Five Warrior wins at league track and field meet, Fallbrook to have 14 entries at CIF prelims

The Avocado League track and field meet saw five Fallbrook High School individuals or relay teams take first place, and the meet allowed 14 Warrior entries into the CIF preliminary meet.

Fallbrook High School junior Marquis Sumpter was part of two of those winners at the league finals May 8 at Vista High School. Sumpter anchored the winning 4x100 boys relay team and also won the boys 400-meter run.

Fallbrook High School seniors Todd Van Duzer and Bret Hasvold took the top two positions in the boys 800-meter run. Ray Lian won the boys discus throw, and Kyle Little took first place in the girls pole vault.

“We had a great, great day,” said Troy Hamlin, who is Fallbrook’s head girls coach and also coaches sprinters, hurdlers, and jumpers.

The 4x100 boys relay team of Nick Hayes, Dwayne Mitchell, T.J. Sumpter, and Marquis Sumpter completed the race in 43.24 seconds. “It was quite an incredible run for them,” Hamlin said.

The league championship was the first in that event for Fallbrook in more than 20 years. “That’s quite a tremendous accomplishment,” Hamlin said.

Sumpter’s time of 49.03 seconds in the open 400-meter race not only won the event but also seeded him second for the CIF preliminaries. Sumpter’s time ranks third among Division I runners, behind Nico Reaves of Lincoln and Joe Cooks of Mission Hills, but Cooks was to forego the 400-meter run at the CIF meet in favor of the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes.

The top three finishers in the CIF finals from Division I and Division II combined will advance to the state meet May 31 at Cerritos College, and the 48.5-second time of Ramona High School sophomore Ryan Morgan in the Valley League finals makes Morgan a factor in the CIF competition.

The CIF meet maintains separate standings for Division I and Division II teams, although the athletes compete against each other regardless of division.

The runners with the top nine times in each event from Division I and Division II combined at the CIF preliminaries May 17 at Mount Carmel High School will run in the “A” heat in the CIF finals May 24 at Mount Carmel while the athletes with next nine times will compete in the “B” heat.

The top three finishers from the “A” heat will advance to the state finals, although runners from the “B” heat are eligible for the medals given to the top six finishers at the CIF finals.

The top two finishers in the league finals automatically advance to the CIF meet, and the field is filled out from the top times and distances which didn’t place among the league’s top two.

“It’s a really, really tough league,” Hamlin said. “The Avocado League has become the powerhouse of North County track and field.”

In league dual meets both the Fallbrook boys team and the Fallbrook girls team had 2-3 records.

Three Fallbrook boys qualified for the CIF meet in the 800-meter run. Van Duzer won the race in 1:56.12, edging Hasvold’s 1:56.21. “They basically finished together. Todd leaned him,” Hamlin said.

“Todd’s just continued to get better and better throughout the course of the season, and he’s had just a wonderful year,” Hamlin said.

Josh Smith finished fifth in the league meet with a time of 1:59.63 but still qualified for the CIF preliminaries.

Hasvold, who missed part of the season while recovering from a hamstring injury, also finished second in the 1,600-meter run. Collin Jarvis of Rancho Buena Vista won the race in 4:19.15 while Hasvold ran the metric mile in 4:23.82. Fallbrook’s Uriel Aguirre finished third with a personal record of 4:26.66 and earned a berth in the CIF meet.

Sumpter qualified for the CIF meet in four events, including two relay teams. His time of 22.00 seconds in the 200-meter dash placed second in the league meet, behind the 21.68-second run of Rancho Buena Vista’s Jamal Alston, and ranks third among runners from Division I schools.

Fallbrook’s 4x400 boys relay team also placed second at the league meet. The time of 3:24.16 was a personal record for the foursome of T.J. Sumpter, Nick Hayes, Hasvold, and Marquis Sumpter. Sumpter’s anchor time of 48.6 seconds was also a personal record.

Lian threw the discus 167 feet 7 inches to win the event. “It was just a great job for him,” Hamlin said. “He stands a chance to make it to the state meet if he can step up at CIF.”

Little cleared the bar at 9’8” to win the girls pole vault. “She’s emerged as our number one vaulter over the course of the year,” Hamlin said.

Track and field meets begin with the 4x100 relay, and Fallbrook freshman Amanda Mulkey injured her hip slightly in that race. Despite that impediment, Mulkey finished second to Vista’s Michelle Cruz in the girls 800-meter run with a time of 2:19.90. “A real solid performance,” Hamlin said.

Mulkey also anchored the girls 4x400 relay team which placed fourth at the league finals but qualified for the CIF meet with a time of 4:12.67.

Cassie Mulkey began the relay with a lap of 62.8 seconds, Olivia Tidd took 63.6 seconds, Roxanne Barnes-Smith completed her lap in 63.1 seconds, and Amanda Mulkey required 60.9 seconds to finish the race.

The 4x400 was only the second for Barnes-Smith, a sophomore in her first year of track and field, who earned a berth in the “B” race in the dual meet against Rancho Buena Vista before beating out Leslie Grantham for the “A” team position.

Kristin Parry’s time of 11:07.02 was worth second place in the girls 3,200-meter run. “She ran very even splits the whole way through, and she set the tone for the whole race. She took it out pretty hard and made the rest of the girls work,” Hamlin said.

The front four of Parry, Vista’s Alisia Barajas, and Rancho Buena Vista runners Shanna St. Laurent and Heather Zytkewicz ran together until Barajas dropped back in the fifth lap of the eight-lap race.

Parry, St. Laurent, and Zytkewicz ran together until the seventh lap. “Shanna made a move and just took off,” Hamlin said.

St. Laurent won the race in 10:59.81. “Shanna had a great race,” Hamlin said. “Any girl who breaks 11 minutes is a very, very talented runner.”

Many of the Warriors who did not qualify for the CIF meet set personal records. “Everybody’s going to end their season at some point in time, and it’s really nice to see them end it on a personal best, even if they didn’t qualify for the next round,” Hamlin said.

Cassie Mulkey had a personal record of 61.91 seconds in the girls 400-meter race, Tidd set personal records at 15.72 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and 49.49 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles, Julie Cramer’s time of 2:27.2 in the girls 800-meter race was a personal record, and Mitchell’s final boys 100-meter dash of the year produced a personal record of 11.55 seconds.

Although they didn’t qualify for the CIF meet, three Fallbrook boys pole vaulters tied for third at the league meet. Senior Mike Meyers, junior Tommy Skinner, and sophomore Anthony Pardo each cleared 12’6”.

Seniors Katie Votapka and Jade Lawrence ended their high school careers without personal records, but Votapka’s distance of 8’0” placed fifth in the girls pole vault and Lawrence’s time of 17.86 seconds was eighth in the 100-meter hurdles.

Fallbrook varsity track and field letters can be earned either by earning ten points during the season in meets or by reaching the league finals.

Two Warriors who went to the league meet as alternates both reached the league finals and earned letters; sophomore Joe Edwards had a personal record of 44.25 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles and freshman Emily Calescibetta had a time of 6:02.00 in the girls 1,600-meter run.

Hamlin and boys coach Rich Parris are both in their first season as head coaches; Parris replaced Marty Hauck after Hauck’s fatal September 19 heart attack and Hamlin took over for Tim Hauck.

The track and field team had two new assistant coaches this year; student-teacher Gala Griffin helped with the jumps and Marine Corps member Franklin Battle worked with the boys sprinters. “They took a lot of pressure off of me,” Hamlin said.

Parris works with the distance runners in addition to his head coaching duties. The team’s other assistant coaches are Tim Odor and Marco Arias, who coach the throwers, Wayne Tortorella, who helps Parris with the distance runners, and pole vaulting coach Jim Curran.

“I’m very, very pleased and impressed with the job that they did,” Hamlin said. “If you’re going to run a good track program it takes good assistants.”