Hosting the Rio Hondo League Track & Field Championships its own backyard, the South Pasadena High track and field team captured 12 individual titles, highlighted by senior Mia Holden’s triple crown day.
The UCLA-bound senior won three events in the 100-meter hurdles, 300 hurdles and the 200 as the Tiger girls’ went on to win the league team title, holding off rivals La Cañada, 200-153.
For the boys, Tigers senior Keeran Murray won the 800 and 1,600 races and junior Peter Dickinson won titles in the 110 and 300 hurdles to defeat La Cañada, 171-106, to complete the finals sweep.
Holden finished the 100 hurdles in 14.66 seconds and the 200 in 25.19. The senior smashed the previous league record in the 300 with a time of 43.35, besting the 43:90 mark set in 2011 by Omhunique Browne.
Murray also set a new league record in the boys 1,600, clocking in at 4:13.28 for the league crown, breaking the 4:14.34 mark set by former La Cañada coach Andy DiConti set in 1980. In the 800 race, the senior won the event in 2:00.10.
In the boys’ hurdles, Dickinson won the 110 race in 15.64 and posted a title-winning time 40.12 in the 300, a personal record.
Tigers junior Abigail Errington also came away as league champion in the track events, winning the girls 3,200 race in 11:15.79 in thrilling fashion. The junior edged league rival Maya DeBrouwer, a junior from La Cañada High, who finished the race in 11:15.84.
“Abby lead the whole way into a significant wind on the homestretch each lap, giving up the lead only in the last 30 meters for one of the best races of the day,” said South Pasadena coach Mike Parkinson.
Errington, however, would be bested by DeBrouwer in the 1,600 as the Tigers junior finished runner-up in 4:49.71 behind the Spartans junior’s winning time of 4:49.44.
Tigers junior Saidbh Byrne also competed in the 1,600 and 3,200 and came in third in both races, finishing 5:12.57 and 11:16.63, respectively.
The Tigers girls 4×400 relay team, which included Errington, junior Jacqueline Sides, sophomore Rose Vandevelde and junior Perri Koo, finished runner-up with a time of 4:15.80.
The 4×100 girls’ relay group of Sides, junior Avery Taylor, senior Lyla Keller and sophomore Naya Holden also finished runner-up in their race with a time of 48.49. Individually, Naya Holden finished runner-up in the 100 in a personal-record time of 12.55. Sides placed third in the 200 in 25.68, a personal record.
The South Pas boys’ 4×400 relay team also placed second in the race, as the quartet of Murray, Dickinson, freshman Dylan Revuelta and junior Logan Vargas clocked in at 3:28.39.
Tigers freshman Michael Scarince finished second in both the 800 (2:01.29) and the 1,600 (4:21.06). Tigers junior Adam Ruiz placed third in the 1,600 with a time of 4:30.22.
South Pasadena senior Jarvis Kikekawa-Fraser was runner-up in the 3,200 finishing 9:54.18 for a personal record. Tigers junior Noah Aldana came in third in 9:57.74 and sophomore Dylan Shugg followed behind in fourth in 9:58.17. It was the first time the Tigers have had three runners finish under 10 minutes in the 3,200, according to Parkinson.
Four athletes won titles in the field events.
Tigers junior Omar Soufi won the boys shot put with a throw of 46 feet, 4 ½ inches, junior Leonard Kwak captured the boys pole vault title with a mark of 13-0, senior Levi Bar-Cohen won the long jump with a leap of 20-8 1/2 and junior Kayla Boozer won the girls’ high jump with a personal record 5-3.
Soufi finished runner-up in the discus with a mark of 99-7, while sophomore Elizabeth Rosenberg placed second in the girls shot put (31-7 1/2) and discus (86-9).
In the girls’ long jump, senior Simone Assaf finished runner-up with a leap of 17-9, while teammate Kezia Gavlak placed third with a mark of 17 3 ½. The two also competed in the triple jump, with Gavlak placing second (35-1) ahead of Assaf in third
(34-1 1/2).
First published in the May 3 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.
