Bonsall High School track qualifies four entries for CIF preliminaries

Bonsall High School’s track and field team didn’t win any events at the Frontier Conference meet May 3, at Mira Mesa High School, but the Legionnaires had six second-place finishes and five third-place results while qualifying four entries for the CIF San Diego Section preliminaries.

“We didn’t do as well as we did last year,” Bonsall coach Al Greene said.

Three of Bonsall’s four relay teams took second-place finishes, and the Legionnaires were third in the other relay. Last year Bonsall won boys 4x100, girls 4x100, and girls 4x400 relays and placed second in the boys 4x400 relay.

This year’s boys 4x100 team of senior Gunnar Streich, junior Wahaab Ademola, sophomore Kyle Smith and senior Zel Molino had the second-place time of 46.26 seconds. O’Farrell won that race in 46.22.

“It was pretty close,” Greene said.

The boys 4x400 team consisted of Streich, Molino, Ademola and junior Austin Alanis. Their second-place time was 3:42.09.

“I thought we were going to win that one,” Greene said.

High Tech High Chula Vista completed their 4x400 in 3:37.70 for the victory.

Ademola placed second in the 100-meters with a time of 11.72 and third in the 200-meters which took him 23.50.

“He ran pretty well,” Greene said. “He’s a really fast young man. He’s probably the best runner I’ve seen in the four years I’ve been there.”

Horizon Prep School junior Kasey Bowles won both of those races, posting times of 11.60 in the 100-meters and 23.03 in the 200-meters.

A time of 4:26.85 gave second place to Bonsall’s girls 4x400 of senior Delainy Reinard, freshman Paige Gartner, junior Melina Mora and senior Sara La Russa. Liberty Charter High School had a winning time of 4:19.44.

Liberty Charter sophomore Landon Torres won the girls 800-meter race with a time of 2:31.50. La Russa finished second and completed her two laps in 2:37.74. The third-place time of 2:44.22 was posted by High Tech High Chula Vista junior Alexis Rodrigues, but Bonsall took fourth place when junior Abigayle Ford crossed the finish line 2:53.16 after the start of the race.

Bonsall’s other second-place finish was in the boys 300-meters in which sophomore Henrik Nylund had a time of 46.62 to trail only Gompers senior Diego Martinez, whose winning time was 43.41.

Gartner, senior Makailey Lewis, junior Faith Gioia and Reinard comprised Bonsall’s girls 4x100 team, which took third place and had a time of 53.43.

The girls 4x400, boys 4x400 and girls 4x100 relay teams had good enough times to earn lanes in the CIF San Diego Section preliminaries. Gartner also competed in the CIF meet after her 400-meter time placed her third in the Frontier Conference competition. Gartner finished her lap in 1:02.07 with High Tech High Chula Vista junior NaLiyah Bailey posting a winning time of 1:00.25.

During the season Gartner ran the 100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter, 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter individual races as well as the two relay races.

“She is super fast and a good athlete,” Greene said.

A track and field athlete is limited to four events at a specific meet. Because the Frontier Conference meet did not have heats Greene utilized Gartner only in the 400-meter run and the two relay races to give her sufficient time to rest for each event.

Although Bonsall’s three second-place finishes in individual races were one more than the Legionnaires achieved in 2018, one of last year’s second-place times was by a 2018 senior and the other was the 10:27.52 Max Collier posted in the 3,200-meter race. Collier, who was a senior in 2019, had a time of 10:34.20 in the 2019 race to take third. Although that was a season best for Collier, his time last year would have won this year’s race as High Tech High San Diego senior Henry Whiteley needed 10:30.50 to win the race and High Tech High North County freshman Pablo Chapman edged Collier with a time of 10:33.20.

The only field event in which any Bonsall athlete placed in the top five was the girls shot put, and two Legionnaire sophomores were among those with the five longest distances. Bella White had a throw of 73 feet 2 inches, while Beth White landed the orb 70-0 past the throwing circle.

The CIF section preliminaries took place May 11, at Mount Carmel High School. None of the Bonsall runners advanced to the section finals.

“We still had a pretty good showing out at CIF prelims,” Greene said.

The girls individual 400-meter preliminaries had 26 Division II runners with one scratch; Gartner ran her race in 1:02.75 to place 18th. Gartner, Lewis, Gioia and Reinard had a time of 53.91 seconds in the girls 4x100 relay, which placed 20th among the 25 Division II quartets which were not disqualified. Five scratches left the Division II boys 4x400 with 22 entries and the 21st-fastest time of 3:50.19 was that of Alanis, Smith, junior Jonathan Esposito and Ademola. Mora, Reinard, La Russa and Gartner were 22nd among the 26 Division II girls 4x400 relay teams with a time of 4:26.92.

“It was a great season,” Greene said.

Greene took over the Bonsall High School cross country and track and field teams when his son was in high school. Greene is professionally an airline pilot and has been able to adjust his work schedule to accommodate the Legionnaires’ practices and meets. A.J. Greene is now at the University of California, San Diego, so Al Greene would like to work on weekdays so that he can spend time with his son on weekends. Greene is thus stepping down as Bonsall’s coach, although he has expressed a desire to watch the team at various meets.

“I’m going to miss working with them for sure,” Greene said.