Braves Come Out on Top Versus Eagles

It is too bad that the two most successful track and field squads since the inception of the Serra League had to meet each other at the beginning of the season of this the last year the original Serra League will be in existence. It would have been fitting had the two marquee teams in league battled it out one last "Serra League" time at the end of the season for all the marbles.

This was not t he case however as both the St. John Bosco and Santa Margarita track and field squads were scheduled as each other's opening league meet. Santa Margarita won the first two Serra league titles in 2000 and 2001 before the 2002 Brave squad could wrestle it away from them. Then in 2003 and 2004 the Braves would succumb to the Eagles in the dual meet only to regroup and take share of the league title at the Serra league finals. 2005 saw a strong Eagle team breeze though the Serra league only to meet a willing opponent in the Braves at the final dual meet. Santa Margarita would get the win after another classic battle between the two teams.

This time around the Braves finally regained the upper hand on the Eagles as they claimed a solid victory bolstered by strong all around performances. The 4x100 relay team of senior Craig Williams, junior Dwayne Giles and seniors Frank Islas, and Randolph White started the day off strong with an unexpected victory and a huge seasonal best performance of 43.68. Sophomore Chris De La Cruz (pictured above) then posted a huge personal best of 13 feet in the pole vault. The sophomore duo of Travion Smith and Tim Pardo had their hand in helping their team rack up points as Smith won the long jump with a personal best 20 feet 4 inches on his way to claiming 11 team points while Pardo contributed nicely by posting two huge personal bests after going 19 feet 9.5 inches in the long jump and 39 feet 6 inches in the triple jump. Craig Williams kept up the strong efforts with a victory in the 100 meters, while Dwayne Giles won the 400 meters in a personal best 51.88 and teamed up with Frank Islas in the 200 meters to gain more points. Senior Domingo Castellanos was the embodiment of consistency as he won both the shot put and discus with the later being a personal best mark of 141 feet 11 inches. Junior Victor Bonilla raced strong only to take solid seconds in both the 1600 and 3200 meters to all state runner Julian DeRubira.

While the Braves claimed victory over their fiercest rivals for the first time in a dual meet since 2002 they are in no way guaranteed the league title as major competition will come next Thursday from Mater Dei and in a month from Servite.

In lower level action freshman ruled the day as three outstanding performances shined through - Matt Hamlett claimed victory in the 400 meters and ran to a huge personal best in the 200 meters of 24.70 in claiming victory, Sergio Estrada ran his race to perfection in claiming victory in the 800 meters and Max Lubliner tackled the hurdles nicely then came back to win the high jump after only his second competition clearing a personal best 5 feet 6 inches.