Laguna Blanca’s Kevin Lunn came from the nether of the qualifying ranks to take second place in the boys 3200 meter prelim race at the CIF Division IV Prelims on Saturday, held locally at Carpinteria High School.
Lunn lopped off more than a minute from his qualifying mark, crossing the finish line in nine minutes and 36.48 seconds to advance to next week’s CIF Finals at Cerritos College.
Cate’s Nick Bern also kept his season alive, taking eighth place in the boys 800 with a time of 2:01.12. He finished sixth in his heat and hadn’t run in two weeks because of shin splints, so he didn’t feel he had run his best race even though his time bettered his qualifying time by 10 seconds.
“I ran the 600 too fast and didn’t having the closing speed I usually have,” said Bern, who will be running for the Amherst track program next year.
Carpinteria’s Evan Stanford, who qualified for the finals in the pole vault, holds a personal record of 12 feet and wants to at least match that next week.
“I think if I get my form down today then at the finals I can do pretty good,” he said.
Bishop Diego freshman Nicole Poindexter competed in three individual events and recorded three personal bests. She had career bests in the 100 meter, 200 meter and long jump.
“It’s kind of intimidating,” Poindexter admitted. “Everybody is seniors, juniors, sophmores, so it’s kinda scary but it’s really fun.”
Freshman teammate Christie Delgadillo could relate to the intimidation factor, but held her own in the girls 3200, beating out Providence’s Jaii Jaing by 0.22 seconds down the home stretch.
“At the end, when that girl was trying to pass me, that was kind of like my race,” said Delgadillo, knowing that she has three more years to improve on a 36th place finish. “It was a good experience and I know there is more time to get better. I’m just happy that I’m here.”
