Sea Kings, Muir share crown

Chris Yemma

With Corona del Mar High and Muir fielding arguably their best girls

track and field teams ever in their programs, according to Sea Kings’

Coach Bill Sumner, Saturday’s outcome couldn’t have been any other

way.

And with the scores waiting to be tallied from the high jump at

the CIF Southern Section divisional finals at Cerritos College,

Sumner was on edge, with the Sea Kings holding a marginal edge in the

Division III team standings.

But as soon as Costa Mesa junior Jasmin Day tidied up her second

straight title in the high jump to close the last event, the team

scores were added up, resulting in a CIF championship tie between CdM

and Muir.

“On any other year, this [CdM] team would have won, and on any

other year, this Muir team would have won,” Sumner said. “So when you

have two teams that are that good, what could be better than to split

it?”

Muir’s Jasmine Clark and Jasmine Williams finished third and

sixth, respectively, in the high jump to calculate an 86-86 tie with

the Sea Kings. Santa Margarita finished third with 50 1/2 .

His rational seemed to make the tie all the more better for the

21-year CdM coach.

“Can you imagine either one of us going home not champions with

both of us being as good as we are?” Sumner said. “It wouldn’t be

right. This is one of the best teams we’ve had at Corona del Mar.”

A major portion of the Sea Kings’ points came from junior distance

runner Annie St. Geme, who successfully defended her 800- and

1,600-meter titles with relative ease to qualify for Friday’s Masters

meet at the same venue in both events, plus the 3,200.

St. Geme clocked 4 minutes, 53.23 seconds in the 1,600 and 2:12.52

in the 800, the latter being the fastest time of the day. She

finished second in the 3,200 in 11:01.74.

Still, the state’s sixth-best 1,600 runner last season, St. Geme

has bigger goals this year.

“I look at this as steps toward state,” she said. “Obviously I was

going after the titles, but this is just one step in the long process

toward the state experience.”

St. Geme was aided in the point-gathering process by senior

teammate Melissa Swigert, who finished second in both the 400 (56.15)

and 200 (24.66). Swigert qualified in the ninth spot in the 400 for

the Masters meet.

* Costa Mesa’s Day topped Santa Margarita’s Lauren Collins for the

Division III high jump title with a 5-foot, 8-inch leap, but Day had

to work to get the top seed for Friday’s Masters meet.

Tustin’s Khristina Curtis cleared the same height on her last jump

to force a jump off. But Day prevailed with 5-9 on her last attempt

for a personal record.

“It was really exciting,” she said. “It was pretty competitive,

but we’re like friends because we’ve been jumping a lot together.”

* Newport junior Whitney Blue claimed the Division II 3,200 title

in 10:48.56 and finished fourth in the 1,600 in 4:49.52, both good

for Masters meet qualification. Her 3,200 time was the day’s

second-fastest.

* Sage’s Laura Gordon won the Division IV triple jump at 37-2 1/4

.