SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Track & Field

San Diego Section midseason report

Metro athletes take to section's fast lane

By Phillip Brents

Posted April 23, 2003

Maybe it was the grind of three high profile meets in one week that finally got to Mar Vista High’s Troy Swier at last year’s San Diego Section Masters championships.
For whatever reason — be it fatigue, injury or illness — Swier was within only a few feet of qualifying for last year’s state championships in the 1600-meter run when something inexplicable happened. Instead of lunging for the finish line, he slowed down.

Pictured at right: Sweetwater's Lizette Villsana competes in the girls mile run in a March 27 all-comers meet against Hilltop and Our Lady of Peace.

That untimely action allowed RBV junior Artemo Mateo to pass Swier in the final foot of the race — handing Mateo third place and the final qualifying ticket to the state meet in Cerritos the following weekend and sending Swier to the sidelines in fourth place.
Swier had entered last year’s Masters finals seeded first in the 1600 and second in the 3200. He finished a disappointing sixth in the longer distance.

Inarguably the South Bay’s current top distance runner, Swier is hardly standing on the sidelines this season. The Mariner junior leads the section in both the 1600- and 3200-meter runs with times of 4:17.92 and 9:15.69, respectively. He is pushing to crash the top 10 runners club in the shorter distance in the state.

Swier is joined by a corps of elite South Bay athletes on the section leaderboard this spring. Trailing Swier for runner-up honors in the 1600 is Bonita Vista junior Ryan Becijos (4:19.05). Becijos is joined by a pair of Baron teammates on the midseason section leaderboard. Russ Foster ranks second in the shot put (56-11) while Justin Hillery ranks third in the 300 intermediate hurdles (39.70).

Among other top five South County section leaders are Sweetwater’s Jordan Rosure (second in the triple jump, 45-7.5) and Sherwin Brooks (fifth in the triple jump, 43-6.5), Eastlake’s Don Bonahoom (fourth in the discus, 165-6) and Chula Vista’s Jackie Mandy (fourth in the 400 meters, 58.58).

In relay events, Bonita Vista ranks fourth in the boys 4x400 relay with a time of 3:28.38.
Eastlake’s Solie Gonzales, who joined SuHi’s Rosure and BV’s Foster with fourth-place finishes at last year’s Masters meet, just missed the top five section cut in the girls shot put at 38-3.

At left, Abraham Martinez, a CIF wrestling champion, is a member of Sweetwater's standout pole vault team.

Metro honor roll
CV’s Mandy also tops conference runners with a 26.20 time in the 200 meters, followed by teammate Marla Mason at 26.91. Mandy is the returning Mesa League 200 and 400 champion while Mason is the returning league 100 dash champion.

Mason leads the conference with best fully electronic time in the 100, though Eastlake’s Brittany Lejia has clocked a 12.4 hand time in the event.

Sweetwater’s Joe Wynn (400) and Alfonso Hernandez (300 hurdles) are both returning Mesa League champions but find themselves trailing a pair of Barons at midseason. Wynn was chasing BV’s Joe Gaines (50.92) with a 51.40 time while Hernandez was chasing BV’s Hillery with a 41.45 time.

In field events, Eastlake’s Shannon Young topped conference discus throwers at 118-3 while Titan teammates Marina Pastrana (9-6) and Megan Wilkinson (9-0) led local pole vaulters. Youung and Wilkinson both won South Bay League titles in their specialty events last year.

Castle Park is led by J.R. Smith (long jump and triple jump) and Rudy Salazar on the boys side and Laquisha Rodgers (100 and 200 dashes) on the girls side.

Metro Conference Boys Top Marks
(Through April 13)
Running Events

(electronic times)
100: Craig Jackson (Eastlake) 10.9; D’Undre Byrd (Eastlake) 11.0.
400: Joe Gaines (Bonita Vista) 50.92; Joe Wynn (Sweetwater) 51.40. Section lead: 47.58 (state lead)
800: Javier Diaz (Sweetwater) 2:02.72; Troy Swier (Mar Vista) 2:03.0. Section lead: 1:56.73
1600: Troy Swier (Mar Vista) 4:17.92 (first section); Ryan Becijos (Bonita Vista) 4:19.05 (second section)
3200: Troy Swier (Mar Vista) 9:15.69 (first section); Ivan Villareal (Chula Vista) 10:05.51
110HH: Justin Hillery (Bonita Vista) 15.39; Daniel Chang (Bonita Vista) 15.76; Derek Gunter (Chula Vista) 15.78. Section lead: 14.59
300IH: Justin Hillery (Bonita Vista) 39.70 (third section); Alfonso Hernandez (Sweetwater) 41.45; Daniel Chang (Bonita Vista) 41.67. Section lead: 38.36
4x100 relay: Bonita Vista 44.11; Marian Catholic 44.14. Section lead: 41.89
4x400 relay: Bonita Vista 3:28.38 (fourth in section); Sweetwater 3:35.73. Section lead: 3:19.12

Field Events
High jump: Keith Spencer (Eastlake) 6-2. Section lead: 6-6.
Pole vault: Steve Nemecek (Chula Vista) 13-6; Joe Ziomek (Eastlake) 13-6; Fernando Romero (SuHi) 13-0. Section lead: 15-6
Long jump: Gene Smith (Castle Park) 21-6; Stefan Foster (Montgomery) 20-10. Section lead: 24-6 (state lead)
Triple jump: Jordan Rosure (Sweetwater) 45-7.5 (second in section); Sherwin Brooks (Sweetwater) 43-6.5 (fifth in section); Gene Smith (Castle Park) 43-2. Section lead: 48-4
Shot put: Russ Foster (Bonita Vista) 56-11 (second in section); Fred Smith (Southwest) 52-3. Section lead: 61-10.75
Discus: Don Bonahoom (Eastlake) 165-6 (fourth in section); Kevin Baer (Eastlake) 145-0; Steve Nemecek (Chula Vista) 144-5; Russ Foster (Bonita Vista) 144-4. Section lead: 179-3

Note: Based on reported results.