LAKE BALBOA — Every placement for Granada Hills boys track and field was needed, with the margin for error being microscopic during the CIF LA City Section Track and Field Championships at Birmingham.
Wins in field events and placements in distance events allowed Granada Hills the wiggle room it needed to capture its fifth consecutive title with 75 points. The Highlanders beat out second-place finisher Palisades, which had 68 points.
Senior captain Joaquin Ortega-Tomaselli was hoisted in the air in celebration. Ortega-Tomaselli was credited with the baton on the first leg of the 4 x 800 meters relay and his team was in third place. Ortega-Tomaselli closed the distance and the Highlanders earned a second-place finish and secured the points they needed to continue their reign in boys track and field.
The Highlanders girls team was runner-up, headed by a first-place finish in the 4 x 800 meters in 9:53.24, led by senior Kiana Diamond, sophomore Elena Medrano, sophomore Mia Abrego and senior Georgia Alexandrakis. Senior Samantha Pacheco took first in the 3,200 meters, clocked at 11:23.09.
“We were ranked third or fourth and it was going to be really close,” Ortega-Tomaselli said. “This race could get us to state because only the top two advanced. It was going to be a really close race and I had to put my head down and work hard on the second lap and I had close the gap between me and second place. My legs felt like Jell-O but I did it for my team and we are going to state.”
From photo finishes to unlikely championships, here’s a look at five key storylines from Thursday heading into the 106th CIF State Championship at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis.
Former baseball player lands as thrower
Granada Hills junior Kai Johnson grew up loving baseball. He started at t-ball and hoped to one day become a competitive player on his high school team.
But Granada Hills is a big school and only a few get selected.
Johnson was cut during his sophomore year. He didn’t get the anguish sit for long. Instead, he weighed his options. He started to unravel what his strengths were.
It turns out, the well-cut 6-foot-3 Johnson could do a different sort of throwing.
“People saw my size and the way I throw in baseball and that could translate well to track and field,” Johnson said. “People told me to try it. I tried it once at the park and fell in love with the sport.”
Johnson began working with several coaches, including Nick Garcia at Notre Dame (SO).
Johnson became a CIF Section champion with a discus throw of 126 feet and six inches. His achievement came less than a year after he was cut from the baseball team.
From dunking to high jumping
El Camino Real senior Lucas Le had a naturally high vertical, owing to his years of playing basketball.
So when he decided to try high jumping after his junior year, the fit seemed natural.
“All my friends did track and during my sophomore year convinced me to join,” Le said. “I just gravitated towards high jump. My basketball game was always high flying and was always working on dunking so high jump felt like a good transition from basketball.”
Gymnasts and gamers unite at pole vault
Freshman Leyla Kukhmazova was once throwing balls, spinning ribbons and twisting hoops on a padded floor, while her male counterpart, senior Evan Chong, never took an interest in sports until his sophomore year.
Kukhmazova was a rhythmic gymnast for 11 years while Chong played video games. Both decided to try track and found it at Granada Hills in Bridget Anderson. Anderson’s bubbly and energetic personality drew Kukhmazova and Chong into pole vault and in less than four months, the two became vaulting wizards.
“I found my talent and I found my people,” Chong said.
Kukhmazova won the girls title, pulling herself to a meet best eight feet five inches and Chong took the boys title with a height of 12 feet.
“I always felt pole vault translated well to gymnastics,” Kukhmazova said. “I thought I should try it. The coordination is very similar. So is the speed.”
A credit to Anderson, who pole vaulted at UCLA from 1999-2004, won the Irish National Championship in 2000 before coaching stints with the Bruins and at CSUN.
Anderson cheered loudly, gave hugs and her voice stood out among the crowd.
“She’s just very supportive and she just has all of our best interest,” Chong said.
Abiragi dives for first
Cleveland sophomore Will Abiragi felt the presence of Garfield senior Ruben Mendoza coming from the outside.
Abiragi and Mendoza nearly collided, running past the finish line and then crumbled onto the track.
Abiragi got past the finish line first in 1:55.96, beating Mendoza by 6-hundredths of a second.
“The goal was to get out there, sit and kick when I thought I had it,” Abiragi said. “That’s what I did.”
As it turns out, Abiragi is another athlete who was cut from a team sport and discovered track. Abiragi was a former soccer player but missed out on a roster spot for the Cavaliers. He said 200 kids tried out for the varsity team during his freshman year.
That’s when Abiragi turned to track. Now he’s a section champion as a sophomore.
“I went out and joined the cross country team and gave it everything I got,” Abiragi said.
North Hollywood frosh unlocks high jump
North Hollywood freshman Brycelyn Pettigrew’s eyes were in disbelief after jumping over the high bar.
To her right from the white fenced coaching barrier was Kevin Weaver, a former UCLA high jumper who finished second in the state as a high school senior out of McKinleyville in 1999.
The stunned face of Pettigrew soon locked eyes with Weaver, who knew what he was seeing in the freshman. Weaver had watched Pettigrew spike volleyballs during one of his physical education classes at North Hollywood and deduced she’d make for a quality high jumper.
Pettigrew jumped a personal record 5-feet-4 inches on her first try after capturing first at a height of 5-foot-2.
“Ever since we started, (Weaver) has just continued to preach technique,” Pettigrew said. “I just couldn’t believe all that hard work paid off. It was a great moment.”