Wildcat Track Splits

March 12th, 2015

Marin Catholic's Track Team had their first and only home track meet of the season on Thursday, March 12th, 2015.  We welcomed San Rafael and Justin Sienna into our stadium and it was a great day of track & field! 

On the women's side:  We had some outstanding performances on Thursday from our women!  Freshman Veronica Boyce got 2nd place in the 1600 meters with a time of 5:51.  Janet Miramontes won the 100 meter hurdles running the event all by herself!  In the 100 meters, we had 13 competitors out of a total 18 that were entered into the event.  Our very own Tiana Anderson won the 100 meters in a time of 13.5!  Sarah Ihnken came in, in 3rd place with a time of 13.7 and had some troubles with her blocks slipping at the start of the race.  Danielle Fabiano, Bailey Ash and Shannon Farney came in right after in 5th, 6th and 7th place.  In the 800 meters, Julia Redman ran a great time in 2:37 after only just a couple weeks of practice.  Freshman Veronica Boyce came in seven seconds after Julia in 6th place at 2:44.  In the 300 hurdles we had Janet Miramontes and Alison Chuljian take one for the team and run this event for us to get some points.  They ran really well , Alison got 2nd and Janet got 3rd place.  This was just one of the times that our athletes stepped up to help the team in an off event.  A true testament to their character!  Sarah Ihnken came back in the 200 meters and got 2nd place with Tiana Anderson right behind her in 3rd place.  The Bell sisters, Lilly and Ashley got 5th and 6th places in the 200 meters respectively.  The long jump was another event where MC dominated.  We had 11 of the 13 competitors in the event.  Sarah Ihnken continued her great day with an amazing jump of 17'1" and won the competition by over two feet!  Bailey Ash got 3rd place and Janet Miramonetes came in right after in 4th.  MC then placed 6th -13th in the event.  Another great story was of Elaine Shaw in the shot put.  About three weeks ago, Elaine was a distance runner but came down with an injury and couldn't continue.  It was suggested by Tim Fitzpatrick, our distance coach, that she should try the shot put.  Anyways, after training in the event for three weeks she came in, in 2nd place out of eight competitors!  She threw it 22'10" and the winner threw it 25'1".  This is such a great story!  We had one more story on the women's side of someone stepping into uncharted waters.  Addie Thompson wanted to help the team out because we didn't have any Triple Jumpers, so after  she worked with Coach Patton for about five minutes in the infield she gave it a go!  Well, she made it to the pit and jumped 20'2" and won the competition!  Lastly, we had six of the eight competitors in the high jump and Alicia McHugh placed second with a jump of 4'8", with Ashley Bell  and Alaina McGuinn coming in right after her at 4'6".  In the end, the women beat San Rafael, 81-34, but lost to Justin Sienna 77-51 to begin the season 1-1.    

On the men's side:  The relay team of Glasser, Margulis, Juarez and Peterson got the meet off to a great start by running a blazing fast time in the 4x100 meter relay and winning the race in 45.1 seconds! The sky is the limit for this group!  Michael "Max" Glasser continued to impress by placing 2nd in the 400 meters in an amazing time of 53.5 seconds!  If you don't know track and field, this is a very, very fast time for a freshman.  Hunter Juarez came in right after Max in 3rd place in 54.6 seconds!  Both Hunter and Max are on our 4 x 400 relay team as well.  Darius Peterson came back after a win in the 4x100 relay to also win the 100 meters in 11.6 seconds!  Will Buckstaff placed 3rd in 12.0 and Nader Afrikhan placed 4th in 12.3 seconds.  Almost a clean sweep!  Peter Kent set a personal best in his first 800 meters of the season by running a 2:12!  This was only two seconds off of the win.  Peter has come a long way in this his 2nd season of track and field.  In the 300 hurdles we had another one of those stories that you just want to keep telling everyone.  A little back story first....earlier in the meet, we noticed no men competing in the 110 Meter hurdles and we were scrambling trying to find someone to fill in and Andrew Colletti stepped up and basically said "put me in coach!"  It was a little too late for that event as they started removing the hurdles, but later in the meet when we needed someone in the 300 hurdles, I took Andrew up on his offer.  He placed 2nd in the race and only lost by two seconds with zero hurdle training!  Darius Peterson came back in the 200 meters to place 2nd in 23.5, with freshman Max Glasser right behind in 4th place at 24.3 seconds.  Will Thompson closed the individual events on the track with a great win in the 3200 meters in 11:24.  Ian Converse placed 3rd in 12:20.  In the field, Darius continued his great day with another first place in the long jump!  He jumped 19'7".  We did complete the clean sweep in the long jump by going 1,2,3, with Margulis and Sullivan coming in right behind in 2nd and 3rd place.  There is one event that we seem like we are going to dominate in every meet and that is the men's pole vault.  Wow, we have a crew out there!  Luca Sullivan won the pole vault in 13'0", with Jack Rodriques following right behind in 12'6".  We also placed 3rd and 4th with Killpack (12'0") and Narodny (11'0").  Watch out for this group everyone!  In the shot put, Max Mani placed 4th in his first ever shot put competition.  He has only been throwing for about two weeks!  Chantz Russell got 6th and Frankie Bondanza came in 8th place.  Max Mani followed the shot put with another 4th place in the discus event.  Marcus Narodny won the triple jump by a foot in 34'8" and freshman Liam Oprendek tied for 2nd in the high jump with a personal best of 5'8".  On the men's side, we beat San Rafael 88-29, but lost to Justin Sienna in a nail biter, 65-61.  We now know that we have some boys on the JV team that can step up and bridge this gap for us. 

The JV Boys: They started the meet with a dominating victory in the 4x100 meter relay in 48.6 seconds!  Next, the crew of Colletti, Brown, Smith and Wight went 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the 400 meters!  Nate Gernhard won the 100 meters in 12.2, with Valinoti right behind him in 12.3.  Colletti placed 4th in 12.5 with Oprendek right there with him at 12.5 as well!  Nate Gernhard came back for the double by winning the 200 meters in 25.4, with Jack Wight right on his tail at 25.5 in 2nd place.  Valinoti ran 25.7 to come in, in 3rd place.  Nico Dennis won all the jumps (long jump, triple jump and high jump)!  He won the high jump in 5'6".  He won the triple jump in 36'8" (this would have won the varsity event).  He also won the long jump in 18'8" which would have placed him 3rd overall in the varsity event.  Needless to say, Nico's time on the JV is over.  Henry Gardner placed 2nd in the high jump with a jump of 5'4".  The JV boys beat Justin Sienna 56-43 and beat San Rafael 61-20 to start the season 2-0! 

In the end, it was an amazing day for Marin Catholic Track & Field!  We represented in our home stadium exactly the way we should have.  We won many races and field events, we competed and gave 110% out there.  We also had many athletes on both sides step up and take one for the team.  Tons of volunteers came out and dedicated their time and really helped to make the meet a success.  These events can't happen without the generosity of volunteers, so we thank you!  We were also missing some of our athletes this week, so hopefully in our next meet at Novato this coming Thursday, March 19th, we can put on a show!  Come out and watch the Wildcat track team this season!   GO CATS!!!!