Locals fare well in Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational’s return
The sun shined down on the friendly confines of Guyer Field, the sound of supportive teammates echoing through the hills once more.
After two years of COVID-19 cancellations, the Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational returned to Laguna Beach High School, an early showcase for track and field athletes.
The meet has allure for distance runners, the highlight event often being the Eric Hulst 3,200-meter races. As far as the locals are concerned, no star has shone more brightly than that of Makenzie McRae, who has excelled in cross-country and now on the track since arriving at Huntington Beach.
McRae looked to be under control and in command throughout her performance, crossing the finish line in 10 minutes 52.18 seconds to claim victory in the 3,200-meter run.
The Oilers sophomore shattered in her personal-best time in the event by 16 seconds, going under 11 minutes for the first time. Earlier in the year, McRae helped Huntington Beach girls’ cross-country accomplish a first for its program when the Oilers qualified for the CIF State championships in Division 1.
“I definitely didn’t expect to win,” McRae said. “I was seeded fifth, I think, but I knew that because there was a more competitive field that I’d be able to run a faster time, so I was hoping to get top three, at least.”
Some might have thought Huntington Beach was running a cross-country race, as the Oilers had five runners in the invitational flight with Quinn Roldan, Claire Lewis, Andrea Linggi-Perez and Luna Centeno also running in the race.
Edison’s Lindy Tarvin won the girls’ 300 intermediate hurdles with room to spare. A converted sprinter, Tarvin crossed the line in 47.14 seconds. Corona del Mar’s Ava Simos was second in 48.47.
“She had the strength of a 400 runner,” Edison coach Derek Harrison said of Tarvin. “In the girls’ low hurdles, it’s not really technique. There’s not a lot of technique, and it’s all speed. She already had the speed. All she had to do was be decent over the hurdle, and then she just improved technique-wise and now is producing. She’s easy running 47- and 48-[second 300 hurdles races], and she’s run a 46.”
Servite’s Max Thomas set meet records in the 100 and 200 sprints. The USC commit clocked in at 10.55 seconds in the 100, breaking the meet record of 10.83 seconds set by Las Vegas Bonanza’s Joey Fox in 2018. The 200 was arguably more impressive, as his time of 21.59 was run into a headwind of 1.4 meters per second.
“I really feel like this season, I might even shock myself with what I run,” Thomas said. “I’m not going to put a ceiling on it, but I will say that I want to win state. That’s my main goal. I don’t really have time goals or anything like that. I just want to win state.”
Another meet record was authored by Mater Dei’s Logan Lyght in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 14.62 seconds, besting the time of 14.67 posted by Servite’s Kyle Kimble in 2019. Lyght swept the hurdles.
Other exciting finishes included Corona del Mar’s Caroline Glessing being clipped by Capistrano Valley’s Baylee Berryman at the finish line in the girls’ 100 sprints, the race being decided by less than a hundredth of a second. Both registered times of 12.43 seconds.
Glessing also had a runner-up performance in the long jump, coming up just an inch short of the winning mark of 17 feet, 10 inches from Mater Dei’s Madison Forbes. The Sea Kings senior finally broke through in the 200 (25.98) for her first win of the day.
The Orange County Championships will be contested this weekend at Mission Viejo High School, and Glessing said she feels Saturday’s competition provided good preparation.
“This is definitely a big meet, like my first big meet of the year with really good athletes,” Glessing said Saturday. “It’s helping me prepare for next week. Long jump, I was really close, but I had really good jumps that scratched, so I’m prepared next week to do that. In the 100, I’m going to work on my start.”
Corona del Mar got into victory lane right out of the gates, as the group of David Rasor, Cooper Hoch, Tanner Touchard and Jason Plumb teamed up to win the boys’ 400 relay in 43.64, just edging out Servite (43.68). It turns out Rasor, a quarterback, can pass a baton to Hoch, a wide receiver, as well as he can the football.
Edison had runner-up finishes in the boys’ 800 meters and the high jump. Wylie Cleugh was outkicked by Foothill’s Nathan Carlin after he had taken the lead with 200 meters to go, while Tyler Hampton matched the winning clearance of 6-4, but the event went to Mater Dei’s Brandon Gorski on total jumps.
BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD
Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational
At Laguna Beach High School
*Denotes meet record
100 — 1. Thomas (Servite) 10.55*; 2. Gates (Tesoro) 10.75; 3. Deng (Mater Dei) 10.88; 4. Leff (JSerra) 11.08; 5. Smith (Murrieta Valley) 11.09
200 — 1. Thomas (Servite) 21.59*; 2. Gates (Tesoro) 22.55; 3. Lauderdale (Corona Centennial) 22.88; 4. Bowles (Mater Dei) 23.11; 5. McDonald (Mater Dei) 23.37
400 — 1. Dawson (Dana Hills) 49.80; 2. Shurpalekar (Beckman) 50.77; 3. Rodriguez (Costa Mesa) 51.08; 4. Bowles (Mater Dei) 51.20; 5. Ware (Servite) 51.40
800 — 1. Carlin (Foothill) 1:56.41; 2. Cleugh (Edison) 1:58.52; 3. Auci (JSerra) 1:58.81; 4. Liu (Capistrano Valley) 1:59.74; 5. Kelly (Edison) 2:00.11
1,600 — 1. Sheehy (Harvard-Westlake) 4:25.03; 2. Stefanou (Palos Verdes) 4:25.60; 3. Naehu (Palos Verdes) 4:27.03; 4. Ramos (Santa Ana) 4:28.08; 5. Dominguez (Santa Ana) 4:29.13
3,200 — 1. Dominguez (Santa Ana) 9:10.94; 2. Sheehy (Harvard-Westlake) 9:11.34; 3. Niednagel (La Costa Canyon) 9:21.45; 4. Kirk (Palos Verdes) 9:22.17; 5. Steins (Servite) 9:23.35
110HH — 1. Lyght (Mater Dei) 14.62*; 2. Fairchild (Crean Lutheran) 15.02; 3. Ellington (Murrieta Valley) 15.94; 4. Gutierrez (Mater Dei) 16.27; 5. Zeutzius (Edison) 16.65
300IH — 1. Lyght (Mater Dei) 39.19; 2. Fairchild (Crean Lutheran) 40.49; 3. Zeutzius (Edison) 40.83; 4. Jones (Murrieta Valley) 42.70; 5. Beuerlein (Servite) 43.02
400 relay — 1. Corona del Mar 43.64; 2. Servite 43.68; 3. Edison 44.25; 4. Beckman 44.45; 5. Murrieta Valley 44.77
1,600 relay — 1. Servite 3:33.49; 2. Capistrano Valley 3:39.33; 3. Crean Lutheran 3:41.75; 4. Foothill 3:47.08
HJ — 1. Gorski (Mater Dei) 6-4; 2. Hampton (Edison) 6-4J; 3. Gutierrez (Mater Dei) 6-2; 4. Spenker (Edison) 5-8; 5. De Soto (Dana Hills) 5-6
LJ — 1. Leff (JSerra) 23-¼; 2. Plumb (Corona del Mar) 22-11¼; 3. Craig (Mater Dei) 21-11½; 4. Gorski (Mater Dei) 21-9¼; 5. Fleischer (Harvard-Westlake) 21-2½
TJ — 1. Fairchild (Crean Lutheran) 43-4¾; 2. Robin (Servite) 43-¼; 3. Nguyen (Marina) 43-0; 4. King (Tesoro) 42-5; 5. McDuffie (Mater Dei) 42-½
PV — 1. Hanes (Ramona) 15-6; 2. Davis (Newport Harbor) 15-0; 3. Bachmeier (Murrieta Valley) 15-0; 4. Brok (Los Alamitos) 14-6; 5. Conway (Mater Dei) 13-6
SP — 1. Iwankiw (South Pasadena) 60-2½; 2. Goldman (Harvard-Westlake) 54-4½; 3. Leider (South Pasadena) 54-½; 4. Kongaika (Mater Dei) 52-7½; 5. Conner (El Modena) 49-3½
DT — N/A
GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD
Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational
At Laguna Beach High School
*Denotes meet record
100 — 1. Berryman (Capistrano Valley) 12.43; 2. Glessing (Corona del Mar) 12.43; 3. Porter (Archer) 12.60; 4. Simos (Corona del Mar) 12.62; 5. Livadas (Capistrano Valley) 12.63
200 — 1. Glessing (Corona del Mar) 25.98; 2. Terrell (Palos Verdes) 26.21; 3. Frederiksen (Dana Hills) 26.32; 4. Podolski (Dana Hills) 26.36; 5. Berryman (Capistrano Valley) 26.65
400 — 1. Frederiksen (Dana Hills) 58.06; 2. Podolski (Dana Hills) 59.07; 3. Aquino (Rosary) 59.68; 4. Andrews (Palos Verdes) 1:00.53; 5. Tarvin (Edison) 1:00.78
800 — 1. Quintero (Harvard-Westlake) 2:14.63; 2. Terrell (Palos Verdes) 2:17.61; 3. Duralde (Mater Dei) 2:18.54; 4. Niednagel (La Costa Canyon) 2:18.87; 5. Rosing (Corona del Mar) 2:20.25
1,600 — 1. Lopizzo (La Costa Canyon) 5:11.50; 2. Stetina (Sonora) 5:11.85; 3. Dudley (Foothill) 5:12.87; 4. Carmichael (University) 5:18.81; 5. Niednagel (La Costa Canyon) 5:20.44
3,200 — 1. McRae (Huntington Beach) 10:52.18; 2. Barker (Laguna Hills) 10:56.65; 3. Lopizzo (La Costa Canyon) 11:01.71; 4. Stetina (Sonora) 11:11.13; 5. Djomby-Enyawe (Corona del Mar) 11:11.73
100HH — 1. Shao (Beckman) 16.22; 2. Simos (Corona del Mar) 16.57; 3. Menchine (Edison) 16.94; 4. Brown (Beckman) 17.56; 5. Smith (Rosary) 17.99
300IH — 1. Tarvin (Edison) 47.14; 2. Simos (Corona del Mar) 48.47; 3. Kirkpatrick (Trabuco Hills) 48.59; 4. Shao (Beckman) 48.61; 5. Brown (Beckman) 48.73
400 relay — 1. Rosary 50.46; 2. Archer 51.11; 3. Beckman 52.00; 4. Capistrano Valley 52.26; 5. Marina 53.10
1,600 relay — 1. Dana Hills 4:00.70; 2. Archer 4:10.82; 3. Beckman 4:14.32; 4. Rosary 4:18.78; 5. Crean Lutheran 4:36.96
HJ — 1. Martinez (Mater Dei) 5-2; 2. Shao (Beckman) 5-0; 3T. Herrera (Palos Verdes) 4-10; 3T. Chen (Edison) 4-10; 5. Gray (Edison) 4-10J
LJ — 1. Forbes (Mater Dei) 17-10; 2. Glessing (Corona del Mar) 17-9; 3. Wang (Huntington Beach) 15-5¼; 4. Vu (Beckman) 15-5; 5. Thomson (Capistrano Valley) 15-1¾
TJ — 1. Forbes (Mater Dei) 37-7½; 2. Thomson (Capistrano Valley) 35-4½; 3. Wang (Huntington Beach) 35-1½; 4. Miller (Harvard-Westlake) 33-7¼; 5. Vu (Beckman) 32-10
PV — 1. Fears (Vista Murrieta) 12-0*; 2. Negro (Murrieta Valley) 11-6; 3. Taylor (St. Margaret’s) 11-0; 4. Thompson (Harvard-Westlake) 11-0J; 5. Rodriguez (Vista Murrieta) 11-0J
SP — 1. Sheldon (Edison) 38-5; 2. Hofland (Los Alamitos) 38-3½; 3. Brown (Archer) 37-0; 4. McLennan (Warren) 34-4¼; 5T. Jenkins (Warren) 30-11½; 5T. Lopez (Marina) 30-11½
DT — N/A
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