Sea Kings, Panthers Duel On The Track
• Traditional dual meet provides excitement for track and field fans.
Peninsula High hosted crosstown rival Palos Verdes High in Bay League track and field on Tuesday, April 16. The Sea Kings men and women varsity teams won, and the Panthers’ men and women frosh/soph teams won.
Peninsula junior Aiden Lieb won both the varsity 100 meters (11.25) and 200 meters (22.99). The 100 time was a personal best for Lieb. Palos Verdes senior Ryan Echeverria and Peninsula’s junior Josh Ling tied in a close second in 11.29.
Sea King senior Nathan Lanz also doubled, winning the varsity 800 (2:02), and the 3200 (10:07.7)
Palos Verdes sophomores Ife Ibraheem and Tatiana Grimes placed first and second in the girl’s varsity 100 and 200 meter races. Ibraheem won the 100 in 12.40 with teammate Grimes second in 13.36. Ibraheem took the 200 in 26.29 and Grimes set a personal record of 28.29.
In the boy’s varsity 400 meter race, Palos Verdes senior Herbert Grageda won (54.61) and Peninsula junior Arturo Espinoza (55.06) took second, both PRs.
In the girl’s varsity 400, Palos Verdes freshman Anna Terrell and PV juniors Samantha Steman and Savannah Scriven dominated the race, all three setting PRs. Terrell winning in 58.09, followed by Steman 1:05.02 and Scriven 1:05.68.
Palos Verdes girls’ and boys’ dominated all three spots in the 800 varsity meter races.
The Palos Verdes girls’ varsity 1600 meter runners also dominated, all five of their runners outlasting two of Peninsula’s.
In the boys’ varsity 1600 meter, Palos Verdes senior William Teets placed first, while Peninsula junior Ewan Macfarlane and senior Elijah Ding were second and third.
Peninsula senior Carlos Oceguda dominated the boys’ varsity shot put with a throw of 46.05. He also won the boys’ varsity discus with a throw of 122.10.
After the track meet, jumps team captain senior Isaac Hong, who leads Peninsula’s triple jump and long jump events, said, “I’m satisfied with the track meet since we were kinda the underdogs but mostly won against PV.” Peninsula lost in the long jump but dominated all top three spots in the triple jump.
Panthers’ Annabella Christen, the hurdles senior captain, said, “The meet went smoothly, and it was great to see some friends from PV who also run track. I run hurdles. It’s not the most popular event, but I felt like people were cheering for both teams. It was a great feeling.”
Christen went on to say, “I think that even though we lost to PV, most of us still had a pretty great time together. The senior ceremony was nice because both head coaches encouraged the two teams to all combine into one big team, which was really cool.”
The boy’s varsity 110 and 300 meter hurdle races were won by Palos Verdes sophomore Nicholas Michaels with two PRs (15.98) and (42.13)
On the girls’ varsity side, Peninsula sophomore Arisa Matsuzaki placed first in both the 100 meter hurdles (17.64) and the 300 meter hurdles. Her 49.75 300 time was her personal best. Peninsula’s Christen was second in both hurdle events, and Palos Verdes senior Tally Theder was third.
The PV vs. Peninsula track meet this year was competitive, as both teams gave tremendous efforts in all events.
Said Christen, “Lots of people talk about that ‘we’re a real family’ team feeling, and I didn’t understand it until senior year. The track and field team really feels like a family. I’m definitely gonna miss the family when I graduate.“
Christen’s advice for incoming freshman: “Theres gonna be tough runs, but it’s so worth it if you can cross that finish line with everything you’ve got.”
