Braves Go Undefeated In League!
St. John Bosco 71, Santa Margarita 65
In what could surly be titled "State Duel Meet of the
Year" the St. John Bosco Braves pulled out a split second
victory over the Santa Margarita Eagles. The meet was close
in terms of score through out the day with Bosco seemingly
always up, but only by one or two points. Margarita earned
valuable points in the sprints, while the Braves earned surprise
points in the High Jump and 400m Relay. The determining factor
of the meet would come down to both teams feature event - the
4x400 Relay. Going into that last event the score stood 61
for the Braves, to 61 for the Eagles. A win by Margarita would
put them up 5 points and give them the win no matter what the
out come of the triple jump, who's result points were still
unaccounted for. A win by the Braves would give them a comfortable
lead and cusion, as they expected the 5 point victory from
the triple jump.
Through two legs the Braves led commandingly as Josh Bradford
and Garrett Schott each ran splits of 49.4. However Margarita
countered with their power legs at positions 3 and 4. With
Bosco's Matt Young running a valiant 50.9 split, Brandon Clark
still managed to catch him making the last hand off a virtual
dead heat. Brave Joe Cowan and Margarita's Jeff Jacobs (trailing
slightly) battled down the back stretch. As Jacobs attempted
to make a very strong move with 125m to go Cowan had a burst
of energy as well and countered the move. With both athletes
unable to switch to another gear, it was up to their strength
to determine who would cross the line first. One this day Joe
Cowan came through for his team as he finished with a 48.6
split and a .1 victory to ensure the meet win! It was the first
time in Serra League history that the Braves were able to defeat
a Santa Margarita team as well as the first time the in League
history that a Braves 4x4 was able to hold off a Margarita "A" 4x400.
Congratulations to all the athletes that stepped up and did
their best on this day, you all deserve the title of "Champion!"
4x100m Relay:Going into the first race of the day the Eagles
had posted a faster seasonal relay time, 42.67 to the Braves
43.48. With that in mind, the Braves expected to make
a race out of it, but it wasn't certain that they could earn
the 5 points that came with the victory. As the gun sounded,
Brave, Matt Young dashed out of the blocks. He ran a flawless
turn and made up some of the stagger on the Margarita runner
outside of him. On the first exchange the baton made it through
smoothly to a powerful Joe Cowan who sustained what Young had
accomplished. Josh Bradford came through with a huge leg for
his team as he was able to pass his opponent and get the baton
around to Garrett Schott for the anchor. Schott closed with
a tremendous run to pull away as he crossed the finish line
first. St. John Bosco finished with a seasonal best time of
42.6.
1600m: Another toss up race here with Brave runner Randy Hills
having the slight edge time wise. It was a back and forth race
between Hills, Mike Powers (SM), and Daniel Estrella, but it
was Hills who would take advantage of his seasonal success
at this distance to put the field away in the last 150m. Hills
finished in a time of 4:25.0 for first as Estrella also PR
with a clocking of 4:27 for 3rd respectively.
110HH: The Braves Pat Cowan got an unexpected point here with
his 3rd place finish.
400m: This race would include two of Southern California's
top Junior quarter milers in Joe Cowan and Jeff Jacobs (SM).
Both runners had clocked times in the 48's at various points
in the season so the hype around this race was rather high.
At the gun both runners shot out and stayed even around the
turn. The back stretch saw Cowan make a slight move to create
distance between the two. Into the turn it looked as if Cowan
had control of the race, but a very strong willed Jacobs would
not relent. On the home stretch both runners began a furious
drive. With about 7 meters to go Cowan started to stumble a
little bit from fatigue and that was all his opponent needed.
Jacobs capitalized on that split second and took home the victory
48.4 to 48.6 for Cowan.
100m: An exciting race here saw Josh Bradford and Garrett
Schott take on Margarita's Brandon Clark. The race went in
favor of the Eagles as Clark edged Schott by a body length
to post a win here. Bradford finished a close third.
800m: Randy Hills looked in control of this race but could
not overcome a late surge by Margarita's Alex Caudana who took
the victory. Caudana made his move with 110m to go and Hills
could not respond to his opponents speed. Both runners posted
PR's
300IH: Joe Cowan would get to take out his 400m frustrations
here. His challengers would be two talented hurdlers from Margarita.
Their talent was apparent at the gun, as they got out strong
and cleared the first hurdle in front of Cowan. That didn't
phase Cowan however as he was determined not to lose again.
Around the turn he unleashed a powerful surge and never looked
back. Winning by over a second, Joe PR's with a time of 38.3.
200m: A rematch carried over from the 100m. Unfortunately
for the Braves the rematch would have the same results. Brandon
Clark needed a PR of 21.9 to defeat valiant runs by Brave's
Garrett Schott and Josh Bradford. Schott was previously undefeated
in League at that distance, and is the defending league champion.
The rematch at League Finals should be just as exciting.
3200m: Braves Daniel Estrella and Tony Martinez raced strong
but could not hold of a stronger run by Margarita's Mike Powers
as he earned his team 5 more points. Martinez finished in 2nd
with Estrella earning another point in 3rd.
4x400m Relay: Please See Recap above
Field Events: The High Jump saw an unexpected athlete come
into his own on this day. Roy Alugbue jumped 8 inches higher
then his previous personal best to clear 6'4". He won
the event and had three very narrow misses at a school record
of 6'7.25". With his huge step up and victory Roy earned
himself "Brave Athlete of the Meet"...Kevin Cape
was just as impressive in winning the Long Jump (22'1.5")
and the Triple Jump (43'6") to earn 10 points for his
team...Jorge De La Cruz won the Pole Vault...Ian Connell threw
the Disc to a personal best 140'11" |
