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Shutdown ends high school careers of 10 track and field seniors

Joe Naiman Six boys and four girls on the 2020 Fallbrook High School track and field team had a premature ending to their senior season when the school was shut down for the remainder of the academic year and all CIF spring sports were canceled.

The boys whose high school careers were ended by the truncated season are sprinter Holden Lynas, pole vaulter Ian Whadford and distance runners Christian Goodell, Josh Hernandez, Ricardo Martinez and John Regan. Triple jumper Chiara Curnow, sprinter Erin Murray, pole vaulter Maya Rink and pole vaulter and discus thrower Roseline Sanchez are the senior girls whose high school careers were halted.

“I’m just heartbroken for these guys and gals. They trained tremendously,” Fallbrook head coach Marco Arias said. “They put in everything that was required to have a successful season, and it's disheartening.”

Fallbrook’s only meet of 2020 was a March 5 tri-meet at Rancho Buena Vista High School which involved Fallbrook, Rancho Buena Vista and Carlsbad. The Warriors’ scheduled March 12 home meet against Mission Hills was canceled due to rain.

“We were just starting to get into the swing of it and it just got cut short,” Arias said.

This was Lynas’ first season on varsity although he had been part of the Fallbrook program for all four of his high school years. Goodell, Hernandez, Martinez, Murray, Rink, Sanchez and Whadford also spent four years including the partial 2020 season with the Fallbrook team.

Curnow was in her third season with the Warriors. Regan, who transferred from Lejeune High School in North Carolina, had been with the Warriors as a junior as well as this year.

“All of them had a really good preseason,” Arias said. “It’s devastating, especially for athletes like Erin and Josh.”

Hernandez was being recruited by colleges.

“He needed to have a season to really solidify that opportunity for himself,” Arias said.

Murray will run for St. Louis University but was held out of the March 5 meet due to a hamstring pull.

“She never even actually got to run anything this year,” Arias said.

Ironically the absence of track and field means that Murray’s high school career concluded with Fallbrook’s CIF field hockey championship. Her collegiate running, should all go as planned, will mean that her track and field career won’t have ended as a high school junior.

“She’s going to get everything she deserves. She’s a hard worker,” Arias said.

As a junior Murray won the 200-meter dash and 400-meter race at last year’s Valley League championship meet and was also part of Fallbrook’s winning 4x100 relay team at the league meet. Murray also won the 400-meter event in her freshman and sophomore years. Arias expects Murray to continue her success at St. Louis University.

“She’s going to make them very happy,” Arias said.

Regan will be attending a military academy, although he has not specifically selected the branch of the armed services, and plans to run in college.

The loss of nearly all of the season will not deprive the seniors of varsity letters.

“They’re all going to get it,” Arias said.

Normally, a varsity letter is based on team points gained at meets throughout the season.

“They would have all lettered,” Arias said. “Even at that one meet, they accumulated enough points.”

In a tri-meet all three schools participate in each race or field event flight and each school is scored against each of the other schools so team position points are given for the position against each other school rather than for the athlete or relay team's overall position.

Those who didn’t meet the points threshold March 5 will still receive letters.

“If you’ve been in the program for four years regardless of performance you would be awarded a varsity letter your senior year,” Arias said.

“Tremendous group of seniors, and I’m going to miss them,” Arias said. “I’m sorry to see them go and leave a void of what leadership looks like for the younger ones.”

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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