the board (KAT #3), but unfortunately finished 4th overall and missed a CIF bid.  (CIF berths go to the top 3 in each event). She'd triple jump 34' 8.75" as well, finishing 5th.

The distance runners performed exceptionally well, led by Jessica Ferguson's huge PR in the 800 and spot on the CIF squad.  Last season, Jessica was third in the JV 800, but reversed that story by not only placing third in the VARSITY race, but dropping her season PR from 2:25 down to 2:21.15, the #7 time in school history.  Her PR in 2014 was 2:35!  This girl is figuring it out!  Tyler Janes and Andrew Boebinger both punched their tickets to CIF in the 1600 and 800 respectively, finishing second place to Corona senior, Josh Silva who out-kicked both of them in the two races. Emily Sanchez ran a strong tactical race in the 1600 and took 3rd in 5:11.98, while Kathryn Hammar who finished 5th ran the race of her life to finish in 5:21.42, a big lifetime best. In the boys 3200, while the top three spots separated themselves from King runners by lap six, a pack of Wolves ran very well.  Daniel Gonzalez finished 4th, while Michael Robinson dropped a 12 second PR to finish at 9:47, one second behind Rolando Phalen who finished with a PR at 9:46.  Seth Villanueva finished his career also dipping under 10:00. In the girls' race, Alyssa Haring took 2nd and Emily Sanchez doubled back to finish in 4th.

Led by Jonathan Essien's electrifying win in the 100, the sprinters and hurdlers had quite a night.  Freshman Sydney Reid didn't allow her inexperience keep her from dancing on the big stage as she won the 200 meters in 25.16, the King AT #4 mark. She was the 5th seed in the race! This came after the dasher finished 3rd in the 100 with the King AT#3 mark of 12.16! Astounding performances.

Khasya Cunningham had a huge half-lap effort to take third in 25.38, matching her lifetime PR and passing through to CIF  Nick Abboud did his usually powerful hurdling act in the 110 highs, winning in a near SR of 14.26. For good measure he doubled back in the 300's and took second.  Sarah Ann Frank continued her amazing freshman campaign taking 3rd in the 100 hurdles with mark at 15.77, good for KAT#3.  She finished 5th in the 300's behind senior teammate Leighana Weaver who crossed the line in 4th. Mohsin Sabrin closed nicely in the 400 meters to take third in a lifetime PR of 50.36 (KAT #3).

Ashley Chruszcz (pronounced "crush") and MaryJane Smith took 2-3 in their 400 race and also got into the CIF rounds. 

At the end of the afternoon as darkness descended,  the mile relays saw great efforts.  Both JV squads won, and then the varsities put on a show for the crowd and teammates alike.  With Roosevelt's boys and girls squads well in command of both races, the battle was for second and King and Corona did some great back-and-forth dueling before it was finally decided. Chruszcz took the stick as anchor and paced her attack on 2nd place, perfectly timing the pass in the closing 30 meters of the race.  Sabrin did likewise, while making his move a bit earlier and taking it home in 3:23.70, the season's #2 time.

16 years hold the history of a lot of track meets, many of them under the banner of King High have been storied and excellent.  But there was something about this one that made it stand out and had athletes, coaches and fans of the team buzzing with excitement. The Big 8 has a way of doing that, and once again offered King Track and Field a big night to celebrate.

Results 

ZAVALETA FLIES, TEAMS CRUISE THROUGH LAST DUAL

After the fireworks against Roosevelt one week ago, the last Big 8 dual meet of the season against Corona High was anti-climactic at best.  Both squads, seemed resigned to let the meet unwind with a predictable finish and get on to the League Finals next week in which "team competition" is sidelined in favor of "individual efforts" for the sake of event titles and CIF qualification.

If only Marcos Zavaleta had been informed, for on a day in which the vast majority of athletes for both the Panthers and the Wolves put out "just enough", Zavaleta unleashed his best pole vault ever ... in fact the best vault ever in King history.

The record had been at 14-0, held by Will Foody and was in it's third year atop the list.  Marcos, who has been hovering around the 13-6 mark for most of the year, cleared the bar which had been set at 14-1 to put himself atop the all-time list of King vaulters, which has had impressive results for our entire history.  Perhaps just as significantly, of the hundreds of vaulters that have landed jumps at the King stadium, NONE has gone higher.  Zavaleta is King of the King vault.  

Jacob Norys was the other lone King athlete who had a seasonal best on the day, running 51.1 in the 400 and helping to lead King to a victory that once again gapped their opponents by some 70 points.

The girls had an equally easy time of it, winning almost every event except for Corona's top sprinter who snagged some points in the dashes.  The final score saw the King girls win 107-29.  The boys won 103-33.

Next week the teams head to Centennial HS for the Big 8 League Prelims and Finals.  There, doing "just enough" will not be enough.  If anyone needs a refresher course on how to go big, they might want to talk to Marcos Zavaleta. 

FROSH SOPH TEAMS FINISH SECOND AT I.E. CHAMPIONSHIPS

With many of the upper classmen at the 2015 Prom, the IE Championships gave the frosh-soph squads a chance to shine -- this despite the cold, overcast and raining weather.  Both the boys and the girls came away with second place finishes against many of the best programs in the Inland Empire.

The conditions were decidely not conducive to fast sprinting as it was cold and blustery all day.  That didn't stop Sydney Reid from exelling in the dashes, as she finished second in the 100 and helped the 4x100 relay squad to a victory. Sarah Ann Frank had two very solid races in the hurdles finishing 3rd in both. The girls 4x400 team was also victorious.  Kathryn Hammar PR'd in the 1600 at 5:28 to finish in 6th, scoring on the day.

On the boys' side, Carson Walder ran well in the 100 and 200, finishing in 6th place overall in both events. Dillon Lay and Josh Fisher went 1-2 in the 110 high hurdles, and then came back in the 300's to run 1-4 respectively.  Both relays scored in the points with the shorter coming in second overall. Andrew Wilde was the winner of the pole vault at 10-06.  Both teams came up just short of the host, Vista Murrieta in the scoring.

The fewer varsity-level athletes that were there did well. Nick Abboud lowered his school record in the 110 high hurdles, winning at 14.23.  Michael Robinson was a heat-winner with a very solid 4:31 in the 1600, right at his lifetime best.  Marcos Zavaleta and Daniel Mukasa were flying high in the pole vault; Zavaleta for the win and Mukasa in third. Hannah Chang won the vault as well, making that event a clean sweep for King.  Alyssa Haring was sixth overall in the 3200 with a nice PR at 11:28.

BEST MEET OF THE YEAR SEES KING COME UP SHORT

There are times when winning leaves a sour taste in ones mouth.  Perhaps its a result of poor performances over poor opponents; perhaps it's that the attitude in winning wasn't right. Either way, at times, winning isn't always accompanied by great joy.

While no one likes losing, defeat can sometimes elicit praise and commendation; and against the very strong Roosevelt Mustangs yesterday, King's two losses left the coaches with nothing but praise for how well the King kids competed, battled and never gave up.  After a season of lop-sided victories in King's favor, this meet was anything but that and saw the Wolves do great work against a great team, making the final scores seem insignificant in light of the terrific competition that was waged.

For the boys varsity, the meet literally came down to the last event, the 4x400 meter relay.  Roosevelt, who boasts one of the fastest foursomes in the state was pushed for all four laps by four King guys that refused to budge.  Nick Abboud moved up from his hurdle races to get some skin in the game.  He handed to Andrew Boebinger who gave to Jacob Norys who unleashed a furious third leg and actually pulled the team even with 500 meters to go.  With Mosin Sabrin on anchor, the team ran within 100th of a second of the school record, finishing at 3:21.94! 

The Roosevelt win gave them a 73-63 victory.  But they had to earn it.  In the penultimate track race, the 3200 meters, prognosticators had King going 1 to Roosevelt's 2nd and 3rd.  Daniel Gonzalez didn't get the memo.  Trailing in fourth place by some 20 meters at the bell, Daniel unleashed a kick that had the crowd on their feet.  It took him :60 flat to circle the 8th lap and in so doing he moved not only into third, but ultimately to 2nd behind teammate Tyler Janes.  Janes clocked 9:21.07 which set a stadium record, while Daniel dropped 10 seconds on his PR to finish in 9:25.  The two guys now hold the 2nd and 3rd fastest marks in school history! King had four guys break 10:00 in the race, with Rolando Phalen and Kyle Johnson both dipping below the barrier.

It was that kind of effort that King showed the entire meet, allowing the final decision to come down to the relay.  The first relay, the 4x100 saw a King "loss" but the boys raced to the King #2 mark all time.  Jonathan Essien was part of that relay squad and it was an omen of good things to come for the sprinter as he'd "upset" the highly touted sprint corp of Roosevelt by winning the 100 meter dash with a PR of 11.18!  Norys and Sabrin snagged a 2nd and 3rd in the 400 (again, an unexpected "victory") and then the next event saw Boebinger win the 800 while Rolando Phalen ran the race of his life to steal a third place in that event, timed at 2:01.  Suddenly those three "upsets" had King in the game and required a redoubling of effort by the 'Stangs to regain their superiority. 

"Superior" was the word to describe Roosevelt's David Potts who rulled the rings, and set a stadium record in the discus, tossing it 169' 01".  King managed to take 2nd and 3rd in the shot and discus respectively, with Montiel Johnson throwing a PR in the shot put. Deylland Holland triple jumped a lifetime best of 43' 6.25", #5 all time for King. Ryan Laudermilk cleared 6-4 in the high jump, tying the stadium record while earning the win. 

The girls lost by 30 points, but like the boys, it wasn't for lack of effort. Sadly many of those marks were shadowed by the strength of Roosevelt.  King had two girls dip under 60 seconds in the 400, but it wasn't good enough to even score and were eclipsed by the stadium record setting run of 55.83 by Taylor Smith.  Kahysa Cunningham ran within 100th's of a new PR in the 200, but was out of the scoring. Sarah Ann Frank ran a HUGE 100 meters to finish second and at 16.27, she now owns the #5 mark in school history; no small feat for the 9th grade considering the long history of fine hurdling at King.  Jackae Yarbrough was a double-winner in the throws.

While the scores reveal the first losses of the season for the King teams and with it a chance at taking league titles, the meet was, without question, the most exciting and well-contested effort of the year.  By that measure, the day ended with a win.

 Results

MT.SAC GIVES JANES A SCHOOL RECORD

A smattering of King's top athletes were entered in the Mt.SAC Relays with the intent of pursuing and gaining some high quality competition. They found what they were looking for and excelled in their events.

On Friday afternoon, the 4x800 squad of Dalton Seckinger, Jacob Norys, Rolando Phalen and Andrew Boebinger raced really well and came with .06 seconds of setting a new school record, one in which Seckinger and Norys are already part of.  30 minutes later, Tyler Janes took to the track in the invitational mile and ran another gutty performance, finishing 4th overall and nudging his own PR down a few hundreths, and like the relay team before him, Tyler just missed the school record in the event by .1 second!  The oddity, but nice treat as well, was the meet management had a camera at the 1600 meters (the mile is 1609 meters) and as he crossed that line, he stopped the clock at 4:11.80 which is the school record for that distance!)  Daniel Mukasa and Madison McPeak competed in the pole vault and missed setting PR's but still got big-meet experience. 

Saturday saw two leapers compete well.  Ryan Laudermilk finished second in the high jump, matching his personal best at 6-4.  Later, vaulter Hannah Chang cleared 11-6 to finish fourth.  Andrew Boebinger was placed in a very crowded 800 meter race where 19 athletes took the line.  The traffic and tight pack did it's thing, at 380 meters in the race, AJ almost hit the track and had to recover to run 2:00.  

Under the lights, King's boys put together two squads of milers for the 4x1600 meter relay.  The A team of Rolando Phalen, Carlos Ramirez, Daniel Gonzalez and Michael Robinson finished third, with a very solid 17:59 performance.  Though relay splits don't "count" as official records, Phalen still ran well under his best-ever at 4:26, while the other three were very close to their all-time open marks.  The B team of Mark Werley, Seth Villanueva, Isaiah Quiambao and Kyle Johnson were entered in the "open" heat of the race and eam guy performed well, closing out a nice day of King efforts at Mt.SAC. 

FIRE ON AND OFF THE TRACK MARK THE 2015 RAINCROSS TRADITION

The Raincross Tradition is a celebration to the rich track history of Riverside and the event itself which began in 1970. There were the 5 timers/coaches from the original event that where present to time The Earl Marshall Mile named after the meet's founder.

There was the naming of the various events after Riverside Olympians and international competitors. the Riverside Sports Hall of Fame was present with Riverside athletic royalty like Poly great Art Gilmore handing out medals to the athletes and then, of course, 1964 Olympic hurdler Rosie Bonds and sister of major leaguer Bobbie Bonds, was present not just to hand out medals but to offer her advice, her encouragement and her opinions.

That history can now include the fact that the 2015 edition of the meet was cut short by a fire in the Corona area that deposited its smoke and ash unto the King High stadium as the meet entered into the early evening. In deference to the health of the athletes and spectators, meet management decided to suspend the remaining three events, the 200; 3200 and the 4 X 400 relays and send everybody home.

Before that occurred however, the track and the field were afire with great performances; solid efforts and competitive greatness, led by the King High Wolves. King dominated several events while numerous other school's claimed their share of city championships in this, the sixth re-running of an event which had disappeared for some 18 yearsl; Leading the way for the Wolves was the boys and girls hurdle groups. The boys swept the first four places of the boys 110 hurdles (Nick Abboud-Ryan Moussad, Dillion Lay, Josh Fisher) while the girl's had Leighanna Weaver win the 100 hurdles followed by Sarah Ann Frank in second and Karla Lemus in fourth. The same group did virtually the same in the 300 hurdles except senior Jennifer Gutierrez nabbed third place. Both the boys and girls 4 X 100 teams defended thier championships from a year ago. Tia Parrish won the girls 100 in a wind aided 12.23 followed by Khaysa Cunningham in second at 12.5. PR's for both . Jonathan Essien won the boys 100 in 11.28 followed by Jason Gonzales in second and Saadig Jennings in third. Emily Sanchez won the top spot in the girls Mile and also picked up a third in he 800. Jesscia Ferguson finsihed 4th in the 800 with a solid- 2:25. Sissy Underwood won the long jump in her second best jump of the season at 16-0 and the aforementioned Leighana Weaver won the triple jump in a PR 34-5, giving her three championships for the evening. Devin Moeller on the long jump at 20-6 edging out teamate Deylnn Holland by an inch.

Alexys Boonkukoa in the vault and Jackae Yarbrough i the discus also were city champs. Other schools in the meet had their share of city champions Poly dominated the field events as both high jumpers-Abigail Burke won at 5-0 and Ricky Adams took top honors at 6-2. Dakoata Ramsey improved almost 3 feet from his entry mark to win the boys shot put by two feet over King's Montel Johnson at 47-5. Jeff Robbins soared to 13-6 defeating Marcos Zavalata of King in a spirited battle at 14-3. The Bear's Kalea Ibarra and Christina Winn went 1-2 in the 800. Michael Conant of Woodcrest Christian and teamate Justin Reynolds "ran with the big boys" and aquitted themsevles well runnng 4:31.6 and 4:34 respectively. Conant won the city championship with this effort. Sandwiched in between those two was Erick Jaurez of Norter Vista and he came back to win the 800 in 1:59.89. Farrah Bassey of Hillcrest ran an impressive 59.58 in the 400, holding off the late charges of King's Maryjane Smith (59.93) and Ashley Chruszcz (1:00.25). Tevin Bennett of Moreno Valley won the boys 400 in 50.76. Daniel Rodriguez was the winner in the discus at 131-1

Small Schools champions included the CSDR boys 4 X 100; Woodcrest;s Lindsey Schwartz i the 800 and the mile. Her teamate Owen Milligan got the victory in the mile at 5:10. Jason Pena was a double winner for Sherman Indian in both hurdles. Jayda Gainer of Woodcrest was the girls SS 100 winner and later added the long jump title to her resume. Vicente Perez of Notre Dame won the boys 800. Double winner in the throws for CSDR was Revelin Young

Results 

ARCADIA INVITATIONAL PULLS KING KIDS TO HIGHER LEVELS

With 28 states and four nations represented at the annual Arcadia Invitational, it goes without saying that the stage upon which the competition was waged was a big one.  High quality entry standards filter in only those who have earned the right to compete.  For King, we had one of our largest groups over both field and track compete and almost to a person, they allowed the big platform and national-quality athletes pull them to higher levels.

On the Friday portion of the meet, Ryan Laudermilk and the boys shuttle hurdle teams came home with victories!  Laudermilk tied his personal best in the high jump at 6-4, and in so doing earned an invitation to return on Saturday to compete in the elite "night meet" in which the very best athletes are entered in all events.  Quite a leap ... from a win on Friday right on into the highest ranks of Saturday!  

For the third time in our history, a boys shuttle hurdle team captured an Arcadia victory.  Coach Bracey's boys were the dominant team in the "invitational heat" of the event in which four athletes go back and forth over 110 meters and 10 flights of hurdles.  Their time of 1:01.64 was just two-tenths off the school record!

The girls 4x800 team was made up of four girls -- from ninth grader Allison Janes, to juniors Hannah Johnson and Jessica Ferguson, to Senior Emily Sanchez -- who were all "rookies" to the Arcadia stage.  They raced with poise and performed well.  The boys 4x1600 team finished off the night with individually mixed results, but was highlighted by Andrew Boebinger's opening leg in which he moved his personal best over the distance from 4:35 down to a very sweet 4:22! 

On Saturday, the competition continued to do it's trick.  Tia Parrish, racing in the 100 meter dash, improved on her best-ever, running 12.31, still the #4 time in school history. Andrew Boebinger came back for more after his Friday night heroics and ran a super 800 meter open, dropping his PR by over 1 second to finish at 1:55.55 and pull that school record he desires a bit closer to ownership.  Nick Abboud improved in the 110 high hurdles, finishing 4th in the "seeded" heat. Leighana Weaver had a season-best mark in the 300 meter version of the event.   The boys 4x100 squad of Saadiq Jennings, TJ Noland, Jason Gonzalez and Jonathon Essian ran the school's second-fastest mark in our 16 year histor, finishing at 42.99.  

The final highlight fittingly came at the end of the two long days that make the meet special, putting an exclamation mark on the Arcadia sentence.   In the Invitational Distance Medley, (1200 meters, 400, 800, and 1600) the boys team firmly had the existing school record (10:26.95 set in 2012)  in their sights and were going to use the big stage and loaded field of teams to pull them to that goal.   Carlos Ramirez opened it with a bit of redemption to prove after a sub-par leg in the 4x1600 the night before and got the stick to Jacob Norys with a very good 3:13.52 for three laps. (each split was auto-timed by episports.com, a nice feature of Arcadia!)  Norys circled the oval in 50.95 and gave it to Boebinger who was 8 hours removed from his stellar 800 and ran 2:01.37.  Tyler Janes was the anchor and is enjoying a breakout season and showed why as he picked up four places and finished the team in 8th place with a remarkable 4:13.85 carry!  It was the second fastest anchor of the 28 teams in the race, second only to the 4:10 put down by the event winner Dana Hills.  Wow!  The time read 10:19.64, dropping the record by seven seconds and into a lofty realm ... it was announced that the mark was the 9th fastest mark in the country this season. With fellow Big 8 school Corona HS just in front of them at 10:13, King's mark is now the 11th fastest time in Riverside County history!

What a couple of days it was!  In a meet where half the nation shows up to compete, King represented itself well and almost to a person, went home at a higher level than the one they arrived with.

SOUTHLAND INVITATIONAL PROVES TO BE JUST AS SUCCESSFUL AS ARCADIA

While part of the King track team was showing well at the Arcadia Invite--another group of Wolves headed off to Hemet High School for the 44th running of the Southland Invitatonal. Under beautiful blue skies and mild temperatures, it made for a good day to compete. King was one of 20 teams to take part and thier mixture of varisty veterans and youngsters from the JV team did an admirable job. When the dust settled, the girls had finished 6th behind meet champions Chaparral while the boys team managed a 3rd place finish behind Hemet and Tahquitz .

The boys were led in the distances and that effort was headlined by Dalton Seckinger's first place in the 800. Dalton ran one of his best tactical races in a long time and finished in his usual hard sprint to win at 2.00.77. ...just missing a sub two minute effort. The 1600 finsihed a third palce finish from Rolando Phalen (4:36), Mike Robinson in fourth (4:36.3) and Kyle Johnson in fifth (4:40). In the 3200, Daniel Gonzalez finished third in 9:46 and Seth Villanueva, in only his seocnd race came across in fourth in 10:01. Other performances of note were the 4 X 100 relay which clocked a 45.07 for second place with Steve Griffiths; Elijah Jackson; Cardell Walder and Jalyn Moore doing the honors. Speaking of that bunch, Moore (100) and Walder (200) both clocked PR's in their individual events. Noah Poole got third place in the pole vualt with a 12-0 effort and Bryant Jones snared a 4th place in the shot put.

For the girls, sophomore Charizma Guzman put forth two PR's in the 100 (13.03) for fifth place and the 200 for sxith (26.88). She was also part of the 5th place effort of the girls 4 X 100 which was clocked in 52.02. Other team members for that relay included Janai Thompson, Angelina Cervantes and Jericka Roshell-Carson. Alyssa Haring and Rebekah Pendleton finished second and third respectively in the 3200. Kathryn Hammar got her PR in the 800 at 2:28.32 good for fifth. Karla Lemus PR'd by .5 seconds in the 110 Hurdles while Sissy Underwood nabbed a third in the 300 Hurdles and Jennifer Gutierrez picked off a fifth place in that same event. Haley Grove picked up a medal finishing third in the pole vault. The girls 4 X 400 of Roshell-Carson; Taylee Holtrop; Alyssa Drake and Breanna Fatten nabbed a third place with a time of 4:19. Clarrisa Dalton also managed her PR in the discus with a 80-2 toss.

Southland proved to be a good proving ground for many of the King athletes with a number of PR's and/or medals garnered during the day and the meet was over at about 1:30 pm. Add the weather and it was almost a perfect day!

AVOIDING SHARK BITES MAY NOT BE ALL THAT GOOD

The first half of the 2015 season has shown King that scoring 100 points in a dual meet isn't that "hard"  To point, every meet thus far has seen the King boys and girls run away from their opponents scoring in excess of 100 points when only 69 is needed to secure a victory.  It wasn't predicted to another lopsided day yesterday against the Santiago Sharks, but it did.   The danger now lies in thinking this could be the norm for 2015, that swimming with sharks is, in fact, easy and safe.  It's not, and while the teams emerged unscathed yesterday,  the risk of thinking the rest of the season will go as the first half has is palpable.   No promises.

The relative lack of competition left some of the King marks less than they could have been.  That said, there were still some quality performances.  Ashley Chruszcz continued her fine improvement in the 400 meters, dropping a whole second off of her personal best and sneeking under 60 seconds for the first time. She's now just a couple-tenths off the number 5 time in school history.  That 400 race saw a bevy of PRs on the season besides Ashley's, as Mary Jane Smith, Breanna Fatten and Ashley Drake all set seasonal bests!  Frank won the 100 hurdles, while Leighana Weaver had a season best time in the 300 hurdles to take second place in that event. Daniel Gonzalez ran a lifetime PR in the 1600, running in the lead right from the start and finishing in 4:29!  Michael Robinson and Seth Villanueva also PR'd in 2nd and 3rd. Rolando Phalen and Dalton Seckinger had terrific efforts in the 800, dueling with Santiago's lone shark in the distance events with Phalen pulling away in the closing 20 meters to take the win with a PR of 2:03!  

Jackea Yarbrough had a fine shot put throw of 32 feet-plus to finish second, while Courtney Klosinski and Areena Zavaala combined to take the sweep of the event for the Wolves.  Hannah Chang jumped well, both off her feet and with a pole, winning the high jump and the pole vault!  Nick Abboud had his usual double wins in the hurdles, and Bryant Jones and Montiel Johnson went 1-2 in the discus

So while there were some quality performances,  there was also a perception of nonchalance that was exhibited by the King squads, a character trait that often manifests itself in the absence of opposition.   That lack of competition will likely NOT be the story of almost all of the meets that await the teams.  Enjoy the easy victories while they last, but don't let your gaurd down, for they won't last forever. 

Results   Photos 

RANCHO VERDE, KING SPLIT 11TH ANNUAL FROSH SOPH CLASSIC

Rancho Verde's boys and King's girls dominated the day in the 11th running of the King Frosh Soph Classic. With 16 schools competing, the two teams' dominant performances made the victories a bit of a runaway on both sides.

Rancho's boys sprint crew was just outstanding. Rasam House, Tyler Kennedy and Carson Walder went 1,3, 5 in the 100 and House doubled back to win the 200. In the 4x100 relay, they won that event as well over Heritage and King squads. Rancho Verde's 4x400 relay group came within a second of taking the meet record with a very impressive 3:32.69 victory. Their talented 400 meter runner, Isaiah Robertson did set the meet record in the 400 running 50.81. Cameron Samuel won the 300 hurdles in 40.81, with his teammate Henry Banks coming in third.

A second meet record was set by Rancho Verde's Bryan Thompson who skied in the long jump, landing at 21-04, 8 inches past the old mark set back in 2010! Alijah Holguin was fifth in that event to score as well.

King's boys finished second in the race, but with the dominance of Rancho Verde, the scores were not close. Solid performances were turned in for the Wolves in a number of events. Carson Walder finished fourth in the 100 meters, going 11.91. Dillon Lay and Josh Fisher ran really well in the 110 high hurdles, finishing in 2nd and 3rd respectively, and they came back to match that in the 300's, finishing 2nd and 4h. Blake Gelinas couldn't match the record-setting mark in the 400, but did run 53 seconds to take second place. Jeremy Young scored a point in that event coming in 6th place. Austin Dai ran one of his grittiest performances ever in the 3200, finishing 4th in 10:34. Noah Gutierrez finished fourth in the high jump while Andrew Wilde won the pole vault at 11 feet.

Where the boys of Rancho Verde ran away with it, the girls of King returned the favor and ran away from Rancho Verde, finishing with 156.5 points, to Rancho's 89. The Lady Wolves seemed to have mastery over almost every event. Rebekah Pendleton won the 3200 in a hard-fought battle, while Allison Janes and Kathryn Hammar went 1-2 in the 1600 meters. Sarah Anne Frank did really well in the hurdle races, winning the 100's and placing third in the 300's. Sydney Reid dashed her way to second in the 100 meter dash and first in the 200. She was followed in the point scoring by Larisa Cesena and Charizma Guzman, both of whom scored in the 200 meter final. The Wolves 4x100 team was victorious. Freshman Ashley Chruszcz was second in the 400 meters.

In the 800 meters, Tayelee Holtrop and Hammar finished 4th and 5th with solid performances, but they were outshined by the freshman phenom from Riverside Poly, Kalea Ybarra who went wire-to-wire unchallenged and still managed to set the meet record at 2:16.98. King's Areena Zavala won the shot put with a heave over 30' while Keiana Turner scored in 4th place. Turner would double back to win the discus, however, with a toss out over 88'.

So it was a day for sharing the top 2 spots of the day, as Rancho Verde and King went 1-2 and 2-1 in the team scores.

Results     Photo Gallery

AZUSA DOES ITS ANNUAL MAGIC FOR THE DISTANCE CREW

Every season since 2000, the King distance runners have been competing at the Meet of Champions, hosted at Azusa Pacific University.  We've long contended that it's track is "Magic" as the number of PRs and all-time list performances run on that surface every season is astounding.  The 2015 version was no different and almost every one of the juniors and seniors who raced came home with a PR.

The accomplishments were headlined by Tyler Janes and he came within less than a half-second of the school record in the 1600 meters, notching 4:12.09 for the four lap race.  It was 12 seconds faster than he'd ever run before for the distance, but it also won him the "rated" heat -- the night's second-fastest race.  By the time the "Dream Mile" was finished - it being the fastest heat of the day -- Tyler's mark would settle in at the 8th fastest this season in the State and the #12 mark in the nation!  

His good friend Andrew Boebinger moved himself up King's all-time list in the 800 with a lifetime PR of 1:56 -- the second fastest mark in the school history.  It was the fourth fastest time of the entire day and he handled the studded field quite well.   Just outside the top five was Dalton Seckinger's 2:00, also a career best for the senior.  The 800 was good for fellow senior Emily Sanchez who ran 2:20, her best ever, while Jessica Ferguson and Hannah Johnson both raced to 2:26 and 2:27 marks respectively.  EJ Soholt matched his season goal at 2:08! Good stuff!

The mile was the place to be it seemed for fast times.  Carlos Ramirez ran the #4 time in school history at 4:22, truly remarkable effort that puts his name among the list of King greats, all time. Kyle Johnson who has improved so much in four years ran his best ever at 4:37 as did Isaiah Quiambao and Rolando Phalen at 4:35!  Isaiah Curtner put down a stellar 5:03 to make his improvement in three seasons almost exactly one minute over the distance!  Emily Sanchez took a page out of Tyler Janes' playbook with a huge drop in her lifetime best, finishing at 5:10, the #6 time in school history. 

In the 3200, Alyssa Haring ran her best race of the season, leading through part of it and agressively taking herself across the line in 11:29. Michael Robinson went 9:59, and Daniel Gonzalez ran well under the lights, going 9:38. 

Whether the track is actually possessed of some kind of magic is probably nothing more than the imagination of fools.  What we know for sure is that year afte year, the King kids come home from Azusa Pacific with a new understanding of how fast they can actually run. 

Results  

BEAR ,MEET TASTES DIFFERENT THAN EXPECTED

Both head coaches assumed the revival of the Poly-King rivalry would turn out differently than it did.  Both looked at the stats in preparation for the meet and told their crews to be prepared for a battle that could ... and perhaps should ... have turned out to be a close contest, fitting for a cross-town rivalry.  What actually happened wasn't was expected, as King found themselves in command right from the first gun and never looked back, amassing over 100 points in both the boys and girls divisions. While no one planned to use it, "overwhelming" was the word both teams used to describe the King victories.

For the boys, the onslaught came from all corners of both track and field.  Winning the 4x100 relay to get it started, King capped it off with a sweep of the discus, as Montiel Johnson, Bryant Jones and Bret Wolf were the last three King scorers in the score book. Delynn Holland won the long jump with a seasonal PR of 21-06, just four inches short of the #5 spot on the King all time list for the event. Holland, Devin Moeller and Neal Karadoy swept the triple jump. Ryan Laudermilk won the high jump at 6-0.

Rolando Phalen, Carlos Ramirez and Kyle Johnson swept the 3200 meters, while Tyler Janes and AJ Boebinger won the 1600 and 800 respectively. In his first 800 of the season, Jacob Norys ran a fine 2:03 to battle for third in the event.  As he usually does, Nick Abboud won both hurdle races.  TJ Noland won the 100 in 11.39 into a 3 meters per second headwind and doubled back to win the 200 in an even stiffer head wind. It was that kind of day for the Wolves as the head winds appeared to be a bigger challenge at times than their opponents.

Three seconds separated the girls 400 relay team from Poly's and that large gap would be indicative of the final score by the end of the meet where King would score 104 points to Poly's 32.  Emily Sanchez had a HUGE performance in the second event of the day, the 1600 as she stormed back from 4th place in the first lap to win it with a lean, running a PR in the process at 5;19.42.  Leighana Weaver was a double-winner in the hurdles, and freshman Ashley Chruszcz took second in the 400 but ran a sweet PR of 1:01.12.  Tia Parrish was the winner in the 100 meters.  While Sanchez came back in the 800 and snagged a third, it was the 4th place finish of Jessica Ferguson that had those in the know exclaiming, as she raced aggressively and put down a huge PR at 2:26.98.  While running JV 200, Charizma Guzman won with a mark that would have placed her second in the varsity heat!  Rachel Hales won the long jump with a 15-01 mark, while Lexi Opoku, Gabriela Sanabria and Nataly Vasquez combined to sweep the triple jump. Kiara Ginwright was the victor in the high jump, while pole vaulter Hannah Chang crossed to the other end of the field from her normal hang out to take third.  For good measure she also won the vault and lead the sweep with Alexys Boonkokua and Madison McPeak both clearing 10-0 to make it quite a day for the King vaulters!  The last track event win for the Wolves came courtesy of Alyssa Haring who amazed all with a uncharacteristic burst of speed to catch her opponent in the last 100 meter in very thrilling fashion.  

Indeed, it was quite a day for King track in the renewal of it's rivalry with the Bears of Poly.  The wins were sweet tasting and full of flavor, even if it wasn't quite what was expected.

Results   Photo Gallery

TEAMS HIT CENTURY MARK AGAINST CENTENNIAL

Big 8 action opened up on the road for the Wolves as they traveled to Centennial in Corona for the first of 5 league contests.  Centennial lacked the depth to counter the Pack attack and King's boys and girls teams notched victories in excess of 100 points against the Huskies.

Centennial's girls won only three events and two of those were notched by their strong freshman distance runner Rylie Penn who out-kicked Emily Sanchez in the 1600 and 800.  The third event win for Centennial was the high jump which had only two competitors entered.  King's 800 runners, despite being outdone for the win, had the three fastest marks of the season with Sanchez, Allison Janes and Jessica Ferguson all running 2:30 or under. Ashley Chruszcz won the 400 in 62 seconds,  Tia Parrish won both the 100 and 200 and contributed to the 4x100 relay win.  Event sweeps happened for King in a host of events. 

The boys notched 109 points on the way to the win, and like the girls, "lost" few events.  In fact, Centennial's fine sprinter, Michael Cummings, took 10 points all by himself, winning the 200 and 400!  Centennial also won the 4x100 relay and the 100, but the rest of the meet belonged to King.  Montiel Johnson won the discus at 126', and doubled up in the shot at over 42'.  Dalton Seckinger won the 800 and the 3200 for King. Nick Abboud, as per his usual, won gold in both hurdle races.

Cruising to a century is not the norm in track and field, and given that 69 points are necessary to secure a dual meet win, that threshold was achieved by the mid-way mark of both contests.  With Poly next week (non league) and the likes of Corona, Santiago and Roosevelt off in the distance, the teams best enjoy the big numbers while they last as the remainders of the Big 8 will put up a stronger challenge.  

Results 

ABBOUD'S BIG WEEK LEADS THE WAY FOR KING'S FINE DAY

Nick Abboud has had quite a week.  At Hemet on Thursday, he broke the 8 year old school record in the 110 high hurdles while winning two events. Then on Saturday at the competitive San Diego area Bronco Invitational (held at Rancho Bernardo HS), he won two more hurdle races against some very fine compeition.  

It's been a few years since King competed at the Rancho Bernardo meet but they used the reunion as an opportunity to step their game up and demonstrate a level of proficiency, if not just try to keep pace with their talented senior teammate. The day proved to be a very good one for all involved which bodes well for the future of the 2015 season.

In the distance events, the girls 3200 went first and Emily Sanchez - usually an 800 runner -- stepped up for a nice sub 12:00 PR at 11:37. Alyssa Haring also dipped under 12:00 and Rebekah Pendleton was at 12:03, also a PR. Tyler Janes took second in the 3200 with a fine PR of 9:27, the number-two time in school history!. A bevy of King multi-lap specialists followed him with fine marks despite abnormally warm temps. Janes and AJ Boebinger doubled back in the 800 and both went sub 2:00. The girls 4x800 ran really well with all four girls running season bests. Loveless Ramos, Jessica Ferguson, Hannah Johnson and Allison Janes did the work. The boys 4x800 team of Michael Ramirez, Kyle Johnson, Isaiah Quiambao and Dalton Seckinger finished third. In the freshman 1600, jonathan Moncada ran a big pr of 4:46. At the end of the day, with temps in the 90s the boys DMR finished second behind a stellar anchor mile by Rolando Phalen who picked up three places and split 4:33.

In the 300 hurdles that Abboud won, it was a race that resembled a NASCAR event as two contenders crashed out in the final 100 meters. Sara Ann Frank won the freshman 300 hurdles. The sprint medley teams both medaled; the boys fs group winning in come from behind style. Jacob Norys ran well in the 400 to medal third and helped the 4x400 team to a second place finish. Marcos Zavaleta had a huge PR of 13-01 in the vault to finish second in the open division. Ryan Laudermilk cleared 6-5 in the high jump to medal.  The girls 4x400 team finished third with a solid early season mark of 4:08.9.  The girls frosh soph sprint medley team (a race that runs 100-100-200-400 meters) also did well, coming in 2nd place; whereas the boys' counterpart squad won their medley race.

Out in the vertical events, King had quite a day.  Besides the aforementioned open-division winner Zaveleta, Hannah Chang won the invitational section of the vault.  Kiara Ginwright cleared 5-02 in the high jump to finish second.  Ryan Laudermilk PR'd with the 3rd best HJ in school history at 6-4, finishing 2nd.

Lexi Opuku was second in the triple jump.  

It turned out to be quite a day, not only for Nick Abboud who had quite a week, but for the whole squad.  Against a number of San Diego's finest, King held it's own.  A nice place to be in mid March.

Results 

A BIG GAP TELLS THE STORY AGAINST HEMET AND CHAPARRAL

Nick Abboud, the talented hurdler who is bound for UCR next Fall, faced a headwind and little competition in the 110 hurdles but he didn't allow those realities to keep him from going big.  Really big.  Slicing throught the gale, he cleared all ten flights with nary a scratch and crossed the line in 14.48, taking down Sam Jeter's record from back in 2007!  That big effort became a symbol for the day for the Wolves who ended up winning big against their annual opponents of Chaparral and Hemet.

King was hardly pressed in most events, save an individual here or there that donned a different uniform.  The distance kids had a good showing, with Tyler Janes winning the 1600, AJ Boebinger the 800 and Rolando Phalen running smooth 10:05 to take second in the 3200.  Montiel Johnson was the runner up in the shot, Ryan Laudermilk cleared 6-2 in the high jump to finish second.  Daniel Mukasa led the vaulters at 12-6 taking first there.  Brandon Burton won the long jump at 20-9.

The girls had the biggest margin of victory, amassing 115 points by the time the meet was mercifully over after 5 hours and 30 minutes.   Sissy Underwood won the triple with Lexi Opuku right behind her. Tia Parrish ran easily to the win in the 100 and 200 and helped secure the victory in the 4x100 relay.  Jackie Yarbrough won the discus with a near PR at 109 feet.  Leighana Weaver won both hurdle events and newcomer, 9th grader Ashley Chrusczc took second in the varsity 400, going 62 seconds.  Very nice debut so far for the freshman!  Emily Sanchez looked very strong in her two distance events, winning the 1600 in a PR of 5:24.99 and taking second in the 800 with a great early-season mark of 2:27.81. 

WOLVES CAN'T CHASE DOWN BRONCOS AT WILDCAT RELAYS

Invitational Relay meets are often the source of flying batons; flying elbows and show of team depth. All of that was evident in King’s first excursion to the Paloma Valley Wildcat Relays this past Saturday. Situated in Division 1 of three completive divisions, the Wolves found themselves up against traditional track powers like Chaparral High, Rancho Verde; Paloma Valley and the Vista Murrieta Broncos. As far as team depth-go no further than Vista Murrieta High School. The Broncos, winners of 4 of the past 5 Boys CIF Championships proved to be, not just deep (they had an A and B team present at the meet and over 400 athletes o their team); they were extremely difficult to catch . They not only won the overall team championship winning both the boys and girls sides of competition…they were just plain fast. During the day they put together at least two state-leading performances in the sprint relays and easily outdistanced their opponents in most of the other races. It is to the King’s credit that they hung with VM most of the day and finished as the team runner-up trophy for the meet. A huge accomplishment considering the outstanding competition they faced.

As to the flying batons--The boys Shuttle hurdle team got King off to a good start with a near record 62.27 from first place. Nick Abboud, Ryan Moussad, Josh Fisher and Dylan Lay all went sub 16 to make the mark. The boys would continue to fight through the day finishing second the 8 X200: 4th in the 4 X 100; second the Sprint Medley; 4th in the 4 X 200 ; and in the 8 X 100 and a second in the 4X 400, keyed by a vicious third lap by Jacob Norys taking the Wolves from 5th to 2nd before handing off to Seth Tyler. On the girls side; they ran with the Broncos most of the meet but fell short in the end. The girls shuttle hurdles finished 2nd; as did the 4 X100 team the 4 X 200 team and the girls 8 X100. The 8 X 200 made up of Angelia Cervantes, Charisma Guzman, Larisa Cesena; Jericka Roshell; Brianna Fatten; Alyssa Drake; Maryjane Smith and Valentina Sanabria were first place winners as was the Sprint medley team of Sydney Rice; Tia Parrish; Khaysa Cunningham and Ashy Chruszcz . Results came in very slowly from the field events but the Wolves recorded third place finishes in the girls long jump and high jump and a third place finish in boys long jump. Ryan Laudermilk recorded anther 6-0 jump in the boys high jump. Over at the pole vault, which was held at Vista Murrieta High, both the King boys and girls won first place-the girls paced by an 11-6 mark from Hannah Chang.

As to the “flying elbows”—as stated before you’ve got 9 teams running in these relays and in trying to jockey for position sometimes, people get hit. Ask freshman Sarah Ann Frank, who as she took the final exchange for the 8 X 100, took an elbow right to the side of her face. Stunned, she stopped for just a moment; quickly re-grouped, and was able to finish in second place. Such is life in the relay meet.

KING RUNS PAST MESA MURRIETA IN SEASON OPENER

The 16th edition of the King Track and Field program got off to a flying start this past Wednesday as the teams overwhelmed Mesa Murrieta on all four levels of competition. The Wolves team each scored over 100 points in as impressive an opener than seen in awhile.

“Flying start” is more than a literal term. The Wolves came out hot in the first events of the day- the boys and girls 4 X100 and put down mid-season marks in their victories. The Girls varsity relay of Khaysa Cunningham, Tia Parrish, Leighana Weaver and newcomer Sydney Rice hit 48.98, only 1.2 seconds from the school record and the boys team of Saadiq Jennings; Jason Gonzalez; Jon Essien and TJ Noland hit 43.55—only 7/10’s off the school record!

From those beginnings, the meet became a blur of blue and silver uniforms crossing the line. In the distances Tyler Janes and AJ Boebinger showed well in the 1600 and 800 exchanging 1-2 finishes in each race. Daniel Gonzalez and Rolando Phelan crossed the line in near identical times in the 3200 as well. On the girls side, save the great efforts of state cross country finalist Tayloir Taite of Mesa, Emily Sanchez was the top distance kgirl fo the day for King. Alyssa Haring won the 3200 and newcomer Allison Janes showed well in the 1600 in her first varsity race.

Hurdler Nick Abboud picked up where he left off a year ago, winning both hurdle races while Weaver picked up a win in her 100 hurdle race as well. Freshman Ashley Chruszcz won the JV 400 in 63.08, which was the fastest King time of the day putting a tad bit of pressure on the trio of veterans Valentina Sanabria, Alyssa Drake and Maryjane Smith who swept the varsity 400. Tia Parrish rocketed to a first place finishes in the 100 and 20.

The field events were not to be outdone by their counterparts on the track. . Jackae Yarbrough was a double winner in the throws while Sissy Underwood won the girls long jump. Brandon Burton and Delynn Holland went 1-2 in both the triple and long jump with impressive early season jumps over 20 feet and 40 feet respectively. In the high jump Kiarra Ginwright was the winner as was Ryan Laudermilk on the boys side. The boys had tough sledding in the throws against Mesa but Montel Johnson showed promise with two third place finishes. The boys pole vault swept all three scoring places led by Marcos Zavaleta at 12-6 while the girls did the same led by Hannah Changs 10-6 jump.

SCHOOL RECORDS SET IN 2014

Girls 4x100 Relay - Davis, Lofton, Cunningham, Parrish 47.72

Girls Pole Vault - Hannah Chang  11' 9"

Girls Shot Put - Anissa Claiborne  38' 7.5"

Girls 800 Meters - Ruth Wiggins  2:13.51

Girls 100 Meters - Courtne Davis  11.86 

Girls 4x400 Relay - Weaver, Fatten, Cunningham, Davis 3:54.52

Boys 100 Meters - Jamal Orme 10.975

Boys 200 Meters - Jamal Orme 22.00

HANNAH CHANG JUST MISSES STATE FINAL

In the preliminary rounds of the California State Track and Field championships, Hannah Chang finished tied for 12th place in the pole vault yesterday at Buchanan High in Clovis. Hannah made a first height clearance of 11-3 and then missed three times at 11-9 her PR. Subsequent makes and misses by the other competitors placed her only one spot from moving onto the Saturday finals. The meet management took the 11 girls who cleared 11-9

Her 12th place ends a long post season run where Hannah answered the call every week. From her league championships at Big VIII finals to her second place finishes at the Div. 1 Finals and the Master's Meet. She has left her mark on this 2014 season.

And she has a a tradition now to follow as far as King athletes at the state meet. In 2010 Lane Werley finished out of the money in 9th and in 2011 finished second in the State. In 2012 Tayler Fleming finished out of the money in 10th and in 2013 finished sixth Now in 2104 Hannah finishes 12th and in 2015?

STATE MEET PROVES TO BE ONLY 11' 7" AWAY

Hannah Chang earned the CIF Runner Up award in the vault against a league rival, and by doing so earned a spot in the coveted Masters Meet.  The CIF Championships is made up of three rounds; a preliminary which sees athletes competing in heats by division, with the hopes of becoming one of the top 9 in their respective division.  With four divisions, the Finals has four separate flights and races of all events, as each Division competes against itself.

The Masters meet takes the top marks from all four divisions combined and gives those elites a chance to go head-to-head and qualify for the State meet.  Being in the Masters meet is a feat inandofitself.  To be the among the best 10 or so of 550 schools is tremendously heady stuff.  To qualify for State even more so.  

On Friday night, Hannah Chang did all of that wearing the King uniform and will represent herself, her team and school this coming weekend in Clovis, CA.

The vault had 14 athletes from the four divisions with Hannah's PR sitting her near the top of the group.  Though she missed on her first attempt at the opening height, she quickly made it and cleared the next two raises as opponents fell out.  By the end, she had cleared 11-07, the required achievement to qualify for State, but after missing at 12-01, she and the last remaining vaulter entered into a "jump off" to determine the winner. There, she was outdone and settled for the runner-up spot, this time not just of the Division, but indeed, of all 550 schools in the Southern Section.  A "Master of the vault" indeed.

She'll travel this weekend to Clovis, where she'll be entered in the preliminary rounds on Friday night, with the hopes of moving into the finals on Saturday.  

QUEENS OF KING SWEEP UP MEDALS AT CIF FINALS

The "Queens of King" arrived in Cerritos with intent and a seriousness befitting the grand stage that is CIF Southern Section Finals.  With a few thousand spectators filling the stadium and the 9 best of Division One entered in each event, the setting spoke loudly of excellence, competition and spirit.  

For the seven King girls who toed the line and ran the runway, they rose to the occasion and then some.

For Hannah Chang, it was a coming out party of sorts.  "Hidden" for half the season due to rules forbidding competition for 30 days after her transfer from Nortre Dame she made a splash right away in her first contest in early April. Then, it was off ot setting school records and winning the Big 8 League Title a few weeks ago against Corona's Devin Stetson, winning that crown on misses.  Saturday, in the Divisional finals, the two found themselves atop the heap again and battled it out to the end.  In a reversal of their League showdown, Stetson took the title in this one, winning at 11' 9" over Hannah's 11' 9" but with fewer misses.  Hannah's vault was in the top-9 of all four divisions combined, giving her a berth in Friday night's Masters' Meet, which determines who goes on to the state meet.

Hannah was the final event for King on the day, but she was preceded with three other events and six teammate, all of whom went home with All-CIF honors by medaling (top 6) in their event.

The girls 4x100 team of Jordon Lofton, Tia Parrish, Kaysha Cunningham and Courtne Davis were seeded the 8th seed, but ran really well with fine exchanges to close in 6th place.  Ruth Wiggins was the next to go in the 800 and ran very near her lifetime best at 2:14.03 and finished 5th overall.  Unfortunatley, of the 12 Masters qualifiers the CIF takes from the four heats of the 800, her's was the 13th fastest, just 4/100th's off of the final spot.  She'll go to Masters as an alternate.

Leighana Weaver capped off her progressive season with a fine 6th place effort in the 300 hurdles, also running very near her seasonal best.

So it was quite a day for the Queens of King.  Never in our 15 seasons of competing at this level have ALL of the competitors returned home with All-CIF honors.  

CIF PRELIMS PROVES TOUGH YET AGAIN

"Welcome to D1".  It's a snarky yet partly true remark to those surprised by the talent and depth of the Southern Section's largest and most powerful division.  Marks and times that garner one acclaim and attention at the league level or local invites find themselves looking UP at a list that makes what used to appear "good" now just seem "average."  That's the high standard of Division 1 CIF.  You measure up with the best, or you go home.

King took almost 30 athletes from the Big 8 Finals to the first round of CIF Championships, and when the meet was done, only three and a relay team made it on to the CIF Finals.  For some who saw their season end, it was due to a bad day ... their best was spent in just getting to CIF and the fumes in the tank weren't enough to fire the engine to another great performance.  For others, they indeed had a good showing, but the quality of the Division gave them an exit despite a strong effort.  Consider Ryan Laudermilk's high jump at 6-0 (not good enough), Brianna Jacklin's near PR in the 3200 (not good enough), Courtne Davis' near PR's in the 100 and 200 (just outside the qualifiers) and Nick Abboud's solid 15.11 in the 110 hurdles (good for 16th!) as evidence. With an exclamation mark on the sentence,  Melissa McPeak PR'd in the vault but also had to bow out. 

It was that kind of day for many.  Good efforts, good marks, but in D1, not good enough to move on to Finals. Those who did had have very good days, and they did.  Ruth Wiggins was the only heat winner of the King bunch, winning the 800 heat one. Leighana Weaver ran really well in the 300 hurdles and finished 8th overall.  Hannah Change soared in the vault to qualify and the girls 4x100 team of Tia Parrish, Jordan Lofton, Courtne Davis and Kahysa Cunningham set the school record in the relay to qualify in 8th and, here it is, sneak into the Final by only 1/10th of a second.  Yes, it took a school record to make 8th!  

Perhaps the silver lining is that for many of those who didn't make it they'll have another chance next year, as a majority of those who toed the line or hit the boards or boxes on Saturday for King are underclassmen. For 7 of King's best girls, they'll get a chance next weekend to compete with the best of the best.  Well earned!  For others, whose seasons ended on Saturday, it's the proverbial "Wait 'till next year."  Given how tough the Division is, the year should best be spent improving. 

GOING OUT OR GOING ON, BIG 8 FINALS IS ABOUT GOING BIG

Since King's arrival in the Big 8 League back in 2009, it was clear right away: When you go to the league final, you better be ready to go big or go home.  The top end of the Big 8 League is as good as they come in the Southern Section and so even then, "big" may not be big enough and some very fine athletes and relay squads find their very fine seasons coming to an end before the CIF rounds. That in some leagues the story would be reversed is of little consolation.  Go big, or go home.

Such was the case for the Wolves on Thursday night at Corona High School.  Consider Jamal Orme's night.  In the 100 meters, 2nd to 5th place was a micro-sliver 7/100ths of separation.  It took a photo to figure it all out and left Jamal in fifth place, despite breaking a five year old school record in the process.  Fifth stays home from CIF however, so the feat was bittersweet. But, in the 200, Jamal would come back to finish second and punch his ticket to CIF, but again, it took a new school record of 22.00 to make it happen.  In the 4x400 relay that concluded the night, Orme, Jacob Norys, AJ Boebinger, and Moshin Sobrin knocked 5 seconds off their season best but could only manage third place and this one by yet another sliver of a second, thanks to a great anchor by Orme.  Corona High, who was the photo's fourth-place team also ran 3:24 and won't advance!  It was that kind of day.  But all through it, the effort and competitive drive displayed by both track and field athletes wearing the King uniform was exemplary and embodied the spirit of the sport.

Tyler Janes was the sole male King athlete to walk away with a title. It came in the 1600 which turned out to be a great race by the entire field which took it out in a competitive pace.  Tyler hung back in the middle of the pack until he made a big move with 300 to go and had to work a 61-second final lap to earn his first-ever league title.  His 4:24 time is #3 on King's all-time list!  The race saw Carlos Ramirez run really well and Mark Werley ran a lifetime best at 4:38.

The girls had seven athletes leave with titles. Courtne Davis was simply spectacular in both relays and in her specialties of 100 and 200 meters.  Combining with Kaysa Cunningham, Leighana Weaver and Brianna Fatton, she anchored the 4x400 relay to a second place finish but more importantly, the group took down the school record from 2012 by two seconds!  In the 100, she was behind at 85 meters but closed with a flurry to win with a school record of 11.86!  In the 200, she was the winner with a wind-legal 24.63.  Quite a day for the quiet warrior who should go deep into the CIF rounds.

Hannah Chang was also a double winner, taking victories in the vault and the high jump!  Anissa Claiborne won easily in the shot put, Leighana Weaver took home gold in the 300 hurdles, picking up the torch from King's 2013 graduate, Tayler Fleming. In the 800 Meters, Ruth Wiggins made a move at 250 meters into the race and never looked back, winning by a large margin and lowering her own SR in the event to 2:13.51 ... which doubled as a meet record.  Emily Sanchez finished fourth with a lifetime PR in the race. 

Beyond the event winners, there were many highlights to note.  Brandon Gutzmann ran one of the smartest and guttiest races of his life in the 3200, sticking himself on a PR pace early and hanging on to finish third with a 9:41 mark, the 6th fastest time in King history.  Nick Abboud, who two years ago was begging Coach Corona to get on the bus as part of the travel squad, showed that 24 months of hard work and growth can amount to something big, finished second in the 110 highs and ran the #4 time in school history at 14.94.  Cameron Brock got through in the vault with a mark over 13 feet.  AJ Boebinger qualified in the 800 finishing third in 1:59 despite a race that looked a bit like roller derby sans the skates. 

The girls 4x100 squad was second place with a season-best time (and #3 in school history).  Lexi Opuko PR'd by over a foot in the triple jump to upset the field and take third!  Great leap into CIF for the 8th seed in the event! Also taking third and moving into CIF was Brianna Jacklin who ran a lifetime best in the 3200. 

Delynn Holland was third in the long jump and Ryan Laudermilk PR'd in the high jump at 6-2 to take third there and move on into CIF.  Sabrina Suarez closed out her high school career with a PR in the 300 hurdles.  Myles Gardner PR'd in the 100 and got close to it in the 200, while Brody Rickman and Brett Wolff PR'd in the discus.

It was indeed that kind of day ... a lot of athletes "going big in the Big 8".  For some it leads to CIF, for others their season ended in what may seem a premature way.  Either way, to go out or go on,  "big" is what it's all about.

CORONA FROSH SOPH SHOWDOWN GIVE A PEAK INTO KING'S FUTURE

The Corona Soph/Frosh Showdown has become the local traditional season-ender for those youngsters who are not moving onto league prelims or finals which will take place this coming week. Athletes are looking for a new personal record or perhaps a medal in this last chance try for 2014. The young Wolves were on all cylinders yesterday as the PR's came in waves and the medal count was definitely high.

The female Wolves were led by the sophomore duo of May Jane Smith and Jalaiya Jacob as the girls finished in 5th place out of the 15 team invite. Mary Jane and Jalaiya were key members of the third place finishing 4 x 100 and 4 X 400 teams. They both also placed in the top 6 in the 100 and the 200. They were assited in those relays by Ebony Skinner and Jaricka Roshell in the 4 X 1 and Tayley Holtrop and Marijam Akihalili in the 4 X 400. Areena Zavala was the winner of the shot put at 30 feet 1 inch and finished third in the discus. Teammate Elizabeth Curtis was fourth in the shot while Elena Banda placed 5th in the discus and Clarissa Dalton was 6th in that event. Courtney Blanck nabbed 4th place in the pole vualt and Samantha Pondivida got her PR in the vault at 8-0. Sarah Akihalili got 5th place in the 300 hurdles.

The boys finished second in the invitational scoring behind the Roosevelt Mustangs. Brian Payne led the medal count with a third place finish in the 4 X 100; a third in the 100 meters and a sixth place in the 200. The rest of the 4 X 100 team included Kyle Sana, Cardell Wardell and Jon Essien. Steven Griffiths PR'd big time in the 100 and finished 6th in 11.8. He also Pr'd again in the 200 at 24.27. Tanner Sebastian continued his late season improvement as he placed second in the shot put at 40-7 and boosted a ten foot PR in the discus at 113-0 for third place. Though not placing in the medal count, EJ Soholt,(5:03) Mario Machuca( 5:04) and Evan Tinker (5:06) all improved greatly in almost breaking the magic 5 minute 1600 mark. Jeremy Young got 5th in the 400 with his best time of the season. John Litana, who only six weeks ago became a hurdler, finished second in the 100 Hurdles and third in the 300 Hurdles. Brad Kleven nabbed a third in the HJ at 5-2. Noah Gutierrez soared to a PR in the long jump at 19-9 for 4th place and Jonah Leon also PR'd in the triple jump at 36-3 for fifth place.

So the Corona Showdown provided medals; PR's too numerous to recount here and a very positive glimpse into the future of King Track and Field.

Results 

GIRLS WIN LEAGUE TITLE, 9TH IN 15 SEASONS

The last time the girls of King Track and Field finished a season in first place was 2010.  Since that time, Roosevelt has captured the top spot and has been firmly in the Big 8 drivers seat for the last few seasons.  So, with that backdrop, as 

yesterday's meet against Roosevelt unfurled itself and increasingly indicated that King would come out on top, a sense of redemption and accomplishment could be felt among both coaches and athletes.

With a King victory in the opening event, the 4x100 relay, one wondered if the expected battle in the sprints was somehow amiss.  Ruth Wiggins and Brianna Jacklin scored six points in the next event, the 1600, and before you knew it, King was up 11-3.  While the score would remain close throughout the meet, King continued to amass wins, seconds and thirds and by the conclusion of the 4x400 relay, King had a 72-59 win. 

Along the way, there were a number of standouts.  The aforementioned Ruth Wiggins earned 10 points with wins in the 1600 and the 800.  Courtne Davis won the 100 and 200.  Hannah Chang won the vault, increasing her own SR by an inch to 11-7.  Breanna Fatten and Valentina Sanabria earned 2nd and 3rd place points in the 400 to dull the impact of Roosevelt's expected victory of that event. Leighana Weaver scored in both hurdles, preventing Roosevelt sweeps.  Anissa Claiborne and Jackae Yarbrough placed in both throws, helping to crowd out Roosevelt scorers in all but one place of both events combined.  Lexi Opuku was 3rd in the triple jump with a new lifetime best. Jaymei McCray followed her with a lifetime PR as well. 

So it was a collective team effort, with every event seeing at least one King scorer and keeping Roosevelt sweeps, which frankly was somewhat common in some events over the last few seasons. It was not to be today and from the sprints, to the distances to the field, the girls of King made the victory theirs.

It was not the same story on the boys side, as Roosevelt found themselves sweeping a number of events, winning many and ultimately besting King by 30 points.  It gave King a 3-2 season record in the league and left Roosevelt undefeated.  Still, despite the lopsided loss, King's guys could be found giving great effort.  It was symbolized best, perhaps, by Jamal Orme's 100 meter dash, in which he ran 3-100th's off his lifetime PR and finished 5th.   Daniel Mukasa won the vault with a 13-7 effort.  Delyn Holland and Brandon Burton had good days in both horizontal jumps, scoring in both.  Tyler Janes had a find, sub 4:30 effort in the 1600 to win.  Carlos Ramirez was third.

With a newly minted league title in the bag, the King track and field athletes prepare to enter the Big 8 Finals -- a time to focus on individual goals and qualifying for CIF 

Results

FROM DAY INTO NIGHT THE I.E. CHAMPIONSHIPS PUSH KING ATHLETES

The Inland Empire Championship (IEC) has been running for near a decade now and while it doesn't rival it's same day Orange County Championships rival, it does produce a bevy of schools from across San Bernardino and Riverside Counties and among them, a host of top-flight talent.  Those fields of very talented athletes brought out the best in most of the King Kids who competed. 

King's best athletes qualified to compete in the "Day Meet" and the more presitgious "Night Meet", a format that mimics the mid-season Arcadia Inviational. In the night meet, hurdler Nick Abboud had a great meet, finishing in the medals for the 110's and running 15.00, good for #5 on King's All Time list.  In the 1600, Ruth Wiggins "verified" her best time in the event.  At Arcadia, she ran a 5:03 split time, which doesn't count for list purposes, but here in the IEC, she ran 5:04.82, the #3 official time in school history. AJ Boebinger was sixth in the 800 and Jacob Norys broke 2:00 for the first time in his career at 1:59.80, #7 AT. Courtne Davis was solid again in the 100 and 200, finishing 2nd in the 200.  Brianna Jacklin ran a huge lifetime PR in the 3200 with a gutsy battle to finish at 11:23.73, just two seconds off the all-time list.  Rayo Soyemi was 4th in the discus with a fine throw of 116' 01". 

In the day-portion of the meet, there were a smattering of varsity results that were solid.  Rolando Phalen had a lifetime best in the 1600 at 4:33 to notch the fastest time of the day meet. Brandon Gutzmann had another solid sub-10:00 race in the 3200 with Kyle Johnson and Parker Gutzmann in tow ... Parker ran his lifetime PR at 10:07.  Emily Sanchez had a good double in the 800 and 1600 with times near her lifetime bests in both. Sabrina Suarez was 6th in the 300 hurdles, Jennifer Gutierrez was 7th. Sabrina finished 4th in the 100's.  Aimee Martinez and Amanda Haring both had lifetime PR's in the 3200! 

The frosh-soph athletes got into the action as well and like their varsity teammates competed in either the Day or Night meet. Sissy Underwood had a truly fine day to remember, winning the long jump with a mark of 16' 00".   Jonathon Essian was 4th in the 100 meters.  Seth Tyler was the runner-up in the 400 meter dash at 52.97 his PR for the year. Mark Werley ran his lifetime PR in the 1600 at 4:44.  Danielle Abboud, Nick's sister, was 2nd in the 400 and also ran a lifetime PR.  With school record holder and current UCR standout Noelle in the stands watching, it was quite a day for the Abboud clan!  Jalaiya Jacob was 6th in the 100 meters at 13.32. Courtney Blank was 2nd in the vault at 8' 03".    Jessica Fergusen had a nice double in the 800 and 1600, running lifetime PR's in both.

When the lights went on there were some great performances by the FS group. Daniel Gonzalez had another stirring effort in the 3200, finishing 2nd despite a great last-lap kick. He led Mark Werley across the line in 5th.  Mark ran his second lifetime PR of the day at 9:59.  His time is the 6th King runner to eclipse 10:00 in the 3200 meters, a depth the team has never produced in school history. Tia Parrish won the 100 meters in 12.44, an improvement on her #5 time in school history!  She came back in the 200 and placed 2nd there in 26.25.  Tayelee Holtrop ran a lifetime PR in the 800 at 2:30.02.  Alyssa Drake ran 63 seconds for the 400 and Alyssa Haring  ran a PR in the 3200 at 11:33.  The night was capped off with a FS boys 4x400 relay team that finished in 2nd.

Results    A few photos 

KING KIDS PAIN THE TOWN RED (AND BLUE AND SILVER)

The final three weeks of the season can aptly be described as the "championship season" as each week brings a high level, championship competition.  Kicking off on Saturday with the 5th "re-running" of the City Championships, followed this week by the Inland Empire Championship and then the Big 8 Championship the next week, there was and will be ample opportunity to raise one's performance to the highest level.

The 2014 version of the City Championship, dubbed "The Raincross Tradition" saw almost every school in Riverside and a few from outside the city proper -- but were part of the original meet back in the day -- descend upon King High to battle it out for event bragging rights. The event led to many athletes responding to the upward call and perform at higher levels. For the host school, there were many highlights, first, second and third place finishes and a few new meet and stadium records thrown in for no extra charge.  It was a great night of track and field.

Oft-mentioned Courtne Davis, who's having a stellar 2014 campaign was shining once again in two relays and both sprint events.  Multiple trips to the top of the awards platform situated at mid-field made for a busy night for the talented and hard-working junior. She won the 100 and 200 by large margins, while helping the 4x100 and 4x400 relay squads to commanding wins.  Her teammates in the 4x400 were Valentina Sanabria, Breanna Fatten and Leighana Weaver and their mark of 3:56.61 now stands as the #2 time in school history, and not too far off the SR! Weaver and Sabrina Suarez were 2nd and 3rd in the 100 hurdles.  Both would double in the 300 and along with Sissy Underwood the three would take half of the medals in that event.  Sissy won the long jump, Lexi Opuku was the City Champ in the triple, while Hannah Chang not only won the vault but set a meet record at 10-09 in the process. For good measure, Hannah showed she doesn't need a pole to go high, as she entered the high jump for the first time at King and quickly established herself as the season leader in the event and finished second with a leap of 5 feet!  Very impressive, and equally so was the loud ovation the Notre Dame team gave her, their former teammate, when she received her award for winning the vault. Out in the rings, Anissa Claiborne and Jackae Yarbrough had good afternoons with two medals a piece.  They went 1-2 respectively in the discuss and 2-3 in the shot.  

A rarely contested event, the full mile, was held in honor of the long tradition of the meet, one that dates back to when tracks were measured in yards, not meters.  So, there was a bit of a "throwback" nature to the event when the athletes lined up 9 yards-or-so behind the finish line.  Clarissa Chagolla of North bolted right away to set the pace and never looked back, setting the stadium record at 5:23.43.  Alyssa Haring was 4th with a season-best (even for the 1600) at 5:34.49.  Haring came back to run a lifetime PR in the 3200, finishing second at 11:38.95.  

The boys' mile was a much different story than that of the girls, as a large pack moved in unison for the first two laps before Parker Gutzmann broke it open in the 3rd lap and dared anyone to go with him. Tyler Janes was the first to respond, and would skirt on around the last 800 to win and set a stadium record at 4:34.06, also #2 all time on the King list for the rarely-contested distance.  Dalton Seckinger closed well also and ran 4:37.06 for second.  Rolando Phalen and Mark Werley were the next across the line with marks that put them on the all-time list.  It was a great race for all involved.

Nick Abboud had a couple of very fine races, getting to the podium twice in both hurdle events.  He won the 110 highs by a very narrow margin and took third in the 300's. Jamal Orme has been tearing up the track along with his teammate TJ Noland, and the two of them layed waste to the 100, 200 and 4x100 meter relays.  In the relay, they helped carry the stick to the #3 AT mark for King at 48.82 to win. Orme took second in the 200 and the 100, with Noland taking third in that event. AJ Boebinger and Jacob Norys went 1-2 in the 800; AJ's 1:58.87 mark makes him only the fourth King runner in our history to dip below 1:58:00 for two laps. 

The 3200 meter race was perhaps the best ever collective effort the King boys have ever contested in the school's history.  Up against the well-coached Rubidoux Falcons, a squad that was at the State meet last Fall in cross country, King was pulled and pushed to an astounding result that saw four guys run under 10:00 for the distance, something King has never done before.  With a lone Rubidoux runner out front by 10 meters for most of the first mile, Carlos Ramirez, Brandon Gutzmann and Daniel Gonzalez hung back in the chase pack until the final 800 when the gap began to close.  At the bell, Gonzalez unleashed a furious kick that had him drop all chasers and take him to victory.  Carlos Ramirez finished third and Guztmann was fifth.  All top five finishers surpassed the previous meet record set in 1979!  Gonzalez now stands at #4 AT on King's list, Ramirez #5 and Gutzmann #7.  Finishing n 8th was Kyle Johnson who also broke 10:00 for the first time ever, celebrated with a fist-pump to the sky as he crossed the line. 

Vince Anderson and Delynn Holland jumped well in the long, finishing 3-4, while Delynn came back in the triple to win there with a leap over 42'. Brandon Burton and Anderson both medaled in that event.  Ryan Laudermilk continues to show great promise in the high jump as he cleared 6'0" in competition for the second time in this, his rookie year.  Over in the vault, King piled on the podium four of the top six placers, with Daniel Mukasa taking the victory over Cameron Brock, Cody Vallejo and Marcos Zalata, all of whom cleared 12-0 while Daniel toppped out at 13-0.

By the time the meet ended, it could aptly be said it was a "night out on the town" for many of the King athletes who went head-to-head with their cross-town rivals.  Given the successful outcomes of so many and the subsequent smiles, high fives and leaps of glee that followed, the 5th re-annual running of the City Meet was and experience for many akin to painting the town red.

Results   Meet Records

SHARKS NIBBLE, BUT NO BIG BITES

The Santiago Sharks have improved on their boys' side in recent seasons and in the third Big 8 meet of the year, King's boys were able to outlast the Sharks in a close meet that ended in King's favor, 71-65.  

Santiago's strengths were in the field as they took the majority of points in the long jump, triple jump, pole vault, shot and discus. It was signficant to the outcome however that King scrapped for at least 1 point in all of the aforementioned field battles, and collectively, King amassed 10 points over that spread which would make the difference in the final score, despite the supremacy of the Sharks throughout.

The distance runners for King aided in the King victory by counter balancing the field events with a sweep of all three distance races, racing against little opposition except in the 800 where Dalton Seckinger and Tyler Janes had to battle over the last 200 meters to secure the 2-3 spots there.  Kyle Johnson won the 3200, his first-ever win and one second off his lifetime best at 10:04. Jamal Orme won both of the sprints, while Nick Abboud took first in both hurdle races, signficantly in the 110's as he had to battle hard to the line for the win. Brandon Gutzman took home his first varsity win in the 1600.

For the girls, they swam in "The Black Sea" (the name Santiago has given to their stadium) and were untouched, winning by over 60 points. Leighana Weaver won twice in the hurdles, Ruth Wiggins twice in the 1600 and 800, and Courtne Davis twice in the sprints.  Her 100 meter victory was a jaw-dropping 11.94 to become the only girl in King history to cover 100 meters under 12 seconds.  While no wind reading was available, there was negligible breeze and the time was auto-recorded. Anissa Claiborne continued her fine season with a 37-5 shot put win.  Hannah Chang won the vault with a mark of 11-0.   In total, the King girls swept seven events.  

With just Norco and Roosevelt left to go in the Big 8 season, the girls sit undefeated while the boys have lost only once. 

KING'S ELITES COMPETE WELL AT ARCADIA

The Arcadia Invitational has risen over the last 20 years to become the premier in-season high school track invitational.  It's got entry standards that automatically eliminate most kids from even considering entering.  Then this year, there were the reported 3000 entrants who did make the standard for their events but were denied entry by virture there were that many better athletes already entered.

Yea, Arcadia is the premier venue for the best and brightest across the land.  Into that arena strode a handful of relay teams for King and a few individual standouts.

Courtne Davis has established herself as King's top sprinter in a season that is becoming her breakout campaign.  It was no surprise then, that she would claim a spot in the prestigious "night meet" at Arcadia, which is an even better group of athletes than those who compete in the "day meet" on Saturday.  There, under the lights, she held her own in the 200, running 25.16 and medaling in 6th place.  Earlier in the day, she was in the 100 meters and won her heat!  Not a bad day for the talented Junior.  Her sophomore teammate Ruth Wiggins had three distance races over 18 hours.  On Friday night in the distance relays, she anchored the 4x1600 meter relay with a stunning 5:03.6 split time.  While unofficial, it was a full 11 seconds ahead of her fastest time ever and would be the second-fastest 1600 time ever run by a girl at King.  Her race helped put her squad of Aimee Martinez, Emily Sanchez and Brianna Jacklin to a fine 14th place finish.  But on Saturday afternoon, she came back and dropped 2 seconds off her own school record in the 800, finishing 3rd in her heat in 2:14.16!  Anissa Claiborne, the new school record holder in the shot put this year, competed Friday afternoon and while she didn't have her best day in terms of distance, she was able to finish in the upper half of her flight.   

Along with the girls 4x1600 team that raced Friday night, a boys team of Carlos Ramirez, Tyler Janes, Dalton Seckinger and Daniel Gonzalez raced to a 19th place finish.  Saturday's relay teams ran well, with the girls and guys 4x100 teams running times very, very near their seasonal bests despite some difficulty with the exchanges.  The Distance Medley Relays also had significant outcomes.  One of the more popular relays, it combines speed and endurance, as the legs go 1200 meters, 400, 800 and 1600.  The girls' team of Brianna Jacklin, Breanna Fatten, Emily Sanchez and Wiggins competed ferociously and their splits showed it and brought the team across the finish line 10th of 22 teams.  The boys' squad of Tyler Janes, Jacob Norys, Andrew Boebinger and Carlos Ramirez race exceptionally tough on every turn.  Janes led off and passed the stick in the top 5, with Norys taking it a lap in a seaon best split of  51 seconds and maintaining the spot.  Boebinger moved King into third with a 2:00 leg and Carlos Ramirez anchored with his best race ever.  After falling back to eighth, he rallied over the last 200 and closed his 4:25.5 split finishing 5th.   

Getting into the Arcadia meet either requires a ticket -- and with it you get to be a spectator -- or you have to be one of the nation's best in your event.  For a group of King's elites, the latter proved to be their ticket and they showed those who were spectating that they belonged.

Results    Photo Gallery 

TWO SCHOOL RECORDS MINTED AMID EASY VICTORIES

Hannah Chang, who transferred to King from Notre Dame HS, had to sit out the CIF-mandated 30 day "wait period" before she could suit up and get back to vaulting as she did at her previous school.  Lets just say the wait was worth it, for in her first day of competing for King, she got off to a good start ... a very good start. The talented vaulter, who has been practicing with the squad all along, put herself in the record books at 11-6.5, taking the school record by 2 inches.  Quite a debut!  

Meanwhile, at the other end of the field in the shot put ring, a girl who has been at King for four seasons now was busy recording her own school record.  Anissa Claiborne -- who seized the title in the shot put about a month ago -- improved on her own record by 4 inches, taking it out to 37' 11".  These two remarkable achievements came amid a dual meet against Corona-Centennial that did not produce a strong competitive environment givng King the victory by over 100 points in both the boys' and girls' contests. 

Chang and Claiborne punctuated a dominant King victory on the girls' side; King winning 115-20.  Leighana Weaver and Sabrina Suarez went 1-2 in the 100 hurdles, and along with Jennifer Gutierrez they swept the 300's. Davis, Cunningham and Parrish swept the 200 and the 100. Alyssa and Amanda Haring went 1-2 in the 3200.  Rachel Hales, Faith Hodges and Jamie McCray swept the long jump, and Rayo Soyemi, Jackie Yarbrough and Anissa Claiborne all swept the discus.  

On the boys side, Centennial was able to score at least once in almost every event.  However, King swept the 800, the vault, discus and the 3200.  In the 8-lapper, Rolando Phalen won again, but great races were turned in by Mark Werley for second and senior Garret Koontz who ran a lifetime PR and is putting the seal on his best season ever!  Jamal Orme had a 100 meter dash victory in the low-11-second range. Cameron Brock, Daniel Mukasa and Cody Vallejo swept the vault.  The "broomers" in the discus were Andrew Cloud, Brody Rickman, and Xavier Flores.  

With the presitgious Arcadia Invitational on tap for Friday and Saturday, along with the Hemet Invitational on Saturday, the meet against Centennial could have been an afterthought.  Leave it to the ladies out in the field events - namely Hannah Chang and Anissa Claiborne to turn a tune up into a record-setting day. 

19 SCHOOLS, VISTA MURRIETA AND KING MAKE 10TH ANNUAL FROSH SOPH CLASSIC TRULY THAT

Ten years ago, the King Frosh Soph Classic began. It was perhaps a bit permature to call it a "classic" as time and tradition had a way to go yet. But what the heck, it sounded good and gave the event something to aspire to.

Vista Murrieta opened its doors some 10 years or so ago, and in that span coaches Coley and Karen Candeale have built a track and field powerhouse that has already won a couple of CIF Titles and has helped move the "center" of track and field from LA and Long Beach to the Inland Empire (IE). So, when the Broncos showed up at the 10th Annual King High Frosh Soph Classic, their presence was noticed and felt. Their boys would run away with it, winning by a large margin over the host school, Martin Luther King. On the girls side though, the Wolves of King would mount a stirring effort in the 4x400 -- the last event to be scored -- and after taking first there to VM's 3rd, the King girls were able to snag a 1.5 point victory and keep Vista Murrieta from sweeping the entire day. It was an exciting finish!

Vista Murrieta's boys were strong in almost every event they contested, but were especially strong in the sprints. They set a new meet record in the 4x100 relay, led by Cole Dubots, who tied the meet record of 11.07 in the prelims of the 100 dash and then came back in the finals to win. Teammates Keith Ford and Ricky Adams also advanced to the final and between the three of them, the 'Stangs had 15 points in that one event. Luke Hicks of VM won the 400, but King's Ramces Dufresne and Mohsin Sabrin scored 12 points for the Wolves between their two strong efforts. King's Andrew Boebinger won the 800 comfortably, the event turned out to be one of the few that Vista Murrieta was shut out of. Ricardo Sanchez of Rubidoux was second.

In the 1600, Tyler Janes of King put together a fine tactical race and won in 4:29.98. He'd double back in the 3200 to win again in 10:06.33 to score 20 points for the Wolves. Teammate Daniel Gonzalez made the same double and finished second in the 3200 and fourth in the 1600. Melvin Esteva of La Sierra ran a season-best 4:34.72 to finish second in the 1600. Donnie Murray of Murrieta Valley won the 110 hurdles in a fine clocking of 16.90 while Rancho Verdey's Rimes Isaica won the 300 IM's in 43.17.

In the field events, King's Ryan Laudermilk had a breakthrough day and became the first King leaper this season to clear 6-0 in the high jump, regardless of age or class. He won by four inches over Vista Murrieta's Elijah Steward. Poly's Zach Green took home a victory in the vault, winning on misses at 12-6. Vista Murrieta hauled in 18 points in the long jump, going 1-2, with Shane Fitzgerald and Anthony Garcia taking the honors there.

Out in the rings, Romea Rosario of VM won the shot with a put of 48-10, and like in the long jump, he was followed by teammate Brock Wallendar who took second by a half-inch at 48-9.5. Brock would win the Discus by a large margin.

On the girls' side of the contest, Vista Murrieta and King waged another great battle, as noted, not decided until the final event. Caught perhaps a bit in the shadows of those big spot light team struggles, was an individual standout that had those in the distance running world impressed. Citrus Valley of Redlands sent a fine contingent of athletes, but leading their charge was ninth-grader Claire Graves who ran both the 1600 and 3200 and scored two meet records in the process. In both cases, she led from gun to tape and wasn't even challenged, making her record-setting runs even more remarkable. She broke the 1600 meet record by some 8 seconds and by over 10 in the 3200! Truly impressive.

For King to set up a meet victory in the 4x400 relay, they had to put together an even attack and that's what they did. Tia Parrish had two victories in the Century and Deuce, two events that Vista Murrieta scored only two points in. King had 3 point scorers in the 400, with Brianna Fatten, Valentina Sanbria and MaryJane Smith all running sub-63 and collected needed points. In the 800, Vista Murrieta wouldn't find a victory as their cross-town rival Mesa saw Alison Ciling cross the line first after Vista's Elise Benner and Alex Wiseman led for most of the two laps. They would finish 2-3 for 14 points. In the 1600, after Claire Graves crossed the line in 5:09.07, the aforementioned Alison Ciling kicked off her two events with a second-place run at 5:27.37, a solid Frosh-soph mark in its own right, though obviously diminshed by Graves' astounding 5:09. King was shut out of that event, thought Alyssa Haring's third place 3200 helped set up the necessary points haul the relay team would gain at the end of the day.

Vista Murrieta looked very strong in the 100 hurdles, with Devony Dettman, Alexis Day, Dehjiah Joseph and Dominque Hernandez taking four of the six scoring spots and earning their team 19 points. In fact, that event was almost entirely taken by schools from Murrieta, only one lane was taken by a school outside their city. Jaylah Walker of La Sierra won the 300's. Vista won the 4x100 relay and was third in the 4x400.

Had they finished second in that final running event, the outcome would have been a victory for their girls to match the title their boys' took home. Hemet went 1-2 in the high jump, with Sarah Hollis and Talia Dixon taking the honors there. Glendora's Audrey Valbuena won the vault with a clearance of -. King's Sissy Underwood had a fine outing in the long jump, winning with a leap of 16-01. Tiya Wodall of Rancho Verde- Moreno Valley won the triple jump by over a foot beyond Riverside-Poly's Desiree Howard.

So, perhaps after ten years, the meet has finally matched its moniker. "Classic" is a word that has multiple meanings depending on who you talk to, but on this anniversary running of the King Frosh Soph Classic, perhaps the 19 teams and the winners of Vista Murrieta and King could agree that the event has lived up to its billing.

Results     Photos

FIRST GO AGAINST APPLE VALLEY BRINGS MANY FIRSTS FOR KING

There were "firsts" abounding on Wednesday in the dual between King and Apple Valey.  In the fifteen years since King opened its doors, not once have the two teams competed against each other.  Apple Valley, located in the high desert, traveled south for a mid-season non-league contest, a rarity in its own right.  When it was over, King went home with four first place victories, winning both JV and Varsity levels and doing so handily.

The conditions were cool and breezy, not exactly the kind of weather that sprinters love competing in, but that didn't stop Courtne Davis from tearing up the track ... again.  This time she set the school record in the 100 meters, going 12.01 with the wind at her back.  Finished Results, the timing company we use, actually had a wind gauge on the race (a first for a dual meet at King) which read a tailwind above the "allowable."  Since wind readings are rare at most meets, King has never kept a record from the books -- so Courtne's is the new mark!  It also lowers her own stadium record, which she also set later in the 200 meters.  Nick Abboud had two very nice hurdle races, finishing 2nd in the 110's and 1st in the 300's, continuing his fine season of improvement. Alyxis Boonkukoa snagged her first-ever victory in the pole vault.

So it was a day of firsts.  As Apple Valley wasn't able to match King's talent in most events, the first-place wins came easily, at least many of them did. But for a first-ever mid season non-league race it was a good meet and sends the team into Spring Break on a high note.

TIME TAKES CARE OF ITSELF AT AZUSA MEET OF CHAMPIONS

A deep marine layer greeted the annual Arroyo Meet of Champions at Azusa Pacific University, bringing with it ideal conditions to run fast times. It's a meet that reminds most who are there of the cross country season, as the vast majority of racers found themselves last Fall racing over hill and dale. While there are no hills in track, in this meet there are no events outside the three distance runs, so the look and feel of the day passes as a bit of that Fall sport here in Spring.

Mark Werley was in the first of 78 heats of the 1600 meters (yes, you read that right, 78 heats!) and kicked off the marathon of miles with a seasonal PR. Wyatt Smith followed with a lifetime PR, going under 5:00, which Brenton Havsgaard And Ryan Orr matched a heat later, running their own lifetime bests. Isaiah Curtner had a really fine race, leading for much of it before finishing fourth with a lifetime PR.

Brianna Jacklin was the first of the ladies to take the line and ran her best race of the season and her career going 5:20. Her wonderful off season of training is really paying off, as she's now 14 seconds ahead of her best from last year!! Aimee Martinez also PR'd at 5:32. Rebekah Pendleton dropped 15 seconds off her previous best with a strong effort that took her across the line in 5:42. Lauren Boydd's comeback season continued apace. Emily Sanchez, who's main event is the 800, stepped up admirably and threw down a truly impressive 1600 going 5:30. Jessica Ferguson, Kathryn Hammar and Iveth gutierrez all broke 6:00 and PR'd.

The varsity boys took the track in the late afternoon and continued the parade of PRs. Carlos Ramirez had a breakthrough race going 4:27, the 4th fastest time in school history to that point. Brothers Gutzmann ran lifetime PRs in the mid 30's despite a heat that didn't go out aggressively. Kyle Johnson ran really well at 4:39, his best ever; Garret Koontz went lifetime at 4:45. Matt Cleland, Isaiah Quiambao all went in the 4:50's and for good measure, 800 runner Gabe Penate put together a very nice PR at 4:52! Like Emily earlier, he shows great range. Every guy who took the track in that segment ran a PR.

Once the lights went on, the elite heats went on too. The meet reserves the two fastest heats of the 800, 1600, and 320 for the end of the day under the lights. King was privileged to have eight runners in those special races. Andrew Boebinger, Ruth Wiggins and Jacob Norys all took on the 800 and each ran a great race.  AJ ran his lifetime PR, at 1:58.25, it's the 5th fastest in school history. He also finished second in a loaded heat of frosh soph elites.  Ruth Wiggins made a bold move with 300 to go and that effort helped her shave a fraction of a second off the school record she already owns, crossing at 2:16.39.  Jacob Norys ran tough and finished with a seasonal best.

David Huff raced really well for a lifetime best of 4:48 in the 1600. Tyler Janes took the line next and shined once again, with a wonderful effort to run the #6 time in school history at 4:27.73.  Daniel Gonzalez was a couple of places behind him with his own lifetime PR at 4:33 and Mike Robinson crossed the line with his own 4:37 near-best.  

Dalton Seckinger was the last of the King runners to take the line and ran a gutsy effort in a heat that went out at a torrid pace.  His time of 4:31 was his second-best in his three seasons of racing and the pedal-to-the-medal tactic was emblematic of how all the King kids raced throughout the day and night.  Their collective efforts and outcomes underscored this truth:  If you work hard over a long period of time, then take that preparation into an aggressive race tactic, the time will take care of itself. 

Results  

CORONA JUST CLEARS KING IN BOYS CONTEST; GIRLS WIN EASILY

In the penultimate track event of the day, the boys 3200, Rolando Phalen was aware of what was needed. Finish first, and King had a shot at the team victory.  With 300 to go in the race, he was 5 meters behind in second but somehow dug deep, showed grit and outkicked Eric George of Corona to snatch the victory with a PR of 9:49.  The 4x400 was up next, and with a weakened squad due to injuries, King's Four couldn't outrun Corona's and the Panthers took the win. That turned all eyes to the vault, where Daniel Mukasa was locked in a jump off with a Corona vaulter to determine second place in that event ... the last event to be recorded.  Mukasa clears and King ties ... Corona clears and the Panthers win.  Despite a valiant effort with both teams gathered around the pit to watch, Daniel's last attempt just missed and the Corona Panthers walked away with a team victory in a well-contested competition by both squads.

Jamal Orme had an outstanding day, running 10.99 with a tail wind in the 100 meters to win, the mark stands at King's #2 all time. He won the 200 as well, improving his own SR to 22.03 and contributed to the relay victory. Andrew Boebinger dipped below 2:00 for the first time in his career in the 800, finishing 2nd with the #6 time in school history.  Vincent Anderson won the long and took third in the triple jump. Nick Abboud took second in both hurdle races, showing much improvement.  He was just 3/100th's off the #5 time in school history.  Andrew Cloud was victorious in the discus, going 135-5 to win by 3 inches. Despite these and many other truly wonderful efforts, King came away with the loss.

For the girls, it was the opposite outcome, as they were able to handle the Panthers with some breathing room.  Courtne Davis continued her barnstorming tour of the 2014 season, winning the 100, 200, 400 and helped to secure the 400 meter relays.  Her 400 was a rarity, but she made it look like she's been at the oval for some time.  Her mark of 57.47 just narrowly missed the school record in the event! Alyssa Haring and big sister Amanda Haring went 2-3 in the 3200. Sissy Underwood won the long jump while Opoku, Hales and Mackay swept the triple jump.  Sabrina Suarez was second in the 100 hurdles, followed by Leighana Weaver. Anissa Claiborne and Yarbrought went 1-2 in the shot.

So it was a bitter sweet outcome.  The boys fought well, but came up short, literally, as the vault made the final difference. The girls notched their first Big 8 victory of the season.  

DAVIS PUTS THE SHINE ON GREAT TEAM PERFORMANCE AT BEAUMONT

While the distance squad was off in Azusa piling up the PR's, the rest of the team traveled along the 60 freeway to Beaumont for the Cougar Classic. It didn't seem that long ago in 2001 when a fledgling King team made the same journey. It was a meet dominated by the young Wolves and produced the Athlete of the Meet in Gayle Hunter. Amazingly the results were virtually the same some 13 years later on the Girls varsity - a great team performance and team championship highlighted by Athlete of the Meet-Courtne Davis.

The Girls Soph/Frosh team also won the team title and the boys Soph/Frosh finished second. The boys varsity put up a tough battle finishing 4th overall.

Led by Courtne's two wins in the 100 and 200 as well as her anchor leg on the winning 4x100 team, King Varsity girls came away with the team title after a seesaw battle with RUSD rival John W. North. The Wolves scored from all areas of the track in coming out on top.The Girls's 4x100 of Davis, Tia Parrish, Sissy Underwood and Valentina Sanabria got things rolling 49.65 time. Sissy also scored a second in the 300 Hurdles with a sub 50 time and took third in the long jump at 15-10. The throwers were dominant as Jackae Yarbrough won first place with a 97-0 toss and was followed by Anissa Claiborne in third. in the discus and then turned around with Anissa's second in the shot put and Jackae's third. Madsion McPeak made a big jump in her short pole vault career as she came out a winner at 8-6. She was followed by Alexys Boonkukoa in second and Hannah Larsen in fourth. Sabrina Suarez was a top scorer in the both hurdle races with a second in the 100 Hurdles and a third in the 300's. Rachel hales pulled a second in the triple jump.

The girls Soph/frosh team was also extremely successful on the day. Led by a 1-2-3 sweep of Alyssa Drake, Danielle Abboud and Mary Jane Smith in the 400, the younger Wolves seemingly scored from everywhere. These three girls along with Tayley Holtrop also won the 4 X 400 relay. Holtrop led wire to wire in winning the 800 in 2:34. Courtney Blanck was the winner in the pole vualt and Faith Hodge launched herself out to 14-6 in winning the long jump. Amber Hlyton was the qwinner in the 100 hurdles. Hodge, Abboud, Smith and Jalya Jacob got second in the 4 x 100. Though the boys varsity finished down in the standings compared to thier counterparts, they were in it until the end. The boys 4 x 100 team of Jamal Orme, Kris Ewens; Brandon Burton and TJ Noland nabbed second place in 44.6. and Jamal was a fourth place finisher in the 200. Noland clocked a PR finishing 5th in the 100.  

Cameron Brock set a stadium record with a leap in the vault of 13-1 and he was followed by Cody Vallejo in second place. at 12-6. Josh Fisher was the top scorer for the boys Soph/Frosh Team with first in both hurdle races and a second in the triple jump. He got great support from Dillion Lay in both hurdle races and the long jump; Noah Poole's first place in the pole vault; Noah Gutierrez's third place in the long jump at 18-4. Ryan Laudermilk in only his second week on the team skied to 5-10 in the high jump barely missing at 6-0.

Overall, a great day from which to continue to build as we approach the half way point in the season.

PALOMINO RELAYS BRINGS OUT THE TEAM IN KING

The first Saturday Invitational of the 2014 season shone bright and clear as teams from all over the inland Empire converged on Ramona High School and the 23rd running of the Palomino Relays. Relays meets are usually of a mixture of controlled chaos with arms and legs and batons flying everywhere and this meet would be no different. The King High Wolves, absent numerous team members off to SAT testing and various other responsibilities and commitments, battled traditional track powers San Gorgonino and Redlands down to the wire eking out team victories in both the Boys and Girls Divisions. The female Wolves, based on Valentina Sanabria’s ability to hold off a charging Vista Del Lago anchor in the 4 X 400 defeated Redlands 100-99. On the boys side King was able to hold on for a 115-112 over the Spartans of San G. It is the first time since the 2006 Chet Nicholson Relays that the Wolves have pulled off a double victory.

The girls got off to a great start behind the Shuttle Hurdle team of Sissy Underwood, Jennifer Gutierrez; Sabrina Suarez and Victoria Hall who despite all being relatively new to the event finished second. After that first places came fast and furious. The 4 X 100 team of Mary Jane Smith, Jaliya Jacob;Tia Parrish and Khaysa Cunningham clocked a 51.25; the 4 X 1600 team of Alyssa Haring; Briana Jacklin; Lauren Boydd and Ruthie Wiggins came across the line in 22:44-almost a full minute ahead of second place. The distance medley which included Boydd, Guttierez, Wiggins and freshman Tayley Holtrop tallied a gold medal as did the 4 X 400 tea of Smith, Sanabria, and newcomers Breanna Fatten and Alyssa Drake. The pole vault relay of Hannah Olobri; Alexys Boonkukoa and Hannah Larsen totaled 45 feet in their team victory. The girls long jump relay of Jamie McCray; Rachel Hales and Underwood also tallied first in their event.

The boys were more methodical in attaining thier team victory. Though there weren’t as many first place event finishes, the Wolves scored points in virtually every event. The boys 4 X 100 of Jamal Orme, Kris Ewens, TJ Noland and Cardell Walder finished second in 44.1. The 4 X 800 team of Tyler Janes; Daniel Gonzales; AJ Boebinger and Dalton Seckinger finished second by a second in 8:19. The Pole vault relay of Cameron Brock; Marcos Zavaleta and Cody Vallejo also picked up a silver medal for their efforts. The one first place team was the long jump relay featuring Vince Anderson; Daylnn Holland and Grant Higgins.

The meet ended up being a true team victory and a true testament to King’s depth.

GIRLS NOTCH HISTORIC WINS, BOYS MISS THE WIN BY TWO

The Chaparral/Hemet double-dual meet that's been held yearly between the three fine programs yielded an historic victory for the girls from King.  In beating the Pumas and the Bulldogs handily, the Lady Wolves notched their 100th and 101st victories since the school opened back in 2000.  

Courtnee Davis had a standout day to lead the way, winning the two sprints and helping in the relays. Her 12.17 in the 100 was the #2 mark in school history! Ruth Wiggins had two wins in the distances and Anissa Claiborne continued her outstanding season in the throws, winning the shot with a fine mark of 37-0. King swept the top three places in the triple jump and discus and all four places in the long.  Leighana Weaver took the victory in the 300 hurdles.   Brianna Jacklin and Alyssa Haring ran side-by-side for 8 laps in the 3200, going 1-2 with PR's.  Courtney Blanck vaulted to second place with a clearance of 8-6.  By the end, the girls had 109 points to Chaparral's 39 and Hemet's 22. 

King's girls program has produced league, CIF and State stars, multiple college and scholarship athletes and now an astounding 101 victories in dual-meet competition over 15 seasons.  Outside of Becky Gagnon's tremendously successful tennis program at King, the girls of the track and field can claim ownership to one of the winningest programs in King High history!    

The boys were in a dog-and-cat fight with the Pumas of Chaparral and despite a great 4x400 victory -- closed out nicely by Jacob Norys on the anchor --  the 5 points earned in the final event were not enough to win.  Both teams had split 10 points in the penultimate race, the 3200, as Chaparral went first but their distance runner pulled Rolando Phalen and Daniel Gonzalez across the line with sub-10:00 PR's -- a rarity in dual meets.  Brandon Gutzmann finished 5th, but with a 38 second PR at 10:02 making the three-man effort of King recorded the best 3200 marks we've seen in a long time. With such a close score, it goes without saying that Chaparral and King shared the scoring in every event, while Hemet sprinkled a few in to make it interesting. Jamal Orme won the 100, but Chaparral snagged the 3-4 spots to dull the impact. King went 2-3-4 in the vault, but Chaparral won it. The same was true for the Discus.  Perhaps Vincent Anderson had the best individual result on the day -- and it was a day in which collectively King's athletes competed very well -- as he launched himself into the second-spot on the all time long jump list, winning with a leap of 21-11.

101 victories ... it's quiet an accomplishment and a sweet taste to be savored. Not for long however, as next week the Wolves head into Big 8 competion and another "cat" awaits in the form of the Panthers of Corona High.   

PHEW! FIRST MEET TAKES ONLY A FEW HOURS TO GIVE KING THE WIN

The last time Murrieta Mesa and King met at Ram Stadium in 2012 their dual meet took well over 6 hours to complete. Naturally,  there was some trepidation among many yesterday as they wondered if the Wolves were heading toward another agonizing prolongation of a competition that should take half that time. Fortunately, there were few delays and few heats and after a few hours, the teams were done and King had a few victories to start the season. 

The field events had some standout accomplishments to aid in the victories. Anissa Claiborne threw the shot put 37-6 ¾; setting the school record. Elizabeth Curtis heaved the shot over 30 feet , and, only a 9th grader, she’ll be moving up next week to the varsity level! Andrew Cloud went 126-0 in discus, just two feet from his PR. Dylann Holland had a two- foot PR in triple jump to win the event. Four male vaulters went over 12; Cameron Brock, Marcos Zavaleta, Daniel Mukasa, Cody Vallejo. All could have gone higher if not for the meet having to finish up.

On the track, things were going smoothly even after two dropped batons in the first relays of the season and the meet. Daniel Gonzalez and Tyler Janes ran 2-3 in the 1600, with Daniel running his fastest time ever. He’d come back with another scoring effort in the 3200 along with Rolando Phalen who had a stirring effort and race to finish 2nd in the 8-lapper. AJ Boebinger won his first-ever varsity race in the 800 and his leg of the 4 X 400 got us into first place where Norys hung on for the victory to close out the win for the varsity boys. In his first real go at the 800, Dalton Seckinger ran a solid race for second place.  On the girls' side, Courtney Davis ran 12.31 in the 100 and 24.65 in the 200, the second-fastest time in school history for the half-lap. Amanda Haring had two distance wins on the JV level and Alyssa Drake won the 400 with a 1:04.5. Brianna Jacklin ran a great 3200 to finish second with her personal PR

With memories of that six-hour marathon back in '12, the more reasonable 3 hour time span between start and finish to the '14 version was a welcome start to the season. Winning made it even better.

SCHOOL RECORDS SET IN 2013

Boys 1500 Meters ~ 3:59.45 Nathan Torres
Boys 800 ~ 1:52.63 ~ Nathan Torres
Girls 100 Hurdles ~ 14.31 Tayler Fleming (breaks 11 year old SR)
Girls 300 Hurdles ~ 42.84 Tayler Fleming
Boys 200 ~ 22.24 ~ Jamal Orme
Girls 800 ~ 2:16.85 ~ Ruth Wiggins
Girls 4x100 Relay ~ 47.86 ~ Jordan Lofton, Tia Parrish, Courtnee Davis, Tayler Fleming
~~~
Boys 4x1600 - 17:33.53 ~ Nathan Torres, Perry Elerts, Joe Casco, Brandon Berz
Boys 4x800 -  8:07.36 ~ Brandon Berz, Dalton Seckinger, Jacob Norys, Nathan Torres
Girls 4x1600 - 21:32.36 ~ Ruthie Wiggins, Lauren Boydd, Emma Jaramillo, Raelyn Werley
Girls Shuttle Hurdles - 1:07.73 ~ Tayler Fleming, Leighana Weaver, Kathy Domenici, Cissy Underwood 

KING'S QUEEN OF THE HURDLES PLACES AT STATE

A year ago, Tayler Fleming made the trip to the California State Track and Field Finals at Buchanan High in Clovis full of enthusiasm and hope. That 2012 trip ended in frustration and heartbreak as she finished 10th overall in her speciality, the 300 Hurdles, missing the Finals by one place.  It was this disappointment that drove Tayler through her senior season in 2013. Getting back to state, despite how tough it might be, was the goal. Getting back;  redeeming herself (as if she had to ) and maybe earning a medal was the mission. 

With a senior year full of accomplishments that could very well have allowed her to settle short of her goal,  Tayler kept "her eye on the prize." Despite a shaky two weeks in the early post-season rounds at CIF Prelims and Finals, she found her stride at the Master's Meet, smashing two school records and qualifying in both hurdle events to State. The first King female athlete to go to back to back state meets.Goal accomplished. 

In Clovis, among the very best California had to offer, she  preformed brilliantly in the preliminary heats. She finished 10th in the the 100 hurdles despite running her second best time ever at 14.34, missing the Finals by a single place. Rather than see this as a sign from last year or give in to panic, Tayler came out in the 300 Hurdles running tough and finished 7th overall with a time of 43.08 giving her that much coveted spot in the Finals; the first King female athlete to make it to finals since 2004. Half of The Mission accomplished.  The next Saturday, under the lights and with electricity in the air, Tayler settled into the blocks of the 300 Hurdles for her final race in a King uniform. The familiar  cry "Let's go Flem!!" came from Hurdle Coach Ken Bracy.  Go, she did. Out fast and finishing strong, Tayler grabbed 6th place in 43.14 and a CIF medal-only the second King female to ever earn hardware. 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. 

Up to this final race, to this final race, Tayler had a career full of accomplishments; awards; league titles; invitational titles; and CIF appearances. She has had the admiraton; respect and love of her teamates. As she prepared to run Saturday night, a sign, crafted by the UCR coaches who will  be overseeing her progress next season, appeared in the stands. It said-"Tayler Fleming-Queen of the Hurdles at King."  That CIF medal was the final jewel in the crown.

ONE FINAL RACE AND RECORD FOR NATHAN TORRES

"I've got one more race in me!" Nathan Torres declared after he finished his CIF rounds at Masters.  There, he missed qualifying for State by one place and a quarter of a second.  His hunger unsatisfied,  Nathan wanted one more chance to prove his mettle. to put out one more great effort. So, while his 800 meters compatriots were duking it out in Clovis at the State meet, Nathan entered himself into the Jim Bush invitational at UCLA's Drake Stadium on Saturday to find out what he could muster up over 1500 meters.

Consider the quest for one more great race accomplished.  In a heat that fielded other high school runners plus a sizable sampling of current collegiate athletes, Nathan raced to an impressive performance. While the meet may not have had the intensity of a State championship, it certainly proved worthy with quality competitors and Nathan used the field to race to a school record for the distance.  While the event has never been contested before by any King runner, making whatever the outcome of his race a SR, more importantly for Nathan was that his mark of 3:59.45 for 1500 meters  -- with a conversion to factor to1600 meters --  would have been a personal best for him.  Exactly what he wanted.

The race went out fast, and Nathan went by the 400 split at 63.7.  The next two laps were even better as he split them at 63.9 and 63.8 and was able to close with a time of 3:59.45.  He finished in 4th in his heat and 20th out of the two heats of a combined 40 runners, most of whom were college runners.  After catching his breath, he proclaimed, "I'm ready for college running."

We agree. It will be fun watching as this talented senior takes on that collegiate goal next year at UC Santa Barbara.  If he races and trains there with the same mentality that took him to UCLA last weekend, it should turn out pretty good for him.

Results

FLYIN' FLEMING IS OFF TO FRESNO

The CIF Southern Section Masters Meet serves as a qualifying meet for the State Championships to be held one week hence in Fresno. It's a stage upon which the best 9 athletes from all four Southern Section Divisions (which includes over 500 schools) compete for one of the coveted spots to State.  Earning a spot at the Masters Meet is a huge accomplishment in its own right ... to perform well in that talented arena is even more so.

Both of King's athletes, Tayler Fleming and Nathan Torres, competed well on the big stage.

Tayler Fleming put together a masterful performance in both hurdle events and will travel to Fresno to represent King High in the 2013 State Championships.

Of the two events, one could make the argument that the 100's are her "lesser" event, as she's been a pretty dominant force for a couple years in the 300's.  In the shorter race, she was the last one into the Masters meet and was relegated to lane 9.  There, out on the fringe and away from the "action" reserved for the fastest seeds in lanes 4 and 5, Tayler quietly rocketed along the path and straight into the record books.  She finished third overall, but more significantly to King's history, she broke the 11 year old record in the event held by the very talented Gayle Hunter.  Her time of 14.31 was significantly faster than the 14.44 that Gayle had held since May 10, 2002.

Tayler then came back in the 300's perhaps a bit lighter knowing her trip to State was already secured.  In lane 8, she got out well, and coming off the turn was in 5th.  She finished even better than she started and by the time she'd crossed the line, she had set yet another SR (42.84 - this time breaking her own at 43.03) and finished third again for the chance to race the twice next weekend in Fresno.

Nathan Torres was also competing in the 800 and after a scintilating 1:52.63 which he put down last weekend at CIF Finals, he was hard-pressed to match it here at Masters.  The top six finishers (or those who surpassed the auto-qualifying time of 1:52.90) would qualify for State.  As it turned out, though Nathan was in fine position with 200 go, the kickers found their big gears and a pack of nine guys went four-wide down the straight.  Places 2-6 all finished within 3/10s of a second of each other and Nathan was nipped at the line, missing 6th place by .28 seconds!  It was a bit of a heartbreak but doesn't diminish the incredible season Nathan has achieved.

So Tayler Fleming will return to Fresno. In 2012, she missed making it out of the Friday night 300 prelim rounds by one place and had to sit in the stands Saturday watching and wondering what it must be like to race in the State Finals.

Perhaps this year, she'll find out. She's not only faster than she was last year, but thanks to that incredible 100 meters, she's got twice the chances here in 2012.

Womens 100 Meter Hurdles
================================================================
Name              Year School            Finals Wind
================================================================
  1 Crear, Ebony       11 Poly (Long Beach)   14.10  1.1
  2 Miller, Jade       12 Great Oak           14.24  1.1
  3 Fleming, Tayler    12 King, M.L.          14.31  1.1
  4 Dargel, Kim        12 Murrieta Mesa       14.32  1.1
  5 Harbin, Skylin     11 Alemany             14.43  1.1
  6 Mosley, Sidney     10 Monrovia            14.50  1.1
  7 Sutton, April      10 Roosevelt, E        14.76  1.1
  8 George, Megan      12 Serra               15.93  1.1
  9 Graham, Jasmyne    10 Roosevelt, E        17.22  1.1

Mens 800 Meter Run
================================================================
Name                  Year School             Finals
================================================================
  1 Bias, Jeremiah          10 Vista del Lago    1:53.59    
  2 Lewis, Josh             12 Loyola            1:54.47    
  3 Solis, Omar             12 Vista Murrieta    1:54.49    
  4 Thompson, Isaiah        12 Sherman Indian    1:54.59    
  5 Orozco, Jacob           12 Lakewood          1:54.74    
  6 Rameriz, Michael        12 Rancho Cucamonga  1:54.76    
  7 Torres, Nathan          12 King, M.L.        1:55.04    
  8 Miyoshi, Robert         12 Oxford Academy    1:55.34    
  9 Medina, Kyle            12 Ventura           1:55.60    
10 Smythe, Eamon           11 Edison            1:55.73    
11 Miller, Pierce          12 West Ranch        1:56.52    

Womens 300 Meter Hurdles
================================================================
Name                  Year School             Finals
================================================================
  1 Miller, Jade            12 Great Oak           41.34    
  2 Payne, Kymber           11 Poly (Long Beach)   42.33    
  3 Fleming, Tayler         12 King, M.L.          42.84    
  4 Harbin, Skylin          11 Alemany             43.27    
  5 Munford, Jordie         12 Rancho Cucamonga    43.28    
  6 Crear, Ebony            11 Poly (Long Beach)   43.61    
  7 King, Michaela          11 Dana Hills          43.71    
  8 Webster, Juanita        10 Redlands            43.86    
  9 Cusworth, Angelica      10 Atascadero          44.23 

FULL RESULTS   PHOTOS

KING EARNS THREE ALL-CIF HONORS AT D1 FINALS

There isn't anything easy about the CIF Southern Section D1 Track Finals.  Everyone in the meet is among the best in the state at their event.  King sent four athletes, Niarobi Watson, Tayler Fleming, Blake Bergstrom and Nathan Torres.  Of those four, three came home with All-CIF honors (and fancy medals to commemorate it) and two, Fleming and Torres, punched their tickets to compete next week in the CIF Masters meet.

Nathan Torres spent much of the winter mired in a persistent and serious fight with bronchitus and it would have been understandable had he dismissed thoughts of racing at CIF Finals in May.  But he didn't, and despite losing valuable time in preparation, he has timed his ascent just perfectly and raced his best race of the season to finish as the D1 Runner-up!  It was a brilliant race, so well executed.  He split at 400 in 56.0 and closed with a 56.6.  Even splits, yes, but he had his fans with their hearts in their throats as he was in sixth place with 200 to go and a good 5-7 meters off the lead.  The last 70 meters saw him weaving through traffic and across the line in second place.  His 1:52.63. lowered his own SR by more than a second. It's the sixth-fastest time run in California this season and #11 in Riverside County All Time! Given that after that lengthy illness, his first race this season was a modest 2:10, this was a crowning moment for the likable senior. "That was fun!" he beamed at the end as family, friends, teammates and coaches were high-fiving and hugging.

Indeed it was.

Tayler Fleming has been down this road before, as she competed at the State Championships in 2012.  Racing in both hurdle events, she took lane two in the 100's and parlayed it into a fifth place finish and 9th overall when all four divisions were combined. (Top 9 finishers in the combined four divisional races qualify for CIF Masters).  Later, she moved to her specialty, the 300's.  There she finished fifth again (43.21) for her second All CIF honor on the day and another event to contest next Friday at Masters.

Blake Bergstrom's season has been nothing short of spectacular and he finished it in fine form with a sixth place finish (and the last All-CIF honor in the race) in the 300 hurdles.  His time equalled his best this season.  Nairobi Watson has shown great improvement over the last month of the season, and that improvement would have been on display today except for a fraction of a foul on two of her attempts.  Both of those disputable fouls, which Coach Corona eyeballed at less than a half-inch beyond the board, took her out well past 36 feet.  Those leaps, had they been measured, would have had her finish one place higher than the 9th place legal finish she went home with.

So it was a very good day for the Wolves.  Among many of the state's best, King's kids put their names amidst the elites and competed with poise and purpose.  Two will represent King High School next Friday night in Cerritos at the most elite meet in the state short of the actual State Championships. It will be that meet that both Nathan and Tayler will gunning for.

Should be fun.

State Rankings (thru May 11)    Photos    Full Results

CLOSE CALLS AND ALMOSTS IS THE STORY AT PRELIMS

There is an old saying in coaching that says that "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." The meaning behind that cliche is that despite the fact you may come close to victory, close doesn't necessarily mean success.  After the results were made on Saturday at the CIF prelinaries,  for the King Track and Field Wolves, "close" didn't count for the CIF Division 1 Finals either.

With  the top nine times and performances of the day moving on to Divisional Finals May 18 at Mt. SAC, the day became almost a litany of close calls and "almosts" for the Wolves under a blazing sun and the blazing competition the division annually provides.

This didn't come from the lack of effort however. The Girls 4x100 team recorded a second place in their heat and their second best time of the year (48.28) only to finish 10th overall. TravisThomas also recorded a second place in his heat and got his second fastest time of the year in the 400 at 49.86.  But, he finished 13th.   Bayleigh Porter had the same overall finish in the 800 as Thomas did in the 400. The Girls 4x400 finished 11th overall and the boys 4x400 finished 13th. Both teams recorded their second fastest times of the season. Blake Bergstrom missed qualifying in the long jump by three inches finishing 15th and in the triple jump by 4 inches getting 13th. Frosh Ruthie Wiggins went 5:14 in the 1600. All of them close, but no cigar.

The good news though was that there were a few who got over the top and into CIF Finals. Tayler Fleming qualified in both the 100 Hurdles (14.74) and the 300 Hurdles (44.15). Bergstrom also got into the final spot for the 300 Hurdles at 39.54. Nathan Torres ran a great race breaking his own school record in the 800 at 1:54.55.   For both Nate and Tayler, it will be their second straight trip to the Finals. The last King  qualifer was senior  Niarobi Watson, who surprised everybody with a 9th place finish in the triple jump. Niarobi had come into the meet with a middle of  the pack mark of 34-5  and on her first jump went 35-8-a 15 inch PR!!! She would win her flight and hang on to get a trip to Mt.SAC Saturday.

Other impressive efforts included the boys 4x100 team of Dylann Hosley; Brandon Hubley; Jahai Scott and Jamal Orme who posted their second best time of the year at 43.34.  Anissa Claiborne improved her league finals shot put mark 6 inches out to 37-0-cementing her spot as the number two King shot putter of all time.

Division One Southern Section is no cake walk, that's for sure, and it requires talent and good fortune to snag one of the coveted 9 advancing spots.  King is excited to send four kids in five events, but sadly for many others, close wasn't close enough. It almost never is.

RESULTS

REDEMPTION FOUND AT BIG 8 FINALS

After a rocky beginning to the 2013 Big 8 League season, in which both varsity teams lost to Roosevelt and Corona, the King squads found themselves in a deep, competitive hole and looking at a long climb out. On thursday night, the Big 8 League Championships were held at Santiago HS in Corona, and given the stirring performances by so many of King's best on the track and in the field, one could well assert that the teams had found redemption of sorts for a season that appeared to be all but over just five weeks ago.

There were numerous standouts throughout the afternoon and evening, as King crowned itself with six individual titles, four for the girls, two for the boys.  There were numerous medal finishers and CIF qualifiers as well.  For good measure, the all-time lists were altered greatly and three new school records were minted. It was quiet a competition.

Blake Bergstrom emerged from the competition having qualified for CIF (top three finishes) in four different events. He helped to win the night's final event, the 4x400 relay. Along with Travis Thomas, Nathan Torres and Romalio Cosey, Bergstrom's carry helped them to the #2 time in school history and take a little of the sting out of the loss to Roosevelt back in March. He finished second in the triple jump with a two-foot improvement over his previous best and the #4 mark in school history. He literally jumped out of his shoe as his gear ripped in mid-flight from the force of his plant. He also took second  in the long jump but won his specialty, the 300 hurdles.  Consider the lad tired after a night like that!

Tayler Fleming, who signed with UCR the day before, finished third in the 100 hurdles, but ran a superb last 110 meters in the 300's to win her second-straight title in that event, matching to the hundreth, the SR she set at the State meet in 2012. (43.03). She anchored the 2nd place 4x400 team and helped to set a new SR in the 4x100 relay, where Jordan Lofton, Tia Parrish and Courtnee Davis combined to finish second and go 47.86.  In the 300 hurdles, the most competitive event in the night, teammate Leighana Weaver ran her first ever sub :45-second split but finished fourth.  She qualified for CIF nonetheless by meeting the very rigorous qualifying time for finishers outside the top 3.

In the distance events, King's kids really shined, and not just on Thursday but in Tuesday's preliminaries as well. Alyssa Haring won the JV 3200 in a lifetime best and also won the JV 1600.  Ruthie Wiggins finished third in the varsity 1600 to qualify for CIF in this her freshman season.  Bayleigh Porter, after a very frustrating season in which she struggled to find her stride, showed that tenacity and never giving up has its merits as she ran a lifetime best, the #2 time in school history and qualified for CIF in third place. It was a great performance for the senior.  Perry Elerts ran a very gutty race in the 1600 and held off hard charging competitors after a scintilating 4th lap to finish second in 4:30.50  In that race was Tyler Janes who qualified for the final in just his freshman season. Joe Casco qualified for CIF in the 3200, finishing third in a negative-split race. Raelyn Werley won the 3200 as well, leading all the way, but was almost upstaged by Lauren Boydd who ran a gigantic PR and snagged 2nd place with a terrific kick.  Very impressive and gutsy race by the relative newcomer to the event!  In the 800 meters, Nathan Torres finished second (behind the current state leader) with a fine race. Jacob Norys and AJ Boebinger were 6th and 7th respectively, AJ finished the season with the #3 All Time freshman mark in school history for the 800 at 2:02.52.

In the field events, Kiarra Ginwright won a huge contest with Roosevelt's best high jumper as the two matched misses and makes over several pole placements and jump off, until the Kiarra finally pulled out the victory at 5-04.  Niarobi Watson was the other league champion in the field with a fine leap and PR of 34-05 in the triple jump.

Travis Thomas was all over the place on the day, competing in the relays but also in the 400, where he finished 2nd in a photo finish! His PR and #2 AT mark of 49.58 took some of the pain out of the picture. Hannah Blache was third in the 400 with her own quality race, running a PR as well at 57.81. In the 200 on Tuesday during the prelims, Jamal Orme scorched the track for a SR in the event at 22.24.  His 11.09 in the 100 was the #5 time in school history, so it was quite a haul for the speedster. Tia Parrish finished 4th in the 100, and she's just a freshman! Cournee Davis was a split second behind her in fifth, and Courtnee is a sophomore so there is a bright future in store for King!  Kiazha Ginwright was third in the triple.  In the vault, favored place-finisher Cameron Brock pulled a hamstring during competition, and had to bow out.  TC Wilson won the JV vault at 11-06, but King wasn't able to place any vaulters in the top five of the varsity contest. Finally, Anissa Claiborne threw the shot to a PR distance of 36-5.5 to finish second in that event.

The lesson of 2013 then, could perhaps be the one that say "it's not over 'till it's over."  It seemed like it was over back when the squads were 0-2 and showing the life of something slightly warmer than a corpse.  But the last three league meets went to King and the championship rounds showed a couple of groups with more passion and competitive fire than we've seen all season long.  It was therefore a very rewarding night and not for only those mentioned here. It was, in the end, an indicator that no matter how dark the valley, redemption is still available.

You just gotta keep going till its over.

CORONA FROSH SOPH CHALLENGE TURNS INTO P.R. PARADE

The Corona S/F Showdown is billed as a "last chance" for Soph/Frosh athletes to earn a PR or get a medal or just get a tune up for the coming week's League Prelims and Finals. On all three counts, the Showdown would fit that bill for a great number of King Track athletes, especially in the PR department.

The Boys team, which finished third in the 17 team competition. was paced by 110 Hurdle winner Nick Abboud, who got his PR at 15.88 as well as a 6th place in the 300 Hurdles. He was joined in the winners circle by Marcos Zavaleta who won the pole vault at 12-0. Zavaleta was followed in the pole vault by Daniel Mukasa who got second with his PR of 12-0 and Noah Poole (4th at 10-6) Ryan Moussad got his PR in the in the straight hurdles finishing 4th at 17.12. The duo of Daniel J. Gonzalez  (4:43) and Mark Werley (4:49) also joined the PR parade in the1600.  Brett Wolff and Tristan Fortier recorded their best marks of the year in the throws and Ronnie Rhodes IV recorded his best marks of the year in the 100 (11.8) and in the 200 (24.03) Though PR's were not in the offering, Andrew Boebinger raced to a 3rd in the 800 (2:06) and Rolando Phalen (2:08) finished 6th. The 4 X 400 team of Seth Tyler, Moshin Sabrin, Jacob Norys and Boebinger recorded a 3:43 for 4th place.

The King girls finished sixth in the final point tally but were also enjoying the PR parade.  Alexys Boonkukua  skied to second place in the vault with her 9-0 jump and Hannah Larsen tie her best jump of the year at 8-0 for 4th. Rachel Hales improved significantly in the long and triple jump recording a 3rd and 4th place respectively. Both Mary Jane Smith (13.58) and  Leah Bantum (13.88) dashed to their PR's in the 100 as did Jaylai Jacobs in the 300 Hurdles at 51.6. Jacobs got 6th place overall  as did Emily Sanchez  in the 1600. The 4 X 400 Relay of Hannah Davidson, Danielle Abboud; DestinyGardner and Smith nabbed third place.

KING WINS FINAL BIG 8 MEET OF THE YEAR

The JV teams rounded out undefeated league schedules, while the varsity teams ended the season 3-2 in the league.

For the boys, Cameron Brock had the highlight of the day out in the pole vault.  Brock set a lifetime PR of 13-7 to put him in a tie for #2 all time in King's history. He tried three attempts at 14-1 and the school record, but came up short.  Hopefully next time it will happen.  Vault-mates Vallejo and Zavaleta helped King sweep the event, helping the overall team to win by a 77-59 margin. 

The 400 relay team got it rolling with a victory by a full second. Then in the 1600 meters, Carlos Ramirez continued his fine racing of late, with a wire-to-wire win and a solid 4:33 mark despite gusting winds. Tyler Janes was 2nd and Daniel G. Gonzalez was third for the sweep. Nick Abboud continued to show strong growth in the hurdles, winning the 110 highs over the second-place Norco athlete. Blake Bergstrom won the 300's as he has so often. Norco had its main points come in the 400, 100, 200, shot and high jump.  In the 3200, King swept as Jacob Enriquez, Tyler Janes and Matt Cleland combined to take the top three spots.  There was a King sweep of the 800 as well, with Jacob Norys, Romalio Cosey (normally a 400 runner) and Tyler Janes doing the honors.  Janes used the day to score three times.

On the girls side King's team won very easily, amassing over 100 points. The day could have been dubbed, "The Sister Act" as siblings took the stage and earned points.   In the 800, the Sanchez sisters, Ashley and Emily, were first and third respectively, while the Haring sisters, Alyssa and Amanda were first and third in the 3200. The Ginwright sisters, Kiazha and Kiara took first and second in the high jump.  (Kiazha also placed second in the long jump with a leap of 14' 8".

Lisa Garside took the victory in the 1600 with a very nice 5:25 effort.In the sprints, Tayler Fleming ran a 15-second 100, all while hurdling ten flights of barriers. Pretty impressive. Jordan Loften did the same distance without the barriers, going 13.05 for the win. Sacha Bowen won the 200 meters, and Leighana Weaver took first in the 300 hurdles. 

So after losing the first two meets of the Big 8 season, the teams took home victories in the remaining three and are now set to enter the championship season.

THE CITY MEET CREATES A MAGICAL NIGHT OF TRACK AND FIELD

The fourth "re-running" or "re-annual" of the Riverside City Championships was held at King High School on Saturday and turned out to be a great event that brought the track community from across the greater Riverside area.  Almost every school was in attendance and the meet ran smoothly and with great competition and fanfare.

For the host school, King, it was a very special night of track and field.  In almost every event, the King runners, jumpers, vaulters and throwers were present and more than accounted for, with a sizeable contingent finding themselves on the victory stand at the end of their event; earning "City Champion" titles or attractive medals for their accomplishments.

Senior Travis Thomas and freshman Ruth Wiggins had performances that were especially noteworthy and will no-doubt create indelible memories in their lifetimes.  For the hard working and likable Thomas, he found himself climbing the victory stand numerous times and subsequently climbing King's all time charts as well. It started in the 4x100 relay race in which he teamed up with Dylan Holsey, Brandon Hubley and Jahai Scott to win the event title while clocking a very impressive 43.20, good for the second fastest all time mark in school history.  Thomas came back in the 400 with a PR of 50-flat, the second-fastest time in school history and winning again over Galloway of North.  Then at the end of the night, he ran a sterling effort in the 200, clocking at 22.73 (#3 all time) to finish second, then for good measure, anchored the victorious 4x400 team.  What a night for the talented senior and one in which you may give him a pass for finishing it tired!

While one exits, another enters, and so introductions are in order for 9th grader Ruth Wiggins who had a stunning "quadruple crown" in her only event, the 800 meters. Ruth's PR going into the meet had stayed stationary for a few weeks at 2:20.08, and a tantalizingly close half-second off the school record. The SR wast her goal for the evening and did she ever reach it!  Racing with aggressiveness and poise, the rookie ran nearly even-splits for the two lap race, crossing the finish line in 2:16.85.  It was the school record that she wanted, but the mark was also a King High 9th grade record, the King Stadium Record and the Riverside City Championships Meet Record!  A race with consequence!

Wiggins and Thomas may have captured the biggest spotlight, but there were numerous King stars that shined brightly.  The boys pole vault swept their event with Cody Vallejo winning at a PR of 13-0. Cameron Brock was second, Maros Zavaleta and TC Wilson medaled in third and fourth. Blake Bergstrom, who won the 300 hurdles, was third in the long jump but won the triple in a fine 41' 11.75". Steling Hampton was the lone Wolf to medal in the throws, taking third in the discus. Dylan Hosley, while aiding in the 400 relay victory, was third in the 100 meter dash. Brandon Berz, a night after running his lifetime PR in the 1600 meters with a relay split of 4:18.7 at Mt.SAC ran the 800 here in Riverside.   He took on the field and led from the gun to notch a 1:57.57, the #3 time in school history. Jacob Norys, just a sophomore, was third in 2:00.33, a lifetime PR and good for the #7 time in school history. Joe Casco won the 1600 and Perry Elerts won the 3200, bringing a clean sweep of the distances for King High.  In the 1600, Carlos Ramirez had a lifetime, breakout performance, dropping his PR in the race a full ten seconds to 4:30!  Tyler Janes improved on his own SR for 9th graders, running 4:31.

The girls 1600 saw a very big broom being used by King, as the Lady Wolves took all five medal places. Raelyn Werley, Lisa Garside, Lauren Boydd, Emma Jaramillo and Rachel Rosales did the duties in that one. King's ladies had five of the top seven places in the 3200, led by Boydd's PR of 11:48.16.

Hannah Blache was the winner in the open 400, with a PR of 58.64, but it was Courtnee Davis who was sparkling in the sprints. She ran 12.83 for third in the 100 (followed by Jordan Lofton in 4th and Tia Parrish in 6th). In the deuce, she threw down King's #4 all time mark of 25.49 winning the race by less than 2-10ths. Katy Fatten took fifth in the 800. In the hurdles, King's Queen was over at Mt.SAC taking on some of the state's best, so the event was open for Leighanna Weaver to take on Riverside's best. Weaver took 4th in the 100 meter hurdles, followed closely by Katherine Domenici and Sabrina Suarez. Weaver's 300 saw the talented sophomore winning easily. Domenici and Suarez were fourth and sixth respectively.

Becky Collier of Woodcrest Christian set a new stadium record in the high jump, with a State-level leap of 5-8. She doubled her pleasure by winning the long jum at 1604, leading all "big school" opponenets. Nairobi Watson was third in the long jump with a mark of 15-01.  Hannah Olobri was third in the pole vault with a season-best of 9-0. Jaymei McCray, Watson and CAitlin Smith were all medalists in the triple jump. Anissa Claiborne shot put to 35-0, good for second in the event. Breanna Collins and Rayo Soyemi both medaled in the event, with Rayo taking third in the discus.

The 4x400 relays proved to be a fun and electric way to end the night. The girls kicked it off with a great victory, setting the meet record in the process at 3:59.55.  Leighana Weaver, Blache, Davis and Jordan Lofton were the stick-carriers who made history. The boys' squad won as well, capping off a great night of competition.

The City Meet will be renamed in 2014 as "The Raincross Tradition"  but on this night it was pretty clear that no matter what you call it, the stage and the event brings out the best in town.

Full Results

MT.SAC RELAYS BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN KING'S BEST

One of the most prestigious meets on the yearly calendar is the famous Mt.SAC Relays which draws high school, college and professional track athletes from across the country to race upon its storied track.  King entered on Friday night, four of its best distance runners, all seniors, to circle that track as a team one final time in the 4x1600 meter relay.  To a man, Nathan Torres, Perry Elerts, Joe Casco and Brandon Berz raced with ease, poise and competitive fire and the result was simply amazing.

The result was a shattering of the school record for the event, taking down the old mark by 31 seconds!  Their mark stands as the third-fastest ever in Riverside County history!

Torres took it out first and ran a season-best 4:23.9 and gave the stick to Elerts in 5th place.  Perry ran a terrific leg, notching his fastest 1600 split ever at 4:26 and gave the stick to Joe Casco in 7th of a very fine field.  Casco, who's been nicknamed the "Flyin' Fillipino" put down another terrific performance, moving up two places and splitting at 4:24, also a personal best.  Berz had a breakthrough race in his own right, dropping his PR by 8 seconds and closing the race in 4:18.7 and moving the team into fourth place to medal and secure the school record of 17.33.53. The old mark, set by the very same guys last year was 18:04.68 ... dramatic improvement!

Nathan Torres and Tayler Fleming returned to Mt.SAC for the Saturday session, seeking competition that the city of Riverside could not, perhaps, match. They were not disappointed. 

In the 800, Torres ran just 3-10ths off his lifetime PR in the 800, matching to the second his CIF Finals time from last year at 1:55.62.  He finished fourth in his heat.  Fleming threw down another superb effort in her specialty, the 300 hurdles, and finished third in the invitational heat that included competitors that will likely be next to her in the CIF rounds and, hopefully, the CA State Finals. Her time of 43.25 was, like Nathan's mark, just a fraction off her lifetime best in the event and currently sits as the third-best mark in all of the Southern Section of CIF!

So, while their teammates were lighting up the city of Riverside, these select few were making the most of their moment under the stars and the sun of one of the nation's premier relay meets. 

KING NOT TROUBLED BY THE SHARKS

After getting tossed around by Roosevelt and Corona in the two opening meets of the 2013 season, King was stumbling a bit and looking for traction or some sign of hope that the season would not be a complete misstep.  The Beaumont Invitational, the Azusa Meet of Champions and the the IE Championships all breathed life in the team and gave a sense that the train was still rolling.  An expected and easy win over weak Centennial one week ago, while satisfying, was so expected that one could forgive the Wolves if they had had their sights set on the Sharks of Santiago.

Surprisingly, what most assumed was going to be a strong contest, the meet yesterday turned into something of a route.  The Santiago Sharks - usually a solid opponent, who's girls pushed Corona to the final event last week before losing - could barely nibble on the Wolves and King won handily and easily at all four levels.

King's varsity boys won by a margin of 86-50, this while resting out some key scoring athletes. The majority of Santiago's points came in the field events where they were scoring twice in seemingly every event.  While King's throwers scored 10 of their 18 available points, the big damage was done on the track where a number of sweeps were in orer. Joe Casco, Nathan Torres and Perry Elerts did the brooming in the 1600, while Bergstrom, Abboud and Carlson swept the 110 high hurdles. Berz, Jacob Norys and Tyler Janes swept the 800.  Near-sweeps came in the 300 hurdles where Bergstomr and Carlson wen 1-3 and the 200 where Jamal Orme and Travis Thomas went 1-2. 

For the King girls, their mastery over Santiago was unchallenged, winning by a score of 102-34.  Santiago took first in only four events, and King's ladies swept three events and won both relays. Raelyn Werley, Ruth Wiggins and Lauren Boydd took the 1600 to kick off the meet and the girls never looked back from tehher. Tayler Fleming closed out her stellar career on King's home track with her final two hurdle events ever to be run at home. She won both, winning the 100's in 15.74 and the 300's in a modest 45.36.  When told she didn't need to run the 300's near the end of the meet and the King victory already secured, she responded, "I have to, it's my last 300 on our track!" 

Hanna Olibri, Courtney Blanck and Justine Petty swept the pole vault while Katy Fatten had the fastest time of the day while running the JV 800, a quirk of being misplaced in level. She ran 2:31, while newcomer Ashley Sanchez, in just her 2nd 800 ever, won the varsity race in 2;32.  Lauren Boydd came back from the 1600 to win the 3200 in a really solid time of 12:02 - just seconds off her PR -- despite pretty significant winds. Courntee Davis won the 100 dash and took second in the 200. 

A HAPPY DAY LEADS A GOOD NIGHT AT THE I.E. CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Inland Empire Championships is broken into two sections, "Day" and "Night" and in both sections frosh soph and varsity athletes from across Riverside and San Bernardino go head-to-head.  The Day Meet isn't quite as competitive as the Night Meet is, but both provide stages for kids to shine.  For King, it was a day for happy athletes which led to a very good night ... in fact, Coach Corona remarked that this may well qualify as King's best ever overall showing at the annual affair.

At the Frosh Soph level, King's girls took second and the boys took 3rd. The boys varsity finished 4th and the girls varsity 5th -- this against over 30 scoring squads. Indeed, it was quite a day.

In the pole vault, King's FS boys stacked the upper scoring ranks, with Marcos Zavaleta winning the title. Daniel Mukasa and Noah Poole finished 3rd anf 4th.  Zavaleta was only one of a handful of "IE Champions"; a siginficant accomplishment in the face of the region's solid track culture and talent.  Lauren Carr was the winner in the day heat of the varsity 3200, with a lifetime PR of 12:06.  In fact, the 3200 crew was in fine form at both ends of the long day, as Raelyn Werley and Brandon Berz won the nighttime meet in the same event, some 7 hours after Lauren took home her title. Both seniors ran quality performances.  Hannah Blache ran a lifetime PR in the night FS 400, improving her #3 all time school mark to the low-58's. Leighana Weaver had a championship run in the FS300 hurdles at night, running a lifetime PR of 45.61, the #2 time in school history.

Blake Bergrstrom ran a terrific 300 hurdles that had to be decided by a photo to determine his second-place finish after a hard-charging last flight brought him to the line a sliver into silver. It was a great display of his drive and talent and capped a great week of competition;  he won four events on Wednesday against Centennial. 

Jamie McCray was fourth in the day portion of the long jump, with a leap of 14-4, but Lexi Opuko was 2nd overall in the Day FS long jump with a leap of 15 feet.  Rachel Hales was second in the FS Day triple jump. In the night-time FS long jump, Sissy Underwood was 4th with a fine leap 15-2.75. Grant Higgins was 5th in the day FS long jump.

Lauren Boydd ran the 1600 in the morning hours, and just as she didn in 2012 at the IE Championships, she used the track at Vista Murrieta to deliver another breakthrough PR, this time going 5:24. She and Brianna Jacklin would come back at night and run excellent 3200 meter races, with both girls dropping below 12:00 for the first time ever and becoming King's second and third runners this year to eclipse the significant barrier.  (Werley is the other).  While out of the medals, Bayleigh Porter had her fastest time of the year in the night-meet 800, going 2:22.  Similarly, Ruthie Wiggins missed out on a medal, but still threw down King's #6 all  time 1600 mark in 5:10.89 - a mere 4-tenths off the #5 spot!  Tyler Janes dropped 5 seconds off his best-ever in the 800, going 2:05 in the day meet for third. He came back later and made a huge move over the final 100 meters of the 1600 to finish second in 4:38. In the 3200 that Berz won, his teammate Joe Casco was right on his heels and finished in third with another gritty performance.

Tayler Fleming, who's having another very special year while entertaining numerous college scholarship offers for her talent, was the runner-up in the 100 hurdles with a seasonal best at 14.71.  She was a bit off her game in the 300's going 44-plus and finishing third behind two Roosevelt rivals. Tia Parrish had a very fine outing in the FS100 dash under the lights, going 12.60 for King's #5 all time best mark. She finished third. Courtnee Davis was the runner-up in the FS200.

The meet finished with a sterling effort in the 4x400 meter relay by Fleming, Blache, Porter and Weaver ran the #2 time in school history and for only the second time dipped under 4:00 for the race (3:59.42). What made it a bit more exciting was the side-by-side dual Fleming had with a JW North runner on the anchor leg; a battle that was reminiscent of six years ago when North and King track meets were fraught with epic clashes. Tayler pulled away strongly in the last 100 to secure the championship for the foursome.  

Given the lack-luster perfomances King has put forth in recent weeks, the meet was a day and night of competitive spirit for King that has been sorely missed. Whether it was the grand stage layed out Vista Murrieta or the thousand-plus fellow competitors that brought it out, one can only guess at the cause. Whatever it was, the day's competition brought smiling faces and the night duplicated the day. 

Full Results 

KING STAVES OFF EARLY SEASON LOSSES

Preparing to compete the week after Spring vacation is never easy. The awareness that the end of the school year is upon us and the weariness of day-to-day work sometimes takes away from the team competing at peak form. Sending less than a full squad to the starting line against Centennial, the Wolves proved they are ready to finish off the season with success, defeating the Huskies convincingly winning  104-32 for the girls and 94-42 for the boys.

On the girls’ side, the Lady Wolves walked away with 12 victories and swept in seven events.  For the distance squad, Lisa Garside and Hannah Johnson ran away with personal bests for this season in the 1600 in a closely contested race. Alyssa Haring, Brianna Jacklin went 1-2 in the 3200 easily defeating  all Centennial runners who toed the line. The hurdle squad swept in both the 100 and 300 contests with Tayler Fleming and Leighana Weaver winning handily in both of their races respectively.

Off the track, the jumps and throws were equally as successful, sweeping both long and triple jumps with Nairobi Watson scoring in both.  Breanna Collins, Anissa Claiborne and Rayo Soyemi had equal success on the field, flipping places and sweeping in both the shot put and discus.

For the boys, the team had more competition against the Huskies, but was able to find the same success as their female counterparts.  Blake Bergstrom earned victories in the four events he contested, earning victories in both hurdles and the long and triple jump. Bergstrom led the way for the Wolves in his events, with sweeps in the 100 and long and triple jumps, including an all-time top 5 mark in the long.  

The throwers outscored Centennial 15-3, with Anthony Calvillo scoring in both. Although the meet could have proven to lack the intensity and atmosphere of a highly contested battle, several King Wolves chose to compete with something to prove, setting a goal to finish out their season with class and commitment.

With the dust of vacation fading, the team can look forward to renewing its goals and individuals can set their minds to competing with intensity to finish on top.  

HERITAGE BOYS WIN THEIR FIRST, KING GIRLS THEIR 9TH FROSH SOPH CLASSIC TITLES

The purpose of King's annual Frosh Soph Classic is to stage an event that mimics everything a varsity meet would, just keep the upperclassmen(and women) at home. Let the young ones have their moment in the spotlight.

In the 9th running of the "Classic", the kids didn't disappoint.  Glendora, a staple of the meet and the defending champions on both sides, was pushed in a mighty battle by Heritage and King in the boys contest and the three teams finished just a handful of points apart. 

In 2012, Glendora seemed to have an answer for every threat any opponent threw at them, but here in 2013, it was a battle at every turn.  Heritage saw big points come their way via sophomore Jarett Carter, who scored 18 points in the 200 and 400, winning the 400 in a solid 51.55. Teammate Torrey Atkins took home 20 points by winning both hurdle races, so between the two of them, Heritage's young stars collected just about half of the team's haul. Axel Aveakovi won the shot and finished third in the discus, behind Hemet's CJ Hicks who set a meet record to win at 138' 7".

For their part, the host team King kept chipping away at smaller point totals here and there, including a big push in the 3200 at the end of the day to snag 3rd, 4th, and 5th places and 12 points. Tyler Janes was third in the 1600, notching a King High freshman record for the distance in the process at 4:35.66. The relay team finished second in the 4x400 to earn another 8  points. In the pole vault, the Wolves took in a haul, winning 1, 2 and 6 - 19 points!  Marcos Zavaleta and Daniel Mucasa were the winner and runner-up respectively, with Noah Poole taking the final point in sixth. Grant Higgins scored in the long jump, finishing 4th, while Montiel Johnson went 46' 6" in the shot to finish second behind the aforementioned Uveokovi.  Jacob Norys was the runner-up in the 800 at 2:04, taking 8 points and earned a point in the 1600 finishing sixth overall.

Glendora was persistent and tenaciously fought for a repeat win but came up just short.  Jeff Kirwin was masterful in the distances, grinding out a sub-10:00 3200 (and meet record) along with a well-timed attack in the 1600 to score 20. James Reyes was second in the 400, Daniel Castro won the 800 with teammate Parker Seale in 5th.  Seale would "seal" 18 points for Glendora in the 1600, taking 2nd behind Kirwin. Glendora also won the 1600 relay as mentioned earlier, but also scored twice in the long jump and once in the triple. While one could point to their multi-lappers as their MVP's on the day, it took concerted effort by many that got them within 2 points of Heritage's 75.  King had 70 to make it a close battle for the victory. It was quite a meet.

On the girls' side, it was not close as the King girls ran away with the victory, winning by 28 points over Rancho Verde and 58 points over Yorba Linda and Glendora who tied.  (Their 95 points combined with the boys' 70 made King HS the Sweepstakes winner).

Courtnee Davis led the way for King's ladies with a very busy and productive day. She scored in both short sprints and the 4x100 relay in which she helped the Wolves go to victory.  In the 200, she finished in 3rd during the preliminary rounds, then came back to win the event in the late afternoon. Ruthie Wiggins scored 18 points by taking 2nd in the 800 and winning the 1600. Alyssa Haring won the 3200, after sprinting out to a big lead in the opening lap and never relinquishing it. Leighana Weaver scored twice in the two hurdle races, finishing in the middle of the medals in the shorter version but winning nicely in the 300's. Justine Petty and Courtney Blanck scored 12 points in the vault., Sissy Underwood scored in the long jump.  King would close the day with a 4x400 victory as well.

In the throws, King was shut out, but Corona's Kayla Zempoalteca won both tosses, setting TWO new meet records.  First, in the shot, she heaved it 35' 02" and then in the discus, her 116' 00" was 19 feet beyond her strongest oponent. Aliyah Crawford of Citrus Hill set a new meet record in the 400, going 58.01 and distinguishing herself as the only sub-60 second quarter miler on the day.

For almost a decade now, King High Track and Field has been throwing out the welcome mat for schools near and far to show up with their "young-ins" and treat them to a first class, "varsity" meet.  Given how well so many of the competed this year, that welcome mat could very well be seen as red carpet. 

Photo gallery

TAYLER FLEMING LEADS KING AT NATION'S MOST PRESTIGIOUS MEET

Nobody said that for the King High Track program, in trying to bounce back from the disappointments of mid-March, the road would be seamless; that there still wouldn't be obstacles to overcome. After encouraging and positive movement forward at the Meet of Champions; the Beaumont Invitational and the King Soph/Frosh Classic, the Arcadia Invitational proved to be a roller coaster ride of elation to frustration and back again. 

Arcadia - the nation's most prestigious and competitive high school meet - boasts athletes from across the country (some 25+ states were represented) and foreign countries. Entry is highly selective and to get a lane or a spot on the line is an achievement in its own right.  The meet will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of those who take the place there over two nights and a day. 

The distance crew  for King ran a combined total of 13 miles in six different races and kicked off that half-marathon on Friday night with a sweet school record in the boys 4x800. They went 8:07, eclipsing the old mark by 4 seconds and did it with only seven shoes.  On the second leg, Jacob Norys was spiked at the end of the first turn but gutted out nonetheless a 2:05 with only one shoe.  Brandon Berz, Dalton Seckinger and Nathan Torres rounded out the SR-setting crew with both Berz and Torres dipping under 2:00!   Not to be left off the all-time lists, the girls 4x1600 team of Ruthie Wiggins, Lauren Boydd, Emma Jaramillo and Raelyn Werley cut off 28 seconds from the old mark in that event set back in 2008.  

While Friday night featured those school records and some outstanding racing, the Saturday day portion was one of uneven performances. Though running hard, the 4 X 100 relay teams; the 4 X 400 teams and the girls DMR had results that disappointted. The day, perhaps, can be capsulized in the running of the boys and girls 300 hurdles.  First, sophomore Leighana Weaver went down midway through her heat having hit a hurdle on the turn.  Then Blake Bergstrom, one of King's most competitive athletes, charged hard through his best event and was in second place of his heat until the final hurdle when he clipped it too and crashed.  Before he could right himself, the field had passed him to the line. But later, in the same event, King's most decorated athlete - 2012 State Qualifier Tayler Fleming - pranced around the track in the elite night meet and finished third overall and dropped her season-best mark by 1.5 seconds. It demonstrated her "re-arrival" at the level she finished her amazing 2012 season.  Falling and rising, the 300 hurdle event seemed to be emblematic of King's two days in Arcadia.

On Saturday, Nathan Torres proved he's pretty-much back to 2012 form after battling illness all winter. He ran in the "day meet" portion of the Arcadia Invitational in the 800 and went 1:57, just a couple seconds off from his season-best 1:55 he  ran in last year's CIF rounds.  The Distance Medley Relay on Saturday night was crazy, as 33 teams left kids with blood on their legs and exchange zones that looked like NASCAR pileups - bodies and baton bouncing off each other in mad exchange zones.  The boys' team of Perry Elerts, Travis Thomas, Berz and Torres were placed in the heavily talented "invitational" heat during the elite night section of the meet and held their own against many of the best in the state. Though they were about 10 seconds off the school record set last year, they battled gamely with some pushing, shoving, bleeding and wild baton exchanges that made for an exciting conclusion to the meet for the Wolves.  

A rollercoaster of 16 hours is perhaps the best way then to describe the King experience in the nation's finest and most competitive high school meet. There were some really exciting highs, but some lows too that seemed to indicate there is still more to grow on as the season enters its final month.

FIRST STEP TOWARD PROGRESS TAKEN AT BEAUMONT

On Thursday of this past week, Coach Corona told his team that "this might be the lowest point ever in King Track and Field history." It wasn't so much losing back to back meets ( a first on the girls side) to tough league rivals Roosevelt and Corona that put the Wolves in this position but the way in which these losses had come. The tenacity; the togetherness and the preparation which have been hallmarks of the Wolves program for years were noticeably absent in those two losses. Corona also said to his charges that once you get to the lowest point, then one has to find their way back to what they know-back to who they really are. " It will not be an overnight process", he said, "but a step by step process".

Saturday, with the distance kids at Azusa Pacific and the rest of the team at the Beaumont Invitational, the Wolves took the first step. With the distance group flying around their PR Playground" the other parts of the team acquitted themselves well at the Beaumont Cougar Classic. The boys and girls varsity and soph/frosh teams all finished in the top three in the team standings carried by some top flight performances. On the boys side, Travis Thomas was the meet winner in the 400 with 51.23 and was a runner-up in the 200 at 22.97-3/100's from the gold. Team mate Jamal Orme was right behind in the 200 for third. Cameron Brock also won an invitational title with a leap of 13-0 in the pole vault. Cody Vallejo got his PR in that event at 12-6 for fourth. Blake Bergstrom won the 300 Hurdles in 40.11. Sterling Hampton continues his discus prowess with a third place finish at a near PR of 131-03. David Gardner jumped a PR 39-9 in the triple jump.

The girls varsity was once again led by senior Tayler Fleming. Tayler won both hurdle races without really being pushed and anchored the 4 x 100 relay to a meet record 48.8. She also anchored a cobbled together 4 X 400 to a second place finsh. Aiding in the scoring was Hannah Blache in the 400 at third place in the 400 and Courtne Davis in the 100/200 as well as Hannah Olobri and Alyxs Boonkukoa in the pole vault. Sissy Underwood and Jennifer Gutierrez stepped up in the girls Soph/Frosh division for the Wolves. Sissy would win the 100 Hurdles in 18.48 while Jennifer finished third in 18.98. Gutierrez would come back and be the meet winner in the 300 hurdles finishing at 50.62. Underwood also got a meet title with a PR long jump of 16-1. Courtney Blanc got a third place in the pole vault. The Soph/Frosh boys were led by meet champion Montiel Johnson in the shot put winning the event by some three feet with a 40-8 toss. Montiel also finished third in the discus with his second best throw ever at 99-7. Not bad for a guy who has just picked up the implements this year!! Another meet champion was Marcos Zavaleta who cleared his PR of 11-6. He was followed by jump-mates Daniel Mukasa in second at 11 feet and Noah Poole in 4th with a PR 10-0. Saddiq Jennings, Grant Higgins, Kris Ewens and Elijah Jackson raced to thrid place in the 4 X 100 and Delynn Holland collared third place in the long jump.

So from Azusa to Beaumont, Saturday was the day the Wolves took their first step on their journey back. There are still many steps to go.

DISTANCE RUNNERS ROMP IN P.R. PLAYGROUND

We are hard-pressed to remember an Azusa Pacific (APU) Meet of Champions that went as well as the 2013 edition did for the King distance runners. While the meet is always a place to run fast, there seemed to be something even more magical about the track this time around as the PR’s (personal records) started early and just kept coming throughout the long, 14 hour track meet. By the end, with King well represented in the elite “invitational” sections under the lights, there was a sense that no one wanted the parade of personal improvements to end.

After running dozens of heats of the 800, 1600 and 3200 throughout the day, the meet reserves the fastest two heats of those distances to be run under the lights at night. It’s an electric setting as many of the elite distance runners in So Cal are present. King was well represented in each of those. AJ Boebinger and Rolando Phalen kicked it off in the 800 with both dropping big PR’s and medaling. They ran 2:07 each, AJ’s was the 5th fastest freshman time in school history! Jacob Norys was next and ran incredible 2:02.63 lifetime best. Ruthie Wiggins equaled her all time best in the 800 at 2:20, despite getting shoved by an opponent with 150 to go. Katy Fatten was also under the lights but her smile was illumination enough after running a huge PR of 2:21.55, the #6 time in school history!

In the 1600’s Tyler Janes moved to #2 on the Frosh all time list at 4:38 while Carlos Ramirez raced well for the first time in a loaded and hyped race! Dalton Seckinger had a very special 1600 in the same race, and put himself at #5 on the all time list with a 4:28 gem. It was the 3200’s that seemed to scream that the best was saved for last, as the long-lappers finished off the night in tremendous fashion. David G. Gonzalez and Mark Werley were the first up and ran text-book 32’s moving steadily through the field to finish in the top 6 overall. More significantly, the crushed the 13 year old freshman school record of 10:23, as Gonzalez ran 10:04 and Werley 10:09! Sophomore Kyle Johnson was next and cooly laid down a lifetime best of 10:04 – 56 seconds faster than he was last year!

Then came Raelyn Werley who dropped her lifetime best of 11:34 to 11:07.51. It’s the 5th fastest mark in school history and was without doubt, the best race the senior has ever run. Joe Casco finished the PR’s for King with another stud-like effort, racing to the second-fastest 3200 in school history and running 9:29 – 15 seconds faster than his all time PR.

But there were PR’s in the daylight as well, and a few of them stood out in attention grabbing ways. Brenton Havsgaard won his heat in 5:01.62, earning a coaster-sized medal for his efforts. Michael Robinson lowered his 6th-fastest freshman 1600 mark by 3 seconds. Daniel Gonzalez put down the 7th-fastest freshman time in the 1600 some 8 hours before breaking that 3200 record. What a day for the freshman! Wyatt Smith, Daniel J. Gonzalez, Garrett Koontz Joe Quiambao and Isaiah Curtner all took home PR’s in the 800. Emily Fajardo and Hannah Huscher did as well. Brandon and Parker Gutzmann, twins, ran twin times at 4:50, both were lifetime PRs in the 1600. Emma Jaramillo – who’s not a twin – ran a PR in the 1600 as well, at 5:26. Rachel Rosales had a nice drop of time in the 1600, going 5:36.66 to snag fourth place and a medal in her heat.

Maybe the biggest race though came from Bayleigh Porter who ran superbly to a 5:21 clocking, her best ever. Lauren Boydd equaled her best time at 5:28.35, while Lauren Soholt dropped another 5 seconds from her fastest to go 5:34.57 with Brianna Jacklin coming across also with a PR at 5:38.77. David Huff and Jacob Enriquez became the newest members of the sub-5:00 1600 club with 4:53 and 4:59.46 marks respectively. Nathan Torres won his heat at 4:26.65, a great time in his come back from a lengthy illness. Brittany Saucedo missed getting under 6:00 in the 1600 by a half second – heart breaking a bit, but still another PR.

So there was a lot to smile about and a lot to cheer for as the King kids had a romp in what we were calling a “PR Playground”. It was fun. Now comes the challenge of maintaining that level of expectation in races and meets that may not be as magical as the oval in Azusa.

Full Results    King Results    A few photos  

DETERMINED CORONA DROPS KING SQUADS TO THIRD

Though the varsity scores were relatively close (the boys lost by only six points) against Corona on Wednesday, the outcomes could have (should have?) been a reverse of what they were and King could have been looking at the remaining part of the season in control of 2nd place in the league.  That didn’t happen, for many reasons, and when the day ended the highlights fell to the JV boys who took home the only victory on the day.

The distance teams of both Corona and King have enjoyed friendly and equal rivalries in both XC and Track  for some time, and today’s distance races were no exception to that pattern.  Carlos Ramirez and Tyler Janes went 1-2 in the 1600 and led a field that saw 6 King runners eclipse 5:00 in the event.  Tyler’s 4:40.31 was the #4 frosh time in school history, while 6th place Michael Robinson’s 4:45.18 was #6. Corona handled well the 800 taking the victory from Rolando Phalen who PR’d at 2:10. In the 3200, the boys from King did exceptionally well, taking places 1-4, led by Daniel G Gonzalez’s #2 frosh time in school history (2-tenths off the record!) at 10:23.49! 

Seth Tyler , Mohsin Sabrin and Jay Roddie swept the 400, Sam Lumpkin, Saadiq Jennings and Matthew Tarrt swept the 100 while Ryan Moussad won the 300 hurdles.  Lumpkin would double back to win the 200 as well, pulling Tarrt and Kendell Moore with him to add another King sweep to the ledger.  In fact, sweeping was the Special of the Day, it seemed, as King brought the broom to the Triple Jump as well, while coming close to it in both of the throws.  Sueung Lee and Marshall Levine took the 1-3 spots in the discus.

While the JV boys dominated, there were too many lack-luster elements of the varsity contests – both boys and girls – to overcome a motivated Corona program. The Panthers’ girls were upheld by the tenacity of distance runner Alicia Williams and sprinter Cydney Powell who combined for 30 of the whole team’s point totals!  Williams swept all three distance races despite quality challenges by Raelyn Werley in the 1600 and Ruthie Wiggins in the 800.  Powell was strong enough hold off Courtnee Davis in the 200, despite Davis’s #4 time in school history at 25.78. Powell bested her hard-charging opponent in the 100 as well while also took “gold” in the 400, winning with ease. 

On the boys’ varsity level, the efforts for King were a bit more consistent but it still brought them up short by six points. Joe Casco’s brilliant 9:43.25 3200 at the end of the meet – made dramatic as Corona’s David Aguilar went side-by-side with him for all but the last 50 meters of the race – embodied what the coaching staff wished King had displayed throughout the meet.  The high points were few, however, allowing the Panthers to move into second place in the Big 8.  Brandon Berz won both the 1600 and the 800, running the 1600 in King’s #3 best mark ever. Travis Thomas earned the win in the 400 meters, and Blake Bergstrom took a first and a second in the two hurdle races. Thomas came back to win the 200 as well in a solid sub-23 second effort.  To close the meet, the 4x400 squad ran an inspired effort with the fifth-best mark in school history at 3:42.80.  The field events turned out to be a dismal affair for King as they couldn’t take a victory in either of the horizontal jumps, both throws and no-heighted as a group in the high jump.  Cameron Brock’s 13-3 victory in the vault was the only field event that King could win.

WILD HORSES PROVE TOO MUCH TO TAME

When the girls 4x400 team took the line to close out the meet against Roosevelt HS yesterday, all they were thinking about was perhaps, get the stick around and get it there first.  If they did, then victory would be theirs and their teammates who battled valiently throughout the warm afternoon to bring the meet to its dramatic closing.

They may well have been thinking they were on the same line with one of California's fastest mile-relay teams and the challenge would be daunting. But, as the Lady Wolves had done all day, this group of four put out a great effort, running 4:01 (the fourth-fastest mark in school history).  Sadly it wasn't quite enough to surpass the talented Roosevelt crew and the meet would close with King 8 points from the victory and a potential league title.

Roosevelt's girls were the defending champions of the Big 8 which made for an exciting meet from start to finish. In the 4x100 relay that launched things, the King girls ran the 2nd fastest mark in school history after three great exchanges but it was still not enough to take the win.  Ruthie Wiggins and Raelyn Werley were 2nd and 3rd in the 1600 - again, great efforts and times ... but still short by just enough for it to matter. In the hurdles, Tayler Fleming and Leighana Weaver made up 8 points by going 1-2, but Roosevelt stormed back by winning the 400 and the 100 despite great efforst by Hannah Blache and Tia Parrish respectively.  Ruthie Wiggins went wire-to-wire to win the 800 in a PR and the third-fastest mark in school history, while Raelyn Werley and Aimee Martinez went 1-3 in the 3200 to lead up to the exciting 4x400 that closed the tightly contested meet. 

In the field events, Kiarra Ginwright had another fine outing in the high jump, winning at 5-0. Anissa Claiborne had a sweet sweep of the throws, scoring 10 points in the process. In fact, the discus was swept by King as Claiborne, Vanessa McCullough and Rayo Soyemi all cleared the 73 feet Roosevelt's best was able to muster out there. In the Triple Jump, Kiazha Ginwright went 34-2 for the win and the leading mark for King on the season.

On the boys' side, it was never really close as the Mustangs ran away with it early and never looked back.  Even a raucous celebration by the King kids over the win the team took in the 4x400 relay that ended the affair couldn't muffle the fact that the Wolves were outdone by over 30 points. Kyle Warrick did a lot of damage with two wins for Roosevelt in the 1600 and 800 despite great races by Joe Casco and Nathan Torres who gave chase. Perry Elerts was third for King in the 1600 with his best time of the year at 4:31.49.  Blake Bergstrom and Kyle Carson combined for four placings in the two hurdle races; Blake won the 300's. Cameron Brock, who has been vaulting so well this year, cleared 13-0 again, but was outdone by two competitors in the blue and orange of Roosevelt. Sterling Hampton was the only King thrower to score points (2nd in the discus) as Roosevelt held the fort out in the field.

In the end it turned out to be - despite the losses - a series of events that saw strong efforts by the King kids. Unfortunately, it was not enough to tame the Mustangs who ultimately rode out of town victorious and in the saddle for the 2013 league crowns.

THE PAST AND PRESENT OF KING TRACK MEET IN FULLERTON

King Track alums - doning different uniforms than they once did - took to Cal State Fullerton's track Saturday night in the Ben Brown Invitational. Alongside them were three members of the current team, all of whom will be wearing a different uniform in the coming seasons for their prospective colleges. It was quite a reunion.

Earlier in the day, Casey Candelaria (Class of '09) and currently running for Fullerton, competed well in both the 800 and 1500.  Also in the 1500 was Morgan Sjogren-Gonzalez (Class of '05) who ran for Cal State San Marcos while in college and is now competing semi-professionally also had a fine outing in the 1500, running a lifetime best. Katrina Graham ('10) is running for the Master's College and raced well in the 5000 meters. Tyler Parrish and Chris Miller - along with a host of other King grads - wore RCC's colors and competed well.

On the track for King this evening were seniors Joe Casco, Perry Elerts and Raelyn Werley, all of whom were aiming for quality marks in the 5000 meters, a distance rarely contested at the high school level. For Raelyn it was first try at the distance and she did remarkably well, crossing the line in 18:18 -- all while coming by the 3200 meter mark just three seconds off eher lifetime best at that distance with still another mile to go.  Joe Casco and Perry Elerts both ran in the same race a year ago and on this evening they were both able to slice significant seconds off their previous bests and ran 15:29 and 15:32 respectively.

HEMET GOES GOLD, KING HEATS UP, PUMAS GIVE CHASE

King's annual meeting with the Pumas of Chaparral HS (Temecula) along with a reunion with the Bulldogs of Hemet provided some really good competition and at the end of the long, triangular meet, the Wolves came home with victories at all four levels. The day was very cold and with three large teams on the field, it made for an endurance contest that lasted almost five hours. The host Bulldogs of Hemet were never really in the hunt at any of the four levels, but the Pumas of Chaparral made the varsity boys of King sweat with a great contest that went closely untill the final two events.

The girls meet had highlights at several corners of the track and field. Kiarra Ginwright launched herself to the 5th best school mark in our 13 year history, going 5-4 in the high jump.  It was quite an effort. In the 1600, freshman Ruthie Wiggins would put down a school record for 9th graders, winning in 5:22. She doubled back to lead a King sweep in the 800 that netted her the #2 fastest 9th grade mark in King's history for that particular race. Right on her heels were Bayleigh Porter and Raelyn Werley who both ran very solid efforts as well. Tia Parrish and Courtney Davis went 1-2 in the 100 while Davis doubled back to snag another 5 points for King by winning the 200 later in the evening.  Tayler Fleming did her "usual" victory lap, winning the 100 and 300 hurdles.  Perhaps the brightest spot for King were two encouraging marks set in the shot, as Anissa Claiborne and Brianna Collins threw the shot beyond 30' and finished first and second. The girls varsity was never really challenged in the meet and won by a wide margin of 95-40 over Hemet.

For the boys, it was much closer and it took throwing in two "backups" at the end to seal the deal. Joe Casco and Perry Elerts were penciled in for the 3200 as "if needed", and with the gap between King and Chaparral a mere 4 points with two events to go, the two talented seniors were called on. Did they ever "fill in!"  Both guys took charge of the race despite the Puma's pesky top 2-miler and with a negative split race, finishing with a 64-second last lap, Perry took home the victory with Joe Casco right on his heals!  Brandon Berz took two victories in the shorter distance races on the day and led the distance crew to some really remarkable early-season times.  Berz's 800 time of 2:00.48 sits as the #6 time in school history. Dalton Seckinger and Jacob Norys - both sophomores - went 2-3 making a King sweep of both the 1600 and the 800 a reality ... not to mention some serious points.

The sprinter contingent did well on a very cold afternoon and evening. Indeed, they performed as if the temperatures were 30 degrees warmer than the high-forties the mercury was reading. They won the 1600 meter relay and Jamal Orme took first in the 100. Blake Bergstrom won the 300 hurdles while taking second in the 110's. He also took second in the long jump. Cameron Brock had another very fine outing in the pole vault, upping his season best vault to 13-06. R.Cosey and Derrick Johnson were 3rd and 4th respectively in the 400.  Sterling Hampton and Anthony Calvillo were the only throwers for King to score on the afternoon, heaving the discus 132' for third and fourth place. In the end, the boys were pushed by Chaparral, but came away with a 12 point margin of victory, 71-59.  Hemet was third with 40 points.

So it was, on the whole, a very good day. With the first Big 8 League meet coming next week with the favored Mustangs of Roosevelt, it could be just the kind of momentum building King will need.

GIRLS WIN THE DOWNEY INVITATIONAL

The King Track program made its way out to the 605 freeway and Downey High School this past Saturday for its first invitational action of the season. The Downey Relays are in thier 13th year and attracts numerous teams from Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Along with Valley View out of Moreno Valley, the Wolves were the only Inland Empire entrant in the meet. The Wolf tracksters have traditionally shown well in relay events such as this and despite the breakdown of electronic timing and the fact tha tthe meet was two hours behind schedule, Saturday would be no exception.King fielded teams at the Boys Soph/Frosh; girls varsity and Boys varsity level and did extremely well in the team standings at the end of the day. In the 38 toal events that had King athletes, King medaled in 29 .

In the boys Soph/Frosh, Peninsula High finished with 92 points; Downey had 62 and King finished with 50. Daniel Mukasa highlighted the day with a first place finish in the pole vault at 10-6 and led the young Wolves to vicxtory in that event. Other fine efforst came from Grant Higgins; Delynn Holand and Ryan Moussad who pulled a second in the Triple jump relay with a total of 107-3 and a second place finish by the 4 X 1200 team of Mark Werley; Mikie Robinson. Daniel G. Gonzalez and Carlos Ramierz who ran 14:20.56. The boys 4 X 100 team of Shadig Jennings; Kris Ewens; Elijah Jackson and T. J. Noland ran to a second in the 4 X 100 despite Noland getting getting run into by a opposing anchor leg who ran out unto the track at the last minute.

The Boys varsity scored in bits and pieces all day and garnered enough points to finish third behind Downey (88) and Valley View (52). Their highest finishers were third place finshes by the Distance Medley team of Dalton Seckinger; Maurice Jones in his first ever 400; Jacob Norys and Joe Casco. Also, Cameron Brock, Cody Vallejo and TC Wilson combined thier jumps in the vault for a 33-6 total and a third place finish. Race of the day for the boys varsity was the 4 X 400 where the Santa Fe anchor leg barely edged out Travis Thomas at the finish. The team of Blake Bergstrom; Thomas, Romailo Cosey and Derek Johnson had to settle for second place.

The day, though belonged to the King Girls varsity who won the invitational championship outdistancing Downey (54) and Long Beach Poly's B team (52) with 96 points. The Lady Wolves were led by meet record breaking performances from the 4 X 800 team of Ruthie Wiggins; Kaitlyn Fatten; Lauren Soholt and Bailey Porter and the Shuttlle Hurdle team of Tayler Fleming; Leighana Weaver; Kathi Domenici and Cissy Underwood. The 1:07.8 recorded n the shuttle hurdles was also a new school record by some 5 seconds. The high jump relay of Kiara Ginwright, Lexi Opuku and Kiaza Ginwright also finished first with a 13-6 total. The girls would also record 4 second place finishes and two third places in their race to the title.

CLOSE SCORES HERALD START TO HOPEFUL SEASON

The Rams of Murrieta Mesa HS came with an army of athletes and matched well with the Wolves of King in a spirited and well contested first meet of the 2013 season. In the end, the two large programs (there were over 400 combined athletes in competition) came away with a split of the varsity teams, while King won the two JV contests.

The girls of King, who have lost only 11 dual meets since the program’s inception in 2000, won for the 93rd time. The victory came by a comfortable, yet competitive margin, 77-59. In many respects, the “stars” of the meet for King were frosh/soph kids making the jump to the varsity level and having an immediate impact. Ninth grader, Ruthie Wiggins scored 6 points, taking 2nd in both the 1600 and the 800. Her times placed her among the top 7 freshmen King runners all time! Sophomore Hannah Blache also shined with relay legs and a victory in the 400. With Tayler Fleming out sick, sophomore Leighana Weaver took two seconds in both hurdle events. Courtney Davis and Tia Parrish – again, 10th and 9th grade respectively – went 1-2 in the 200, Tia took second in the 100. Kiara Ginwright (10th) took second in the high jump and freshman Destinee Underwood won the long jump. In the 3200 at the end of the night, Raelyn Werley, Iveth Gutierrez and Lauren Soholt led a King sweep, with Lauren running a lifetime PR!

Mesa’s men were able to edge King in a tightly contested (65-77) match that saw the track athletes for King doing what they could to stay close. Brandon Berz scored 10 points in the 1600 and 3200, Perry Elerts scored 8 himself winning the 800 and taking second 100th of a second behind Berz in the 3200. (Both guys closed the 8 lap race in a sweet 61 seconds). Derrick Johnson carried the stick in the relay but came back later to finish second in the 200 meters at 23.87. Blake Bergstrom, just three days removed from the soccer season, broke off some rust in the hurdles and nearly matched his 2012 PR in the 300’s where he won. He was third in the 110’s behind two Mesa hurdlers. Perhaps the highlight of the day came in the pole vault where Cameron Brock inaugurated his third season with a very impressive early season vault of 13-0. A nice way to start the season indeed and it bodes well for the remaining 10 weeks of the season. Delynn Holland scored for King in the triple jump with a leap beyond 38 feet.

In the end, under the lights and cold temperatures, the two large teams came to halt in their kickoff contest for 2013. Close scores and spirited competition marked the day and illuminated much on what is a season all hope ends well. .