Warrior girls defeat Bobcats in track and field meet

Fallbrook High School's girls track and field team will struggle to win dual meets this year, as the Warriors have 44 girls in their varsity and junior varsity programs combined. On March 19, the Warriors ensured avoiding a winless season with a 93-21 victory at Sage Creek, which opened in 2013 with only ninth-grade students and currently has only freshmen and sophomores.

"It was the first meet they ever put on," said Fallbrook head coach Troy Hamlin.

Sage Creek will, at least for this year and in 2016, compete in the Avocado West League. "It's a pretty tough league," Hamlin said.

"They're going to be good in a few years," Hamlin said of the Bobcats. "Given a couple of years more they're going to be a solid team."

In a dual meet five team points are given for first place in an individual event; second place is worth three points; and the third-place athlete earns one point for her school. Some of the events had fewer than three competitors, and neither team entered runners in the 400-meter race or the 4x400 relay.

Fallbrook won 11 of the 14 events, including five by default because no Sage Creek athletes competed, with the Bobcats taking first place in three of the six contested events and second place in two competitions. "That is a pretty impressive beginning for them," Hamlin said of Sage Creek.

Although only the top three individual event positions are scored, a school may enter up to four athletes in an individual race or field event. Fallbrook had the top four discus throw distances with Tatiana Arias achieving a distance of 72'0"; Anna Curran throwing the discus 69'5"; Lindley Alger landing a discus 59'2" past the throwing circle; and Marisol Contreras posting a mark of 54'5".

Arias and Curran are both daughters of Fallbrook coaching staff members. Marco Arias is the throws coach as well as the boys head coach and also assists distance coach Enrique Rivera with the 800-meter, 1600-meter, and 3,200-meter runners. Jim Curran coaches Fallbrook's pole vaulters. The coaching staff also includes jumps coach John Kroeger and sprints coach Miguel Trejo. Hamlin instructs the Warrior hurdlers in addition to his girls head coaching responsibility.

(Rivera, a 2012 Fallbrook High School graduate, has a sister on this year's girls track and field team. Giselle Rivera, who is a freshman, competed for Fallbrook's junior varsity March 19 and won the 3,200-meter race while finishing second behind teammate Jennifer Vizzuett in the 1,600-meter run.)

Although Sage Creek sophomore Jill Chiang threw the shot put 28'6" for first place, Curran's distance of 25'6" gave the Warriors second-place points and Arias took third place with a throw of 21' 6½". (Contreras had a fifth-place distance of 21'0".)

Monique Gonzales won two field events, finished second behind her teammate in a running event, and was on the winning 4x100 relay team. "It was a good day for her," Hamlin said.

Gonzalez won the triple jump with a distance of 30'10½". The only other competitor in that event was Fallbrook's Alex Danso, who had a distance of 30'6½".

Gonzalez had a long jump of 15'10" for first place. Sage Creek's Kimani Cameron took second place at 14'6". Danso placed third with a jump of 13'91/2".

Fallbrook had the top three finishers in the 100-meter dash. Peyton Brittain finished in 13.1 seconds; Gonzalez completed the race in 13.3 seconds; and Emily Larson had a time of 13.7 seconds. Brittain was the only varsity 200-meter dash competitor from either school and posted a winning time of 27.0 seconds. Gonzalez, Brittain, Hannah French, and Emily Larson were the only entry in the 4x100 relay race and won that event in 57.5 seconds.

Andrea Vela also won two events. Fallbrook swept the 1,600-meter run scoring positions with Vela completing the metric mile in 5:39.9, Kiera Donoghue taking 5:54.2, and Ariana Buchholz finishing in 5:57.2.

Vela won the 3,200-meter event in 12:34.6. Sage Creek's Taylor Moseley garnered second-place points for the Bobcats with a time of 12:46.7. Donoghue finished third at 12:58.2.

Only one runner from each school competed in the varsity 800-meter race. Sage Creek runner Keegan Canfield completed her two laps in 2:35.3 for the victory while Fallbrook's Natalie Dudley had the second-place time of 2:37.7.

"They're actually building a pretty strong distance program," Hamlin said.

Sage Creek's other event win was in the 300-meter hurdles race; freshman Megan Mattson won with a time of 49.5 seconds. French finished second with a personal record of 49.9 seconds. "It was a good quality race," Hamlin said.

Larson was third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 53.2 seconds. Dudley, who ran the 300-meter hurdles immediately after the 800-meter race, was fourth at 59.8 seconds.

Although Sage Creek had no 100-meter hurdles competitors and Fallbrook had only two, both Warriors set personal records in that event. Larson had a time of 16.9 seconds and French completed the race in 17.9 seconds. "Good performances from both of them," Hamlin said.

Mikala Tidd cleared 9'6" in the pole vault, which is only nine inches shorter than the best height ever by a Fallbrook girl. "She has a shot at the school record," Hamlin said.

Fallbrook scored the maximum possible nine points in the pole vault. Belle Banta, a military dependent who transferred from a school in North Carolina, cleared 7'0" for second place. Olivia Gonzalez had a height of 6'6" to take third place.

Banta is a senior but has not previously participated in high school track and field. She won the high jump at Sage Creek by clearing 4'0". "Good start for Belle," Hamlin said.

French had the only other score in the high jump with a height of 3'10".