This season, Girls Track and Field has been dedicating hours to keep improving and honing in on their specific events. They have just started league and have their eyes set on making it to CIF.
Before their first league game, the girls competed in multiple invitationals and multi-team meets. Their first invitational of the season was at Santa Margarita High School. At this invitational, the Wolverines competed against 12 other public and private high schools. Unfortunately, the girls did not place very well in this meet, but it was early in the season, so improvement has been made.
Jaslene Massey (11) won first place in shotput with an incredible 47 feet and ten inches, beating second place by over 15 feet. Massey also won discus with 146 feet and eight inches, this time beating second place by almost 100 feet!
When asked how track athletes continue to perform well, Head Coach Patricia Lusar says, “We train our athletes to work hard towards personal records and not worry about what the other team is doing. When athletes PR, they win.”
On March 8, the girls competed in the 45th Irvine/ASICS Track and Field Invitational. Overall, Aliso placed seventh out of 35 schools. Some of the biggest accomplishments in this meet were:
In the sprints, Emma Cox (10) placed sixth with a time of 12:66 in the 100m, Grace Fenick (10) placed 25th with a time of 13:20, and her sister, Isabella Fenick (10) placed 27th with a time of 13:24. In this meet there were over 60 girls competing, so Aliso did very well compared to other schools. In the 4×100 Relay, Aliso placed ninth out of 20.
In the long distance, Camilia Abaraca set a season record of 5:29.23 in the 1600M and placed eleventh overall, and in the 3200M, she placed seventh overall with a new personal record of 11:53.68. Aubrey Fletcher (11) placed 23rd in the 1600M with a time of 5:39.71, and in the 3200M, she placed twelfth with a time of 12:14.82.
In the throws, Massey placed first in both shot put and discus, with 48 feet and seven inches in shot put and 143 feet and 11 inches in discus.
On March 12, the Wolverines played the Capo Valley Cougars and crushed them with a score of 87-38.
The first event of the meet was the sprints. In the 100M, Aliso held the top three spots. Emma Cox (10) placed first with a time of 13.03. Cambria Kaminski (11) placed second with a time of 13.29. Third place was Aliana Villa (11), who set her season record at 13.69. In the 200M, Aliso also held the top three places. Cox with a time of 27.17, Kaminski ran a 27.49, and Maxine Pascual ran a 27.76. The 400M was won by Pascual with a speedy 1:02.75
In the long distance, Nadia Bonfanti got second place in the 800M with a time of 2:28.59. In the 1600M, Bonfanti ran a 5:43.21 to earn fourth place and Abarca received fifth place with a time of 5:44.24.
The Wolverines cruised over the hurdles by having three girls place in the top five. Julia Carson (11) ran the hurdles in 19.39 to earn third place. In fourth place, Samantha Claxton (10) ran a 19.59 and Liesl Merkh (11) earned fourth by running a 20.94. In the 300M hurdles, Claxton got first place with a season record of 53.41.
The girls won first and second place in the 4×100 relay with amazing performances from Villa, Kaminiski, Pascual, and Cox, who ran a 49.78, while Tessa Hatzman (10), the Fenick sisters, and Zooey Cooperrideer (9) ran a 52.27. The girls also won the 4×400 relay with a quick 4:57.69.
As always, Massey placed first in both shotput and discus. However, there were some amazing performances from Lilly Carey (12), Ambber Morales (12), and Ariana Zeen (12).
In the jumps, Aliso placed in the top three in pole vault, long jump, and triple jump.
Triple jumper, Abigail Hwang (10), says, “My favorite part of the season is competing at a high level and working on the mechanics during track meets.”
The Aliso Girls Track and Field’s next league game is on March 27 against the San Clemente Tritons.
