The Sweetwater Coed Relays will take center stage Saturday at the National City school. A full day of competition is planned. The first field event is scheduled to start at 1 p.m., with the final running event scheduled for 6:20 p.m.
However, both the Otay Ranch Mustangs and host Sweetwater Red Devils got a head start on the invitational event by participating in a non-league dual meet Thursday.
There was no lack of competition. The Mustangs were fortified with 240 track and field members while Sweetwater suited up 110 student-athletes for the meet.
Times may not be what they will be at the end of the season but, make no mistake, there was some spirited competition between the schools on Thursday.
Otay Ranch won the girls meet by a score of 82-32 while the Mustangs captured the boys varsity meet 89-47. Otay Ranch also won the boys JV meet by a score of 72.5-42.5.
Sweetwater head coach Tim Latham said he expects a solid year for both teams. The Red Devils compete in the South Bay League; Otay Ranch competes in the Mesa League.
“It seems like it’s going to be very interesting year in both leagues,” Latham explained. “We saw Eastlake last week. We competed about the same against them as we did against Otay, so they should have some very interesting races (when they meet).”
Standouts for Sweetwater in Thursday’s dual meet included Christinn London in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes, Carlos Aviles-Sullivan in the boys 800-meter run, Jakari Lowe in the high hurdles and triple jump and Mario Licudine in the boys pole vault.
London dominated both her races. She won by more than three seconds in the 400 dash with a time of 1:05.11 and won by a second-and-a-half in the 200 dash with a time of .27.84.
Lowe won the 110 high hurdles in 16.76 ahead of Otay Ranch’s Jacob Mestre (17.03). Lowe also recorded the top mark in the boys triple jump of 42-6.5.
Mario Licudine cleared 12-6 in the boys pole vault to set a new personal record after setting a new personal record the previous week at 12-0.
Other event winners for Sweetwater included Khalila Johnson in the girls 100 dash (13.94), Kacey Tremaine in the girls long jump (12-9) and Ashley Barajas in the girls 3200 (14.00.40).
Barajas lapped the field in winning her race.
The best races of the day turned proved to be in the boys 400 dash and 800 run.
Sweetwater’s Rodrigo Mendoza captured the boys varsity 400 dash in 54.34 – just a blink of an eye ahead of Otay Ranch’s John Price (54.38).
Meanwhile, Aviles-Sullivan came from behind in the last lap to best Otay Ranch’s Harold Thomas in the boys 800. Aviles-Sullivan, a state meet qualifier during the fall cross country season, timed 1:59.86 to cross the finish line ahead of Thomas (2:01.70).
“In the last lap, I had to pick it up because the Otay Ranch guy was getting ahead of me,” the SuHi senior explained. “The last 200 is when I made my move and the last 100 I brought it home.”
The Red Devil distance runner entered the track season after finishing second at the Division I cross country finals in November. He timed 16:45 to lead all Metro Conference in the race, but placed second to Torrey Pines senior Charlie Pope (16:41).
“It was definitely a tough race,” Aviles-Sullivan noted. “The last 800 I was in the lead, then the runner from Torrey Pines came out of nowhere and passed me. He beat me with a strong finish.”
The SuHi senior used a strong finish to win Thursday’s race.
Aviles-Sullivan is attempting a rare double this school term by also hoping to qualify for the state track and field championship meet in June.
“I hope to get down to a 1:54, 1:53 by the CIF finals,” Avile-Sullivan explained. “That’s my goal – to win CIF and, if not, to place for the state meet.”
Besides scoring the come-from-behind win in the 800 run, Aviles-Sullivan also anchored Sweetwater’s winning boys 4×400 relay team (3:47.36).
The Mustangs also have had a good start to the season. Otay Ranch finished first in the boys field and second in the girls field in the recent Desert Relays. The Mustangs also swept a non-league dual meet against Kearny, with all three teams (boys varsity, girls varsity and boys junior varsity) scoring more than 100 points.
“I think we’ll have a very good team this year,” veteran ORHS head coach Ian Cumming explained following Thursday’s dual meet at Sweetwater. “We have a mix of experience and good young talent. I think we should be in the mix for the Mesa League title. But we’re going to be one of several teams that can say that. Eastlake has a very good team, as does Bonita Vista. Olympian has a large team and they have a new coach, so it should be exciting for all the teams.”
Top performers for the Mustangs in Thursday’s dual meet included Gabriel Navarro, Alani Johnson, Eyra Alfaro, Shannon Casey and Racquel Holloway.
Navarro captured top times in both the boys 100 dash (11.61) and 200 dash (23.56). He bested teammate Jacob Hoffer in both events – by 0.11 in the 100 and 0.43 in the 200.
Johnson won the girls 100 hurdles in 17.52 and also posted the fastest time in the girls 300 hurdles (51.61).
Alfaro won the girls 1600 in 5:45.46 and also captured the top time in the girls 800 in 2:36.83.
Casey won the girls triple jump with a mark of 30-5.5 and also recorded the top mark of 4-8 in the girls high jump.
Holloway had the top mark in the girls shot put of 31-6. She also recorded the top mark in the girls discus throw of 95-2.
Other event winners for Otay Ranch included:
- Carlos Sosa won the boys 3200 in 10:22.34 – an eye-blink ahead of teammate Ryan Velasquez (10:22.64). Sosa beat Velasquez by a step at the finish line to cap the eight-lap event.
- Sam Stephens won the boys long jump with a mark of 19-4.
- Diego Fernandez won the boys high jump by clearing 5-8.
- Jace Fuamatu had the top mark in the boys shot put of 40-10 while Janken Autele had the top mark in the boys discus throw of 120-0.
- Caryme Estrada cleared 7-0 to win the girls pole vault.
Four Mustangs came in abreast in the boys 1600. Cale Parise took the top time of 4:54.71, followed by teammates Evan LeDesma (4:54.73), Jeremiah Suzxura (4:54.74) and Harold Thomas (4:54.81).
Also for the Mustangs, Mestre would come back from his loss to Lowe in the high hurdles to win the 300 intermediate hurdles in 42.37.
Otay Ranch sped to first-place times in all three meet-opening 4×100 relay events – girls varsity (54.54), boys JV (47.80) and boys varsity (44.63).
Otay Ranch won the meet-concluding girls 4×400 relay in 4:42.84.
At the end of the day, however, the meet came down to both teams exhibiting good sportsmanship, according to Cumming.
“We had a good solid day,” the Otay Ranch coach said. “I appreciate Sweetwater hosting us. They have great coaches and great athletes.”
Notepad
Top JV performers included Otay Ranch’s Justin Mulvany, who timed 4:47.75 in the boys 1600, and Sweetwater’s Manny Salazar, who won both JV hurdles events by timing 20.29 in the 110 high hurdles and 48.39 in the 300 intermediate hurdles.
Saturday’s schedule for the Sweetwater Coed Relays can be found at http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/MeetResults.aspx?Meet=257888#/MeetSchedule
Sweetwate Coed Relays
Saturday, March 19
Total Points
Division I
Eastlake 176
Otay Ranch 142
Southwest El Cantro 114
Sweetwater 106
Calexico 81
Division II
Serra 144
Imperial 136
Central Union 101
San Ysidro 86
Kearny 62
Our Lady of Peace 26
