Murray named Valley League girls track athlete of the year

Fallbrook High School junior Erin Murray was named the Valley League's girls track and field athlete of the year.

During the league meet, May 3, at Valley Center High School, Murray won the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter run and was part of Fallbrook's winning 4x100-meter relay team.

"It's been a great season. I'm really appreciative of all the coaches who put in hard work and dedication to the program, and I'm looking forward to next year," Murray said.

"She just embraces everything I taught these kids," Fallbrook head coach Marco Arias said. "She had a goal of PRing and winning the league title for the third year in a row and along the way she ended up breaking the school record."

The 400-meter league championship was the third for Murray and her 10th win of the year in that event, although her personal record was set as part of a second-place finish. Murray had not previously competed in the 200-meter dash or the 4x100 at a league championship meet.

The league meet determines individual league champions as well as CIF meet qualifiers. The team league championship standings are determined solely by the results of league dual meets. Fallbrook took fourth place in the six-team Valley League standings with a 2-3 dual meet record against league opponents.

"It was one of our better girls' teams that we've had in a while," Arias said.

A track and field meet consists of 16 events. Team points are given for the winner only in the two relay races and for the top three positions in each of the 14 individual events. An athlete can compete in no more than four events at one meet.

"We had a good season, but we're just kind of a small team on the girl's side," Arias said.

A high school track and field meet begins with the 4x100 relay. Fallbrook's team of sophomore Hanniah Crayton, sophomore Jade Kennedy, Murray and senior Darriale Yarbrough won the league meet race in 48.79 seconds.

"That's just a tremendous mark," Arias said. "They were peaking at the right time."

The San Pasqual quartet of senior Makell Edwards, junior Raegan Beckham, senior Lauren Leisten and sophomore Gabriella Baumer finished second with a 50.59-second performance.

Fallbrook had four league dual meets during the season, including a March 21 tri-meet in which the Warriors hosted both Escondido and Mission Vista high school, and three non-league dual meets. The Warriors won the 4x100 relay six times at dual meets with a March 28 San Pasqual High School victory in Fallbrook constituting the exception.

"This entire season was so unexpected," Murray said of the league 4x100 victory.

Last year a hamstring injury during the season caused Murray to miss one league dual meet and one invitational and limited her to the 4x100 race only in another league dual meet. She ran the 400-meter race and the 4x400-meter relay at the league meet.

Yarbrough was also injured during 2018 and did not compete in the league meet. Kennedy was the only member of this year's 4x100 relay team who also ran that event last year, when the Warriors finished fifth.

Murray said that the relay races are team events rather than individual competitions.

"I just makes it 10 times as much fun because you're able to work together," she said.

The Warriors' 4x100 relay team also finished third at the April 13 Jaguar Invitational meet at Escondido High School, fourth at the April 26 Jaguar Invitational at Valley Center High School, and fifth at the March 9 Bronco Invitational at Rancho Bernardo High School.

"To win league finals was just incredible," Murray said. "I was so happy and so proud of myself."

Fallbrook had the lead at the league championship meet when Murray took the baton from Kennedy.

"I'm just super appreciative," Murray said of her 4x100 teammates.

Next year Yarbrough is expected to be on the California State University San Marcos track and field team.

"We'll definitely miss Darriale next year," Murray said.

Murray not only won the 200-meter dash at the league meet but set a personal record of 25.82 seconds.

"That was phenomenal," Arias said.

"I was really excited about winning league in the 200," Murray said.

Beckham finished second at 26.91. Kennedy completed the race in 27.14 for third place. Valley Center junior Melissa Loera was fourth with a time of 27.41. Crayton took fifth place with 27.72. "I was expecting one of my teammates to race with me," Murray said.

In Fallbrook's seven dual meets Murray won the 200-meter dash six times, including all four league meets, while placing second to Vista sophomore Summer Sergeant March 7 at Vista.

"All of a sudden she just took off and blossomed," Arias said.

"I definitely focus on my start and getting out of the blocks," Murray said.

Murray said she focused on her form during the rest of the race.

"It was pretty exciting and a new experience to be able to race the 200 at league," Murray said.

Last year 2018 San Pasqual graduate Sydney Pollard won the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.61.

"I was pretty confident," Murray said.

Murray knew that she would have to complement that confidence with performance, she said.

"Anything can happen," she said.

What actually happened is that Murray won the race by more than a second.

"It's an amazing and fulfilling feeling when you actually win it," she said.

Murray finished the 400-meter race in 58.45 seconds. Beckham finished second with a personal record of 1:00.04. Loera also set a personal record at 1:00.26, which gave her third place.

Last year Murray won the 400-meter event with a time of 1:00.76 while 2018 Ramona High School graduate Rayna Valade had the second-place time of 1:02.40, Leisten placed third at 1:02.46, and Beckham was fourth at 1:03.72. In 2017, Murray's winning time was 1:00.90, while Valade was second at 1:01.41, Leisten had the third-place time of 1:01.42 and Loera completed her lap in 1:03.33 for fourth place. Leisten had a time of 1:02.97 in this year's race to give the senior fifth place.

"The 400 is my main event," Murray said.

Murray won the 400-meter race in all seven of Fallbrook's dual meets or tri-meets this year and also won the 400-meter event at the Bronco Invitational and the Jaguar Invitational. The season highlights also include her second-place finish at the Escondido Invitational meet.

Olympian senior Adaeze Noble had a winning time of 56.50 at the Escondido Invitational, which deprived Murray of the victory but also gave Murray someone who provided a faster pace.

"It was neck and neck the whole way through, Arias said.

Murray completed the race in 56.58. The previous school record of 56.99 was set in 2001 by Naomi Matos.

"She deserves it. She's worked hard at it, and she's given it everything she's got," Arias said of Murray setting a new school record.

"I saw the school record my freshman year and wasn't really sure if I would be able to break it," Murray said.

During her junior year Murray set a goal of breaking the school record.

"It was an amazing feeling when I really did," she said.

When Murray was in eighth grade April Paulson, then a Fallbrook High School junior, won the 2016 league meet in 1:00.87. Murray became the first Valley League champion to win the race in under a minute since 2013, when Del Norte freshman Sydney Best ran it in 59.41 seconds.

Murray's time was also the best this decade in a Valley League final; Vanessa Heredia was a Valley Center junior when she won the 2012 league championship in 58.49 seconds.

"I definitely put a lot of effort into working hard and mentally preparing myself," Murray said. "It's amazing to have it pay off at the end of the season by winning league."

Murray attended Fallbrook Street School from kindergarten through second grade and Live Oak Elementary School from third grade through sixth grade. She then spent two years at Potter Junior High School.

"That's where I learned to love running," she said.

Potter had timed mile runs on a weekly basis as well as occasional track and field meets.

"I never broke the mile time, but it was always one of my goals to try to get better every week," Murray said.

Yarbrough won the 100-meter dash in 12.30 seconds. Edwards placed second with 12.64.

"It was fantastic. It wasn't even close," Arias said. "She was by far ahead of everybody else."

Crayton finished the 100-meter dash in 13.01 for third place. Kennedy was fourth at 13.14 to edge out Ramona sophomore Stephanie Salvaggio, whose fifth-place time was 13.16.

San Pasqual sophomore Elise Miller won the long jump with a distance of 18-10 1/2. Yarbrough had a jump of 18-0 1/2 for second place.

"Darriale came close," Arias said. "I thought she had it. It was a great jump that beat her."

Kennedy set a personal record of 16-4 3/4 for third place. She edged the fourth-place distance of 16-4 1/2 obtained by Valley Center senior Yazmin Castaneda.

Yarbrough made her Valley League meet debut in 2016 when Holly Stallman was a Ramona senior and won the 100-meter dash in 12.25 seconds. Yarbrough was second at 12.67, and she was third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.67 seconds. As a sophomore in 2017, she was second in the 100-meter dash and the long jump and third in the 200-meter dash.

"She's just a great athlete," Arias said.

A discus throw of 96-2 gave junior Roseline Sanchez fifth place and senior Siena Allen was sixth with a throw of 91-6.

Fifth place in the triple jump was achieved by junior Chiara Curnow, whose distance was 29-10 1/2. Curnow also ran the 100-meter hurdles and placed sixth with a personal record of 17.77 seconds.

The best shot put throw for sophomore Charlene Cayas was 32-2, which placed her sixth at the league meet.