SD Prep Sports: Track & Field

www.geocities.com/sdprepsports

E-mail us at [email protected]

 

Home   Swimming/Diving   Cross Country  Track & Field   Roller Hockey   Water Polo   CIF Scorecard

 

San Diego Masters report

Metro qualifies three for state track finals

 

By Phillip Brents

 

POWAY, May 24, 2002 -- Officials might have difficulty correctly spelling her name but Chula Vista High School senior Kate Bartkewiecz knows exactly who she is — and where she is going.

Bartkewiecz equalled a career-best effort of 5 feet, 4 inches to claim second place in the girls high jump at Saturday’s San Diego Section Masters Track and Field Champion-ships at Poway High School to earn a select trip to today’s state preliminary meet at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

Only the top three finishers among the nine entrants at the Masters meet advanced to the state prelims. The state finals are Saturday at Cerritos College, starting at 2 p.m.

Bartkewiecz is believed to be the first Spartan high jumper to qualify for the two-day state finals meet in the past decade.

"I actually wanted to clear 5-6 but it didn’t happen. My PR is 5-4. I wanted to beat it," she said.

Bartkewiecz jumped 5-4 at the Poway Track Festival in midseason to extend her school record in the event. She began her career by jumping 4-10 as a freshman and 5-2 as a sophomore.

The CVHS high jumper was one of three athletes to clear 5-3 to qualify for the state meet. Bartkewiecz finished second to Mt. Carmel freshman Lindsay Whetstine, who also cleared 5-4. Rancho Bernardo senior Shalane Gutierrez was third at 5-3.

"I had a bad past few weeks recovering from injury. Everyone who got here, their PRs were about the same. Anyone who didn’t have the wind against them had a chance of winning," Bartkewiecz said. "I’d had a week of practice. I came into this meet at fifth. There was no pressure on me. There was pressure on the top three."

Of the top three seeded jumpers, Whetstine (seeded second) finished first, Gutierrez (seeded first) finished third while RBV’s Natassja Hall (seeded third) finished sixth at 5-2. Granite Hills senior Misty Brewster (seeded ninth) was fourth at 5-2.

Bartkewiecz was obviously excited about making the state meet. "I’ve made CIF finals every year. I’d never done well until now," she said.

"Every year, she has gotten a little better. This year, she was consistently clearing 5 feet, 5-2, close to clearing 5-6," said Spartan high jump coach Judd Rachow. "If you look at the finals, it was pretty equal. Most had jumped 5-4 at some point this season. It was whoever made the fewest mistakes. I thought she would do well, at least get into the top three."

Bartkewiecz will be joined by two other Metro Conference athletes in today’s state prelims: Sweetwater senior Aigamarie Taumua and Red Devil junior Jamar Williams. Taumua, last year’s Masters champion in the girls shot put and fourth-place medalist at the state finals, finished second in her specialty event last Saturday while Williams, who was ranked second in the section in the boys triple jump, finished third to also secure a berth in the exclusive Cerritos College meet.

Taumua (42-0) finished runner-up to San Marcos senior Raeanna Makihele (43-7) while Williams (45-23/4) trailed Rancho Bernardo senior Keno White (49-83/4) and Helix sophomore Frank Green (46-63/4). Taumua’s best last year was 46-2. She entered the Masters meet with a seed mark of 43-111/4.

"She’s doing a good job but hasn’t improved her distance as much as we thought she might have this year, but maybe that’s because she hasn’t been pressed. But she has the potential," said SuHi coach Tim Latham of Taumua, who is among the top five ranked individuals in the event in the state.

Williams, who entered Saturday’s meet with a jump of 46-41/4, ranks near the top 10 long jumpers in the state.

This year’s Masters meet was not kind to a pair of other highly-seeded South Bay track standouts: Mar Vista sophomore Troy Swier and Chula Vista junior Jackie Mandy.

Swier, seeded first in the boys 1600-meter run and second in the 3200 run, finished fourth and sixth, respectively. The reigning South Bay League champion in both events was within a few feet of nailing down the third position in the shorter distance before he was unexpectedly passed just inches from the finish line by RBV junior Artemo Mateo for the final state qualifying position.

Swier declined comment after the race, though race-winner Abadir Barre of Mt. Carmel did not.

"I was actually going to go out hard and see if he could hang with me. But I was boxed in, so I couldn’t’ take out the pace. Therefore the race went out slower. I had to change my strategy to run a faster last half-mile to get the win," said Barre, who pulled away in the final 150 meters to win in 4:18.39 over runner-up Taylor Williams of Helix (4:19.81).

Mateo timed 4:20.29 to edge Swier (4:20.36) who had led the pack through most of the opening two laps. Swier’s seed time had been 4:18.31 — Barre’s 4:20.56.

A two-time state qualifier in cross country, Williams said recovery from a stress fracture was the key to earning his first trip to the state track finals. He had the leading time in the 3200 in the county when he incurred the injury last year.

In the 3200, Swier (9:41.97) was well off his seed time of 9:26.00.

Mandy was seeded second in the girls 400-meter dash and moved to third on the outside heading into the final straightaway but faded to fifth in 57.86. Mandy had finished second at the prior weekend’s Division I finals in 57.80 while the four runners finishing ahead of her last Saturday all significantly improved their times. Champion Shakara Lott (55.41) of University City and Mt. Miguel junior Danisha Bryant (third, 57.04) improved their seed times by more than two seconds each. Mandy finished ninth in the 200 in 26.33 (below her seed time of 25.56).

In other events, Bonita Vista’s Russ Foster was fourth in the boys shot put at 52-6 while Eastlake sophomore Solie Gonzales was fourth in the girls shot put (37-93/4) and Sweetwater junior Jordan Rosure was fourth in the boys triple jump (45-01/2) and seventh in the long jump (20-4). Eastlake senior Ryan Bartsch finished fifth in the boys 110 high hurdles (15.35) while Chula Vista’s Sophia Marquez was ninth in the girls 800-meter run (2:20.73) and sophomore teammate Lani Morris was ninth in the 400 meters (1:00.18).

Eastlake’s 4x100 boys relay team finished seventh in 43.38.

 

CIF Division Finals report

Swier, Taumua led Metro tracksters at CIF finals

By Markus Berzen

POWAY, May 18, 2002 -- The San Diego Section¹s track and field championships were held at Poway High School last Friday and Saturday. Athletes from the South Bay fell short of the strong North County track and field programs and there were few South Bay top finishers. There were, however, two exceptions as Mar Vista sophomore Troy Swier and Sweet-water senior Aigamarie Taumua generated outstanding performances.

Swier was most triumphant of all South Bay athletes. After winning the Metro Conference finals boys mile- and two-mile races with flying colors, Swier started the day by winning the Divison II mile race with the excellent time of 4:18.31. The two-mile race was thought to be more of a challenge and Swier expected a tough battle against Valley Center junior Gus Polito. It looked like it would be a battle to the finish line, but Swier passed Polito in the last curve and Polito could not answer on the final stretch. Swier won with a time of 9:26.00 after a tactically perfect race.

"It was awesome," said Swier about his results. "I thought Polito would have enough strength to beat me in the end, but he didn’t"

The Mar Vista standout can now look forward to Saturday¹s Masters meet where he will meet up with Helix¹s Babey Wagnew, who easily won the Division 1 two-mile race with a time of 9:25.61.

The Masters meet, which will send the top three finishers in each event to the state preliminary meet May 31 in Cerritos, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. with competition in the girls pole vault.

Taumua has completely dominated the girls¹ discus and shot put this season. She started the Division I competition at Poway on a low note as she ended up in seventh place in the discus event after one of her worst results of the year. But she was not going to let anything get in her way in the shot put as she won the event with a throw of 43-11.5.

"I’m not really happy with the result. I wanted to get at least 45 feet," Taumua said. ³My bad result in the discus bothered me during the shot put."

Taumua, who places very high demands on her own performance, finished fourth in the shot put at last year¹s state finals. Perhaps that is one reason why she has not lost a single shot put event this year.

Sweetwater got a good effort in the triple jump from Roderick Williams, who finished in second place with a jump of 46-4.25. Jordan Rosure, also from Sweetwater, took fifth place in the triple jump (43-4.75) and sixth place in the long jump (20-7.75).

Chula Vista produced one of the best performances by South Bay teams overall with six athletes finishing among the top six place-finishers.

Jackie Mandy grabbed second place in the 400-meter dash with a 57.80 time and Kate Bartkewiecz managed a fourth-place finish in the girl¹s high jump (5-2).

Eastlake, which is usually strong in the sprint events, could not budge the powerhouses of El Camino, Helix, University City and Rancho Bernardo. The top Eastlake finishers were Solie Gonzales, who took fourth place in the girls shot put (37-11.5) and Ryan Bartsch, who managed a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles (15.17).

Russell Foster of Bonita Vista came in third place in the boys shot put with a throw of 53-1.25. Also from Bonita Vista, Nick Amalfitano took fifth place in the boys 800-meter race (2:00.77).

The state finals are June 1, also at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

 

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1