Legionnaires win three of four relay races at finals

The Frontier Conference did not have separate leagues for track and field this year, nor were there team league champions. The individual league champions were decided at the conference finals May 10 at Mira Mesa High School, and Bonsall High School took first place in three of the four relay races.

The Legionnaires won the boys 4x100, girls 4x100, and girls 4x400 relay races while placing second in the boys 4x400 event. Individual second-place finishes were obtained in the boys 400-meter and 3,200-meter races. The boys 300-meter hurdles and 1,600-meter run events also had a third-place Bonsall finisher, and Bonsall took third through seventh place in the girls 400-meter run.

"It was awesome," said Bonsall coach Al Greene.

Greene prepared his runners for the relay races.

"We focused pretty heavily on the handoffs," Greene said. "We had enough fast runners that I thought we could put together a strong relay team."

The boys 4x100 team consisted of junior Gunnar Streich, sophomore Wahaab Ademola, junior Zel Molino, and senior Alex Greene. The handoff of the baton from Molino to Greene wasn't as smooth as desired, but the practice experience allowed Greene to keep the baton in his hand.

"They just rolled with the punches and were able to recover and still won," Al Greene said.

Streich, Ademola, Molino, and Alex Greene had a winning time of 46.16 seconds. The second-place Liberty Charter relay team finished in 47.10 seconds.

Bonsall's girls 4x100 relay team of sophomore Najia Lamb, junior Makailey Lewis, sophomore Faith Gioia, and junior Delainy Reinard won their race in 54.40 seconds. The second-place Liberty Charter quartet took 57.41 seconds.

"They handily won that race," Al Greene said.

Greene noted that none of his girls 4x100 runners are seniors. "Looking forward to next year," he said.

Gioia, junior Sara La Russa, sophomore Isabella Ford, and Reinard comprised the Legionnaires' girls 4x400 relay team. They completed their race in 4:28.70.

"That was likely the most exciting race of the day," Greene said.

Liberty Charter freshman Landon Torres had the lead when Reinard obtained the baton.

"She was probably a good 60 to 70 meters behind the girl in front of her," Greene said of Reinard. "She just closed the distance."

Torres led Reinard by about 10 meters with 110 meters remaining in the race. Reinard not only took the lead but gave Bonsall nearly a three-second margin as Liberty Charter finished in 4:31.52.

"It was fantastic," Greene said.

High Tech High Chula Vista won the boys 4x400 relay in 3:35.62. Bonsall's Alex Greene, Streich, senior Lance Starks, and Molino completed their laps in 3:37.59 to take second.

"They ran a really hard-fought race," Al Greene said. "The team that beat them was just faster."

The High Tech High San Diego boys 4x400 relay team finished third at 3:38.88.

A time of 10:27.52 gave Bonsall junior Max Collier second place in the boys 3,200-meter race, which High Tech High San Diego senior Jaden Rosenthal won in 10:24.68.

"He ran a fantastic race," Greene said of Collier.

The third-place finisher in the boys 1,600-meter race, Gompers sophomore Elias Doumerc, had a time of 10:30.68. Bonsall sophomore Austin Alanis placed seventh at 11:27.98.

Alex Greene took second place in the boys 400-meter race. Liberty Charter sophomore Isaac Green had a winning time of 52.60 seconds. Greene completed his lap in 53.14 seconds. Molino had the fourth-place time of 54.02 seconds and Bonsall junior Nick Murphy took seventh place with a 56.36-second performance.

The May 4 preliminaries at Mira Mesa High School did not include the 1,600-meter or 3,200-meter races nor were the relay races contested, but for the rest of the events the athletes with the top nine times or distances in each event advanced to the league finals.

The nine qualifiers in the girls 400-meter run included five Bonsall girls. Reinard had the third-place time of 1:04.45 in the final, Gioia finished fourth at 1:04.75, La Russa completed her lap in 1:07.65 for fifth place, Isabella Ford earned sixth place with a 1:08.82 performance, and sophomore Abigayle Ford had a time of 1:09.17 which was worth seventh place. "It was exciting," Al Greene said.

Bonsall senior Randy Kasa had not participated in track and field prior to this year, nor had he run hurdles, but in his final high school race his time of 47.75 seconds gave him third place in the boys 300-meter hurdles. "I think he did pretty well," Greene said.

Starks had the third-place time of 4:46.94 in the boys 1,600-meter run. Collier was sixth at 4:56.18 and Alanis earned 11th place with a 5:14.94 metric mile.

The girls 300-meter hurdles final included a fourth-place time of 1:04.20 for Bonsall senior Alexandria Williams. Lamb was the seventh-place girls 100-meter dash finisher and had a time of 13.55 seconds.

Two Legionnaires qualified for the boys 100-meter dash final – Ademola placed sixth with a time of 12.04 seconds and Alex Greene took eighth place at 12.72 seconds.

Starks placed seventh in the boys 800-meter race with a time of 2:08.25.

Al Greene's only assistant coach this year was Diane White, who instructed the shot put and discus throwers. Two Bonsall girls reached the league finals in throwing events – freshman Bella White and La Russa.

White's preliminaries distances qualified her for the finals in both throwing events and she finished seventh in the discus with a throw of 62'10" and eighth in the shot put after landing the orb 23 feet 11 1/4 inches past the throwing circle. La Russa had a shot put throw of 22 feet 1 1/2 inches in the final for ninth place.