BOYS
Cathedral's winning 4x200 relay team (l-r) Mikal Gammage, Anthony Taylor, Lennard Marshall, Elijah Islam (Jeffrey Parenti photo)
4x200 (MR: 1:27.48)
- 2018 Winter Champion: Carson 1:29.90
2019 Teams to watch: The Cathedral team of Anthony Taylor, Lennard Marshall, Mikal Gammage, Samadhi Soph roars in with a qualifying best of 1:32.05. Keep an eye on the team from Pitman (SJ) of Quincey Williams, Michael Moore, Ty Thomson, Guillermo Francis. Thomson had a best of 22.18 last year and Moore went 22.26. Dana Hills' anchor Nathan Fatigate has gone 22.47. Great Oak's Grant Gaskins, scheduled to run third leg, has gone 22.50. Carson, the 2018 champion, is not entered.
- 2019 Champion: Cathedral 1:30.65
- Watch the 2019 race (above)
- Team Interview
How'd we do? The Cathedral team of Mikal Gammage, Anthony Taylor, Lennard Marshall, Elijah Islam improved on their qualifying mark to hold off the team we told you to watch, Pitman (1:31.99).
4x800 (MR: 8:05.29)
- 2018 Winter Champion: Rowland 8:06.90
2019 Teams to watch: There are nine teams entered here, four from Great Oak. The Wolfpack "A team" is scheduled to line up with Grayson Boyce, Chris Verdugo, Mateo Joseph and Ryan Shields with sights firmly affixed to the 2016 MR of 8:05.29 set by Long Beach Poly. Last year, Verdugo, a junior, went 1:57.37 for 800 meters, Boyce, a senior, went 1:57.62, Joseph, a sophomore, went 1:59.23. Pleasant Grove (SJ) is anchored by senior Nick Myers, whose 2018 best was 1:58.64. He's scheduled to take the baton from junior Andrew Jackson, who has covered the two laps in 1:58.76. Scheduled to run third leg for Dana Hills is junior Carrick Denker, who went 1:58.88 as a sophomore. Rowland, the 2018 champion, is not entered.
- 2019 Champion: Great Oak 8:02.91
- Check out the 2019 race (above)
How'd we do? The Wolfpack lineup of Boyce, Verdugo, Joseph and Shields set a meet record with runner-up Dana Hills also running below the previous meet standard in 8:03.55. Pleasant Grove did not make the trip from Northern California to compete.
SMR (MR: 1:31.63)
- 2018 CA Best: Dana Hills 1:34.80 (Irvine Winter Qualifier)
- 2018 Winter Champion: Dana Hills 1:35.00
2019 Teams to watch: Valencia is back to defend its title with a lineup of Kai Wingo, Tylyn Cook, Joel Isidro and Zaphyr Smalls but it won't be easy in this 17-team field. Cathedral has gone 1:34.20 and will send out Anthony Taylor, Lennard Marshall, Mikal Gammage and Samadhi Soph to challenge. Elsinore has a solid lineup of Adrian Romaniello, Kamari Maddox (10.80 for 100m), Branson Kaiser, Matthew Siggins. Great Oak is scheduled to line up with Bryce Lucas, Amar Mansaray, Grant Gaskins and Brandon McFadden. Gaskins anchored the 4x100 relay team that won the State title last June. Dana Hills' anchor Nathan Fatigate has gone 49.40 for the 400, the fastest in the field.
- 2019 Champion: Valencia 1:33.57
- Watch the 2019 race (above)
- Team Interview
How'd we do? Dropped the stick. Then tripped over our shoelace. So, yeah, not so well. First of all, Dana Hills won the 2018 title by .20 over Valencia (that has been corrected in the header above). We regrettably had that wrong. Valencia's Wingo said he was the reason they didn't have a three-peat because of how he finished the 2018 race. This year's 600m champion, made up for it with a strong anchor on Saturday to secure a second SMR title in three years with Cathedral (1:34.51), Moorpark (1:36.03), Sierra VIsta (1:36.27) and Dana Hills (1:36.62) in chase.
DMR (MR: 10:30.08)
- 2018 Winter Champion: Great Oak 10:35.40
2019 Teams to watch: In 2017, Claremont set the record in this event with an all-senior Great Oak team nearly 14 seconds behind in second. Two years later, a different Wolfpack quartet will take the line looking to re-write history. The team of Chris Verdugo, Mateo Joseph, Ryan Shields and Tyler Tickner (4:19.84 for 1600 last spring) were all on the line in Portland in December when Great Oak placed a second at Nike Cross Nationals. So, yes, this is a special group that is quite battle-tested. Claremont's "A team" of Aaron Reyes, Isaac Martinez, Vicente Huerta and Ryan Cowgill (4:14.55) along with the Agoura team of Beau Bordelon, Ryan Koepnick, Alex Mikaelian and Bryan Gasser could push the Wolfpack. Thousand Oaks is scheduled to have Mitchell Burr (4:22.90) on the 1600 anchor.
- 2019 Champion: Great Oak 10:41.64
- Watch the 2019 race (above)
- Team Interview
How'd we do: Once the entries came in, this one was simply a matter of how fast will the Great Oak A team go and by how much will they win? The answer to the second question is by almost three seconds over the Great Oak B team of Cole Sawires Yager, Micah Baird, Grayson Boyce and Cameron Hylton. Claremont, with AJ Reyes, Isaac Martinez, Vicente Huerta and Ryan Cowgill was third in 10:50.69.
Great Oak's Tyler Tickner takes the baton from Ryan Shields as Grayson Boyce from the school's B team, comes in to make his handoff to Cameron Hylton for the final leg of the DMR. (Brandon Miles photo)