Reader Submission: Eagles Soar at ASICS Irvine Invitational

(Submitted by Sean Zeitler, assistant coach for the Santa Margarita track and field team)

Although the Santa Margarita High Eagles didn't bring home a ton of P.R.'s (personal records) on the day, they did compete well with some of the perennial county powerhouses that were in attendance at the 32nd Annual ASICS Irvine Invitational.

Despite being a young and fairly inexperienced boys track and field team, the Eagles showed their toughness by competing well in their first true invitational of the 2011 season and bringing home some hardware in the process.  

At the frosh soph level, the quartet of Ryan Robbibaro, River Cracraft, Vince Hernandez, with anchor and veteran of the group, Matt Scott, took home second place overall with a time of 45.86. A group that was assembled less than two weeks ago took advantage of three quality passes around the track to run a respectable time with a quality finish.

Freshman Eric Abowd took home a lifetime best in the 1600 with his first sub-5 minute effort finishing in 4:54.72. Despite inconsistent 400m splits, a solid last lap sent Eric home happy with a time to build on as the season rolls on.

Sophomore sprinter Matt Scott brought home a very quick 11.65 100 meter time, run into a strong head wind on a track that is not conducive to quick sprint times. Irvine's soft surfaced track is not known to produce fast 100/200m times, compound that with a negative head wind and Scott's 11.65 was something to write home about. Matt's time would have placed him in the top 15 overall for all levels.

Jeff Spraker and Guido Marasigan represented the Eagles in the frosh/soph two mile and represented well. In a large field of the county's best freshman and sophomores, Jeff and Guido mirrored one another's negative splits of 5:11 and 4:58 to bring home two big P.R.'s with times of 10:09.99 and 10:10.09 to finish in 5th and 6th place, respectively.

Proving that we bring quality and not quantity, our only two frosh/soph field event representatives did not disappoint as vaulters Parker Curry and Mike Anderson took home top honors by finishing in first and second place in the boys pole vault.

Congrats to Parker, Mike, and all of the frosh/soph Eagles who competed Saturday. 

The varsity 4x100m team of Ryan Wolpin, Logan Sweet, Matt Graban, and county leading 100m runner Cory Thomson got their first official time on the season with a 5th place finish in 44.21. Despite a slow time, this team of three first-year track runners got their first taste of invitational competition and gained more experience in the process.

Senior Adam Enochs ran his first sub-5 minute mile on the track season with a time of 4:57.57 in not only his first invitational, but his first year competing on the track team. Adam doubled back in the two mile to wrap up his day with two big lifetime best's in breaking the 11-minute barrier.

Coming back from illness, Senior Connor Prior made a big statement in the 400 with his time of 52.17, a full second faster than his first open 400 of the year against El Toro.

In the 3200, sophomore Captain Jason Engel ran a very even race with nearly identical mile splits en route to setting the frosh soph 2 mile record with a time of 9:50.47. Fellow Captain, junior Brentano Giuliano, dropped almost 30 seconds from his previous personal best with a huge 10:17.24.

In the varsity field events, senior Davey Oram had almost a foot P.R. in the long jump by inching ever so closely to the 20 foot barrier with a jump of 19'11.5". Continuing to exhibit a vastly improved senior campaign, Tyler Frank took 4th place in a loaded field of pole vaulters with a jump of 13'03", staying consistent with his 13 foot vaults.  

Next on tap for the Eagles is their first Trinity League action against J Serra at Santa Margarita on St. Patrick's Day. Thursday's meet will start promptly at 2:45 p.m.