• Palos Verdes High kicked off the month with the annual PV Distance Day, a distance track race for Southern California schools.
The day began with the girls’ and boys’ 3200 meter races. The top five finishers in the girls’ heats included Arianna Griffiths, from Great Oak High School, with an incredible finishing time of 11:01.
Trailing right behind her was Palos Verdes High School’s Grace Catena, clocking in at 11:13.
Only a few seconds behind was junior Nadia Tabrizi, from JSerra High School, with a time of 11:23. Also from JSerra, the fourth finisher of the race was Marie Charhouri, who finished in 11:32.
The final finisher to make the top five was Sophia Atin from Crescenta Valley, who finished in 11:44.
The boys 3200 meter heats started the day off at a quick pace. Anthony Grover, from JSerra, set the bar high, finishing in 9:36.
Chris Verdugo, from Great Oak, kept the fast pace and got the job done in 9:42.
Only seconds behind was Carter Walch, from Crescenta Valley, who clocked in at 9:48.
The only Sea King to make top five out of all heats was junior Wade Nygren, who finished in 9:49, only one second behind his competitor. Spencer Geck, of Crescenta Valley, was the last racer to place in the top five with a time of 9:57.
The girls ran the 800 heats next and lit up the excitement in the crowd. Great Oak spiked up the track with three girls in the top five, all in a row.
Fatima Cortes finished in 2:14 with her teammates, Ericka Burgess (2:22) and Savannah Ek (2:27.33) following right behind.
An intense finish between Ek and Sea King Savannah Scriven (2:27.75) was almost too close to call.
Brooke Inouye, from Mira Costa, also had an incredibly close finish in 2:28.
Great Oak and West Torrance kicked dust at their competitors in the boys’ 800 heats. Gavin Korby, from Great Oak, lead the pack with a time of 1:57.77. Only one spike behind Korby was Caleb Terrill from West, who clocked in at 1:57.85.
Carlos Carvajal, of Great Oak, kicked home in 1:58.32. The last senior of the bunch was Rory Abberton, from West, who finished the race in 1:59.34.
Ryan Shields, from Great Oak, was the only junior to make the top 5 of all heats and had a finishing time of 1:59.75.
The next event of the day was the 1600 race, in which the sophomore girls really picked up the pace and showed the track what they’re worth.
The top 5 for these races were all sophomores who set personal records for themselves.
Tori Gaitan from Great Oak ran out front and finished with a time of 4:57. Palos Verdes runner Samantha Steman clocked in at 5:09, right behind her competitor. In third was Audrey Dang from Great Oak, who finished in 5:12. Isabelle Buncab, from Great Oak, took it home with a time of 5:18. Buncab’s teammate, Aubrie Nex, was only seconds behind with a time of 5:21.
The boys’ 1600 heats were incredibly competitive and close.
Colin FitzGerald, from Crescenta Valley, took first in 4:22. Peter Herold of JSerra stuck to FitzGerald and finished in 4:23.
Orange Lutheran’s Kevin Mcnulty placed third out of all heats, clocking 4:24.
Great Oak had two teammates make fourth and fifth overall with times of 4:26.24 (Noah Nevens) and 4:26.78 (Tyler Tickner).
The final event of the day was the 4×400 relays. Each boy or girl ran 400 meters (one lap on a track) with a baton then handed it off to a teammate until the team finished.
The top three girls’ teams were Crescenta Valley and two relay teams from Palos Verdes.
Crescenta Valley’s total time for the four girls was 4:28.34. The relay teams from PV had times of 4:33.73 and 4:40.14.
West Torrance boys took first and second for the 4×400, with Crescenta Valley in third. West had times of 3:32.24 and 3:41.78. Crescenta Valley took third with a team time of 3:44.40.
