MISSION VIEJO – The competitive environment at practice is creating winning results in meets.
Behind individual wins by Gabe Warner and Scott Patton, Woodbridge won the Orange County Track and Field Championships boys team championship at Mission Viejo High on a Saturday that began cool and overcast and became cold, drizzly and at times rainy.
It is Woodbridge’s first boys championship in the county meet. Mission Viejo was boys champion the past two years.
The Warriors won the 400-meter relay in a meet-record setting time of 41.75 and took the 1,600 relay in 3:21.05. They needed to finish two places higher than Dana Hills in the 1,600 relay, the meet’s final event, to win the team title and did so. Dana Hills finished fourth in the relay.
Woodbridge finished with 81 team points to Dana Hills’ 78.5. Los Alamitos was third at 41.5.
Warner won the 400 and 200, participated on the relay teams including running the anchor leg in the 1,600 relay and was named top boys sprinter of the meet. Patton won the 100 and was also on the relay teams.
Patton credited Warriors coach Aaron Craver and the track program’s competitive environment for Saturday’s success.
“Times are dropping across the board at our school,” Patton said. “It’s a great team to practice with. That’s how we keep getting better.”
Warner said he is confident the improvement will continue. He said the Warriors are “not even close” to becoming as good as they can be in the 400 relay, in which he ran the second leg.
“Our handoffs are decent,” he said, “But they can get a lot better.”
Warner took an early lead in the 400 and at the end held off Los Alamitos’ AJ Carty, who was second at 48.36. Warner would prefer to be the runner catching up and passing the leader in the final meters.
“I’m used to chasing other guys,” Warner said. “I love doing that.”
Brea Olinda junior Austin Tamagno felt ill early Saturday. His running was healthy.
He finished the 800 in 1:52.33 to win the event, set a personal best and tie the meet record that was set by Valencia’s Sean Krinik in 2010. Tamgano, recovering from a virus and sinus infection, took the lead early in the race and won it by almost three seconds.
“I wasn’t feeling normal like I usually do,” Tamagno said. “Then I went to the starting line and just gave it my all. After the first 100 (meters) I was feeling pretty good so I just went for it.”
Tamagno, named top boys distance runner of the meet, is looking forward to the Crestview League championships in two weeks in which he plans to compete in the 800, 1,600, 3,200 and distance relays. He plans on solely running the 1,600 in the CIF-Southern Section meet next month.
Connor Meech had a double day. The San Juan Hills senior won the 110 hurdles in 14.64 then turned in one of the day’s better performances in winning the 300 hurdles. He logged a 37.52, only 0.03 seconds off of the meet record set by Tustin’s Dominique De Grammont in 1997.
Meech targeted the De Grammont record.
“I saw that record and really wanted it,” Meech said. “But then the weather took over. Mentally, running into the wind sort of drains you and after the first 100 (meters) the rain got into my eyes. But it was a fun race and I had a blast.”
Meech said, “I know I can get those times down. I definitely need to work on my last 100 meters, on my form, just stay more technical and more compact there.”
Sage Hill senior CJ McCord won the high jump at 6 feet, 8 inches. He has been fairly inactive this season because of knee pain that started during basketball season.
“This gives me the confidence that maybe I can go higher,” McCord said. “Hopefully, this carries over to CIF.”
Valencia senior Nick Coghill won the shot put and finished second in the discus. Coghill, who like so many throwers is an outstanding football player (he was Empire League lineman of the year as a defensive tackle), tossed the shot 61-2. His best discus throw Saturday was 180-8.
Mater Dei’s Malik McMorris won the discus at 185-2. McMorris’ state-leading mark is 194-8.
Coghill, named field events athlete of the meet, was happy to beat a strong shot put field that included McMorris and Esperanza sophomore Bronson Osborn who was second at 60-7.
“It feels really good,” Coghill said. “They’re all really good throwers.”
Marina’s Jett Gordon, the county leader in the pole vault at 16-0, did not compete Saturday because of a shoulder injury.
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ORANGE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
At Mission Viejo High
BOYS
Team Results
1. Woodbridge 81; 2. Dana Hills 78.5; 3. Los Alamitos 41.5; 4. Trabuco Hills 31; 5. Mater Dei 30; 6. Servite 29; 7. Esperanza 20; 8. San Juan Hills 20; T9. Valencia 19; T9. Mission Viejo 19
Individual Results
100m – 1. Patton (Woodbridge) 10.86; 2. Young (Woodbridge) 10.98; 3. Mitchell (Tesoro) 10.99; 4. Hernandez (Mater Dei) 11.17; 5. Diego-Williams (JSerra) 11.17
200m – 1. Warner (Woodbridge) 21.75; 2. Young (Woodbridge) 22.39; 3. Galloway (Aliso Niguel) 22.48; 4. Douglas (Los Alamitos) 22.50; 5. Carty (Los Alamitos) 22.60
400m – 1. Warner (Woodbridge) 48.19; 2. Carty (Los Alamitos) 48.36; 3. Resong (Servite) 48.49; 4. Mitchell (Santa Margarita) 49.37; Atencio (Yorba Linda) 49.52
800m – 1. Tamagno (Brea Olinda) 1:52.33; 2. Heib (Los Alamitos) 1:55.31; 3. Lamberth (Canyon) 1:55.66; 4. Kossick (Edison) 1:55.71; 5. Burciago (Huntington Beach) 1:56.17
1600m – 1. Ogden (Dana Hills) 4:14.37; 2. Coppi (Dana Hills) 4:14.65; 3. Burkhardt (JSerra) 4:16.64; 4. Dunne (San Clemente) 4:17.69; 5. Cruz (El Modena) 4:17.77
3200m – 1. Gleason (Huntington Beach) 9:10.72; 2. Coppi (Dana Hills) 9:13.68; 3. Ogden (Dana Hills) 9:14.51; 4. Price (St. Margaret’s) 9:23.87; 5. Suarez (Santa Ana) 9:25.35
110HH – 1. Meech (San Juan Hills) 14.64; 2. Bayr (Dana Hills) 14.73; 3. Hurd (Trabuco Hills) 14.77; 4. Atencio (Yorba Linda) 15.00; 5. Sun (Woodbridge) 15.22
300IH – 1. Meech (San Juan Hills) 37.52; 2. Hurd (Trabuco Hills) 38.18; 3. Paton (Mission Viejo) 38.79; 4. Gomez (Los Alamitos) 39.08; 5. Sun (Woodbridge) 39.65
400 relay – 1. Woodbridge 41.75; 2. Mater Dei 42.82; 3. Santa Margarita 42.83; 4. Aliso Niguel 42.89; 5. Fountain Valley 43.68
1600 relay – 1. Woodbridge 3:21.05; 2. Servite 3:21.33; 3. Los Alamitos 3:24.55; 4. Dana Hills 3:25.83; 5. Western 3:30.35
HJ – 1. McCord (Sage Hill) 6-06; 2. Pounds (Cypress) 6-04; 3. Davis (Santa Ana) 6-02; 4. Beynon (Edison) 6-0; 5. Secrest (San Clemente) 6-0; T5 Kuehnel (Sage Hill) 6-0
LJ – 1. Harris (Orange Lutheran) 22-11.50; 2. Romero (Dana Hills) 21-11; 3. Robinson (Kennedy) 21-08.75; 4. Mitchell (Tesoro) 20-09; 5. Patton (Woodbridge) 20-07.75
TJ – 1. Robinson (Kennedy) 45-05.50; 2. Kappes (Dana Hills) 43-02.25; 3. Nesbit (San Clemente) 42-11; 4. Fimbres (Sonora) 42-10; 5. Patton (Woodbridge) 42-08.25
PV – 1. Newman (Trabuco Hills) 14-06; 2. Shank (Servite) 14-06; 3. Doerr (Trabuco Hills) 14-0; 4. Baxter (Dana Hills) 13-06; 5. Ridder (Dana Hills) 13-06
SP – 1. Coghill (Valencia) 61-02; 2. Osborn (Esperanza) 60-07; 3. McMorris 59-10.25; 4. Meyer (Esperanza) 53-11.75; 5. Smith (Mission Viejo) 53-02.50
DT – 1. McMorris (Mater Dei) 185-02; 2. Coghill (Valencia) 180-08; 3. Osborn (Esperanza) 175-04; 4. Wattenberg (JSerra) 172-03; 5. Parker (Dana Hills) 171-0
GIRLS
Team Results
1. Los Alamitos 83; 2. Mission Viejo 72; 3. Mater Dei 64.5; 4. Newport Harbor 56; 5. Canyon 45; 6. Santa Margarita 30; 7. Tesoro 29; 8. Dana Hills 28.5; 9. Fountain Valley 27.5; 10. San Clemente 27
Individual Results
100m – 1. Ojinnaka (Cypress) 12.05; 2. Limp (Los Alamitos) 12.22; 3. Turley-Young (Canyon) 12.44; 4. Ebanks (Valencia) 12.56; 5. Perez (Mater Dei) 12.60
200m – 1. S. Limp (Los Alamitos) 24.76; 2. Willingham (Los Alamitos) 24.82; 3. Ojinnaka (Cypress) 24.84; 4. Medley (El Toro) 25.14; 5. Gillian (Mission Viejo) 25.35
400m – 1. Willingham (Los Alamitos) 55.74; 2. Gillian (Mission Viejo) 56.50; 3. Bender (Newport Harbor) 57.09; 4. Tuttle (Fullerton) 57.53; 5. Fan (Aliso Niguel) 57.61
800m – 1. Durgy (Huntington Beach) 2:11.76; 2. Grohmann (Fountain Valley) 2:13.83; 3. Bartello (Laguna Hills) 2:15.70; 4. Daly (Dana Hills) 2:17.37; 5. Camarena (San Juan Hills) 2:17.39
1600m – 1. Gehrich (Tesoro) 4:47.70; 2. Izzo (Los Alamitos) 4:55.27; 3. Brumley (Tesoro) 4:56.15; Carroll (San Clemente) 4:56.55; Sienski (Edison) 4:58.58
3200m – 1. Gehrich (Tesoro) 10:32.56; 2. Izzo (Los Alamitos) 10:42.67; 3. Carroll (San Clemente) 10:49.0; 4. Kaloroumakis (Dana Hills) 10:49.05; 5. Deitch (Capistrano Valley) 10:53.0
100HH – 1. Turley-Young (Canyon) 14.76; 2. Bender (Newport Harbor) 15.02; Kratzberg (Newport Harbor) 15.16; 4. Duarte (Mission Viejo) 15.17; 5. Teegarden (Mission Viejo) 15.59
300IH – 1. Bender (Newport Harbor) 43.39; 2. Kratzberg (Newport Harbor) 44.50; 3. N. Merritt (Santa Margarita) 45.34; 4. Teegarden (Mission Viejo) 45.42; 5. Duarte (Mission Viejo) 45.71
400 relay – 1. Los Alamitos 47.34; 2. Mater Dei 48.11; 3. Santa Margarita 48.23; 4. Cypress 48.48; 5. Mission Viejo 48.55
1600 relay – 1. Los Alamitos 3:55.74; 2. Fountain Valley 3:56.73; 3. Mission Viejo 3:57.30; 4. Mater Dei 4:03.97; 5. Dana Hills 4:05.22
HJ – 1. Eddleman (Huntington Beach) 5-06; 2. Given (Los Alamitos) 5-05; 3. Ruotolo (Mater Dei) 5-02; 4. Edgar (Santa Margarita) 5-02; T5. Kittelsen (Crean Lutheran) 5-0; T5. Brown (Mater Dei) 5-0; T5. Lang (Mission Viejo) 5-0
LJ – 1. Ebanks (Valencia) 18-06.50; 2. Smith (Mission Viejo) 18-03.50; 3. Turley-Young (Canyon) 17-11.50; 4. Ruotolo (Mater Dei) 17-05.50; 5. Moss (Mater Dei) 17-02.25
TJ – 1. Ruotolo (Mater Dei) 37-06; 2. Coley (Mater Dei) 36-10; 3. Duarte (Mission Viejo) 35-09.50; 4. Allman (Trabuco Hills) 35-06; 5. Turley-Young (Canyon) 35-02
PV – 1. Baxter (Canyon) 13-03; 2. K. Merritt (Santa Margarita) 13-0; 3. Caskey (Mater Dei) 12-0; 4. Kao (Dana Hills) 12-0; 5. Thomas (Santa Margarita) 11-06
SP – 1. Williams (Mission Viejo) 39-06.75; 2. A La Torre (Newport Harbor) 38-02.50; 3. McArthur (Dana Hills) 37-01; 4. Tuavao (Canyon) 36-07.25; 5. Uipi (Orange Lutheran) 36-04.75
DT – 1. A La Torre (Newport Harbor) 139-0; 2. Pedro (Trabuco Hills) 130-02; 3. Chronister (San Clemente) 126-04; 4. Gillis (San Clemente) 126-02; Tuavao (Canyon) 124-03
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
