The local scholastic track and field season is off and running.
At La Jolla Country Day School, the Torreys under head coach Kevin Reaume finished a combined 16-1 a season ago (girls 8-0, boys 8-1), with the girls winning their fifth consecutive championship.
Key members this season figure to include Anna Blumenfeld (discus top 5 in county, shot put top 10 in county); Valerie Christy (distance top 10 in the county); Lauren Pischel and Hana Justice (great girls distance team); and Jacquelyn Vanderlip (hurdles).
On the boys side, LJCD will look to Alex Maire (100, 200, long jump) and Lance Rutledge (400, top 10 in county).
“We’re a young team with good senior leadership,” Reaume said. “The expectation is to have everyone improve on their personal best and the points will come.”
At La Jolla High, the Vikings will look to a number of returnees to sprint for gold this spring. The Lady Vikings finished 4-2 a season ago.
On the girls side, head coach Roger Karnopp will look to the likes of Dana Hoolko (100 and 200, pole vault); Ashley Fu (100, hurdles, long jump); Allison Waggoner (hurdles, long jump) and Allyn Meyer (200, triple jump); Laurie Miller, Kate Weber and Tess Plant-Thomas (800); Nihal Kayali, Laurie Mittermiller, Lily Howard, Caitlyn Calvelli and Margot Hedlin (1600-3200); Alex Kearny (high jump) and Amanda Gordon (long jump, high jump); Briana Tovey (high jump) and Amanda Clausen (triple jump); Lauren Christensen (pole vault), Lauren Swishberg (pole vault) and Malia Plotkin (pole vault); Francis Lee and Emma Strong (shot put); and Allie Evans (discus).
On the boys side, La Jolla and new head coach Danny Kung and the Vikings will be out to keep stride with last year’s 6-0 finish. La Jolla won the Western League and was CIF Division II champ under longtime coach Chuck Boyer.
According to Kung, some key members of this year’s team are returning athletes Charlie Gamble, Alex Todd, Thomas Yao, Ben Chu, David Cary, Igor Seriba and Lucas Trily. As for newcomers, keep an eye out for Sirak Simavoryan and John Jackson.
Gamble is looking to concentrate on the 3200m while Todd will be taking on the 800m/1600m. Cary looks to make a great showing in the 110 high hurdles as well as the 300 intermediate hurdles. On the sprints side, Yao, Chu, Simavoryan and Jackson should lead the way.
“A mixture of experience and new blood that should make for an exciting year in the sprint events,” Kung noted.
As for the field events, La Jolla has Trily in the shot put and Seriba in the long and triple jump to lead the way.
“All signs look towards a successful season,” Kung remarked. “We are once again looking to finish on top of the Western League. We know it won’t be an easy task with the loss of last year’s seniors and the fact that St. Augustine has a variety of stars that are returning from last year. However, we are not to be overlooked. As the new boys head coach for La Jolla, I hope to carry on the Vikings’ winning tradition in track and field.”
At last week’s Sweetwater Relays, La Jolla had several great performances on the day. The relays are a combined score of the boys and girls. All events, including field events, are relays. Each field event has two boys and two girls. Their distances are added up and that provides the wins. Some of the relay races are coed and some are not.
On the girls side, La Jolla won 10 relays, some of which were coed. La Jolla finished on top with 180 points, with Madison second at 134.
La Jolla was first in coed shuttle hurdles with Meagan Forrey and Gina Schumacher; coed middle distance relay with Simi Sharp and Courtney Avvampato; distance medley with Mittermiller, Christie Richmond, Weber and Hedlin; coed 2-mile relay with Hedlin and Avvampato; coed long jump with Kearney and Fu; coed discus with Evans and Strong; coed high jump with Kearney and Clausen; coed pole vault with Hoolko and Christensen; and coed triple jump with Clausen and Andrea Ruiz.
Individually, Kearney won the high jump and was second in the long jump, with a season-best of 16’1″. Clausen was second in the high jump and second in the triple jump with a personal record of 31’8″. Hoolko won the pole vault and was on three relay teams.
Editor’s note: The Bishop’s School was asked to provide information for this story.