Wagner, Weber win pole vault in league track and field meet

Both of Fallbrook High School's first-place results in the Valley League track and field championship meet May 28 at Valley Center High School were achieved in the pole vault.

Fallbrook swept the top four girls pole vault positions with junior Rose Wagner having the top height of 10'6". The final high school league meet for senior Gavin Weber included clearing 11'9" to take first place in the boys pole vault.

"Our whole pole vault as a whole did really well," said Fallbrook head coach Marco Arias.

If more than one pole vaulter clears the same height before three failed attempts at the next distance, missed attempts at lower distances are used to determine positions. Both freshman Sahara Khoury and sophomore Savannah Riley cleared 9'6" with Khoury being awarded second. The fourth-place height of 9'0" was achieved by freshman Maya Khoury.

"I don't think it's ever happened that we've had 1-2-3-4," Arias said. "That's never happened in any of our events."

Wagner's winning height wasn't her best of the season. "She wasn't really pushed," Arias said. "I believe she's a 12'6" vaulter right now."

On April 29, Wagner broke her own school record by clearing 12'2" during a tri-meet in Ramona. In both tri-meets involving Fallbrook and San Pasqual, Wagner and San Pasqual senior Madison Rauch both cleared 11'6". An injury prevented Rauch from competing in the league championship meet.

Weber cleared 13'6" April 29 for the best height of his high school career. In four of his 2021 meets he exceeded the 11'9" he cleared to win the league meet. Mission Hills junior Bradley Revilla cleared 10'9" at the league meet for second. Fallbrook freshman Aden Berner took sixth place at 9'9".

"Gavin actually ended up finishing his career really well," Arias said. "He had a pretty good day. I was hoping he'd reach that 13 feet and above level, but it's pretty tough when you're not being pushed by another competitor."

Jim Curran is Fallbrook's assistant coach for pole vaults.

The league meet champion automatically earns a berth at the CIF San Diego Section meet as do any runners or field athletes who post a qualifying time or distance. Valley Center senior Parker Tanner won the boys high jump by clearing 5'11", but the 5'9" of Fallbrook junior Max Masterlin gave him entry into the CIF meet as well as second place. The third-place and fourth-place high jumpers both had heights of 5'5".

"He was pretty disappointed in his performance," Arias said. "He's a six foot jumper."

Masterlin cleared 6'0" at the April 29 meet.

Wagner and Weber both participated in track relay races. The girls 4x100 relay team of Wagner, sophomore Hailey Reed, senior Jade Kennedy, and sophomore Kelsey Rossi finished fourth but completed the lap in 52.85 seconds. "The time for D-II allowed them to come in," Arias said.

(Fallbrook is in Division II for the section meet.)

Based on last year's runners Arias expected the 2021 girls 4x100 options to include senior Hanniah Crayton, senior Logann Williams, and junior Paige Gartner. Crayton did not run this year, Williams has moved, and Gartner was involved in soccer as well as the Warriors' running program.

"We just did what we could," Arias said.

"They trained really well all year," Arias said. "They came a long way from where they started, so I'm really proud of them."

In the first league meet April 22, Fallbrook had a girls 4x100 relay time of 57.89 seconds.

Fallbrook's girls 4x400 relay team also qualified for the CIF meet. Rossi, sophomore Rayana Hilborn, junior Julia Rossi, and Reed had the third-place time of 4:39.57 at the league meet.

The Warriors' boys 4x100 relay team was given alternate status, meaning that they can compete at the CIF meet in the event another team scratches out. A time of 46.73 seconds gave sophomore Andrew Williams, junior River Olson, Weber, and senior Jacob Crain fifth place at the league meet.

Fallbrook's boys 4x400 relay team of junior Alex Brunson, junior Dawson Fluck, Weber, and Crain had a time of 4:02.62 for third place.

Weber had competed only in the pole vault prior to this season, and he hadn't even trained for track events. He had volunteered to run in the past, but that offer wasn't needed until 2021. "Gavin ended up surprising me," Arias said.

"He did really well," Arias said. "He held his own."

Wagner also ran the individual 100-meter dash at the league meet. Her time of 13.44 seconds gave her sixth place.

Crain was fourth in the boys 200-meter dash with a time of 24.50 seconds. Two fourth-place finishes were obtained by senior Danny Contreras, who had times of 2:10.17 in the 800-meter run and 4:48.97 in the 1,600-meter event.

Both the Fallbrook boys and the Warriors girls were 4-6 in league dual meets and tri-meets, giving both teams fourth place in the six-team standings. "We ended up being right in the middle," Arias said.

In a normal academic year cross country is a fall sport and track and field is a spring sport. The compression of CIF sports for 2020-21 ended Fallbrook's cross country season March 12. Arias opted not to compete in the league races the following week and gave his runners a week off between cross country and the start of track and field practice. Fallbrook's first track and field meet took place March 25 at Carlsbad.

"Their legs were not fully recovered, so we kind of eased into the season," Arias said.

The compression of the seasons also limited the number of track and field meets. "The good news is that we're going back to full-time next year – we hope," Arias said.