In an attempt to pick the most memorable moment from this past season, Mater Dei coach Rick Martinez points to senior Ashlyn Rambo.
In 2013, Rambo didn’t have quite as productive of a track season as she envisioned. She dealt with Mononucleosis, which can leave the body feeling weak and tired for long periods of time, and she was also battling Anemia, which is an iron deficiency in the blood, which she said also left her feeling weak.
Rambo, who will continue her track career at Notre Dame, bounced back this season and finished fourth in the girls 800 meters at the CIF State Track and Field Championships in Clovis last weekend, and set a Division 2 record in the 800 at CIF-SS Finals with a 2:08.75.
Rambo’s strength, along with the excellence of the Radan sisters, Emma and Tara, and help from teammates Angie Carreras, Sarah Perez, McKenna Caskey, Emily Crum and Kau ilani Miki-han helped propel the Monarchs to a fourth consecutive girls county championship. Mater Dei also won the Trinity League.
Those feats helped Martinez earn the Register’s girls track and field coach of the year honor for 2014.
“We are definitely on top of things,” Martinez said. “It has a lot to do with the girls taking pride in being the best program in Orange County. As well as my coaching staff, they have done a phenomenal job reinforcing to these girls the team aspect of the sport.”
On top of Rambo’s CIF championship in the 800, Emma Radan won the Division 2 title in the 100-meter hurdles and Caskey took home a CIF championship in the pole vault.
Mater Dei finished third in its division at CIF-SS Finals this year.
“I’ll always remember how dedicated he (Martinez) was,” Rambo said. “And how hard he worked for the program.”
Martinez led the Monarchs’ boys team to its first CIF-SS and state championships this year, as well.
Contact the writer: amorales@ocregister.com
