Carpinteria athletes qualified for the finals in five events at the CIF-SS Division 4 Track & Field Prelims at Carpinteria Valley Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Marely Avalos stepped up on her final throw to secure a spot in next weekend’s divisional finals in the girls discus. She threw a personal best of 105-11.
The finals in all divisions are at Moorpark High.
“She has been around a 100 fee all season,” said coach Van Latham of Avalos. “It was great to see her have a PR when it counted.”
Also in the throws, Eli Perez qualified in the sixth position in the boys shot put with a heave of 44-7.25.
“Eli has made some impressive gains in the last few weeks. What a great way to cap of his senior year with a trip to the finals,” said Latham.
Caroline Cooney nabbed the seventh position with a PR of 33-5 to move on in the triple jump
“Caroline started triple jumping midway through the season. It will be exciting to see what the freshman is capable of going forward,” said Latham.
The Warriors qualified for the finals in two track events: the girls 4×800 relay and the girls 100 hurdles. The relay team of Mila Martins, Cailyn Gillen, Jaqueline Guadian and Kiana Kiah ran 10:29.15 to finish eighth.
“This is a new event for the CIF Prelims. It is satisfying that the hard work of this group of girls is being rewarded with a trip to the finals,” said Latham.
Halleh Gahan is headed to the finals after clocking a PR of 16.72 in the 100m hurdles to finish ninth.
“Halleh has made technical advances in her hurdling technique that has paid big dividends the last couple weeks. The sophomore’s hard work and attention to detail has paid off this season,” said Latham.
The Warriors just missed qualifying in the girls 4×400 relay and boys 4×800. The girls team finished 10th in 4:12.79, just four-tenths of second behind the final qualifier. Seniors Vivian Huskins and Giarys Gomez had impressive splits of 59 seconds and 61 seconds.
The boys 4×800 relay team also finished 10th with a time of 8:36.99.
Huskins lowered her school record in the 200 meters with a time of 25.50 but did not advance to the finals.
“Although she didn’t qualify for the finals, it doesn’t diminish the outstanding accomplishments she earned this season. Vivian was the heart and soul of our girls team,” said Latham.
