Capo Valley's Lowery stands out at Triton Invitational

SAN CLEMENTE- After bursting onto the county scene in spectacular fashion last season, Capistrano Valley sophomore Gianna Lowery seems intent on continuing to show the form of one of the state’s top sprinters.

Lowery claimed both the 100m and 200m competitions for the second straight week and helped the Cougars win the 400m relay at the 2010 Triton ASICS Invitational Saturday at San Clemente High.

“I’ve worked on my form for the past couple months just try to go as fast I can,” said Lowery. “It gets harder as the years go on with faster people, but that makes me work harder.”

            Lowery started her day with a strong opening leg in the 400m relay, leading the Cougars to the win in a time of 49.33.

            She then pulled away down the stretch of the 100m, winning in a wind-legal time of 12.17, tied for the second best time in the state this season.

            Later, she pulled away early to win the 200m, posting another wind-legal time of 24.99, fourth best in the state this season.

            Esperanza produced a pair of race winners, as senior Natelie Fyke (2:18.08) claimed victory in the 800 and fellow senior Maggie Cummings (5:19.41) took home the win in the 1600.

            Irvine senior Margarita Matiks (130-11) won the discus competition, Newport Harbor junior Allison Krugman (11-0) claimed the pole vault title, Huntington Beach junior Drew Drysdale (5-2) was the top finisher in the high jump, and Northwood senior Christa Kondru (40-3½) was victorious in the shot put competition.

            It was a successful day on the boys’ side for Marina.

In the pole vault competition, Vikings senior Jeremy Kennedy cleared a lifetime best 15 feet, two inches to claim the title.

            “I am trying to continue my streak of consistency,” said Kennedy. “It worked in my favor to get that mark and that will help my confidence.”

            The boys’ 1600m race was won in meet record time by junior Karl Baranov (4:20.95).

            In the 800m competition, the Vikings went 1-2, as juniors Jason VanHamersveld (1:59.61) and Karl Weinberg (1:59.97) were the only competitors to finish in sub-2:00.

            Marina (10:32.89) also set the new meet record in the distance medley, shattering the previous mark set by Trabuco Hills (10:49.98) in 2006. 

            Canyon sophomore Cody Crampton cleared a life-time best of 6-8 to win the high jump competition.

            “I was going for my PR, and after that, it was to take each jump one step at a time,” Crampton said. “I set my goal to 6-8 and I got it.”

            In the best finish of the day, San Clemente senior Eddie Wallace (10.986) edged out Mission Viejo senior Joey Branker (10.990) to win the 100m dash.

            “I focused right on the finish line and went as fast as I could,” Wallace said. “I had a bad start, but I had better turnover speed and finished better at the end.”

            Mission Viejo senior Devalle Pedrogo defended his title from a year ago in the 110m hurdles, winning the competition in a time of 14.49, two hundredths of a second off the meet record.

            “My goal is to run good times and go out there and have fun,” Pedrogo said.

            He also led off the Diablos’ victorious showing in the 400m relay, as the team finished in a time of 43.30.

            Diablos senior Maurice Green had a strong performance in the field competitions, winning both triple jump (44-3) and the long jump (20-10) titles.

            For the second straight county invitational, Newport Harbor had the top two finishers in the shot put competitions behind junior Ryan Andrews (55-9¾) and senior Jake Taylor (55-6½).