Redondo Union boys and girls track teams opened their season at the Corona Relays. The defending Bay League champion girls led the way with a team win over rival Great Oak of Temecula. ‘We held out a few of star girls today so we did not expect to be competitive with a power program like Great Oak. We moved kids around to try different events more for conditioning than anything else. We were very please to see at the conclusion of the meet that we won. Today both boys and girls squads had notable performances,” states coach Bob Leetch.
The girls started off with a sweep of the 100 meter hurdles. Led by winner Kristen Hamlin in 15.55, followed by Kristen Quinn and Tairyn Montgomery in second and third place overall.
Next up the team of Hamlin, Montgomery, Ana Chiodo and Kennedy Hardemion clocked a fine early season 400 meter relay time of 49.44 for the win over Great Oak in 50.27.
Later Hamlin and Chiodo teamed up with Kennedy Williams and Sarina Ferlazzo to win the 4×200 with a time of 1:46.73 again over Great Oak timed in 1:47.21.
Chiodo and Hamlin place first and second in the top seeded heat of the 100 meter dash with times of 12.76 and 12.89. Sophomore Kennedy place fourth in that heat with a time of 13.21 and ended up the sixth fastest time of the day.
Not to be outdone the Redondo girls distance squads showed terrific early season form with first and third finishes in both the 4×800 meter relay and the distance medley relay. The team of Taylor Beaudoin, Breya Wynne, Zuri Henderson and Trinity Leonard had a convincing victory over Great Oak in the 4×800 with a time of 9:38.22. Great Oak second in 9:48.07. And the Redondo B squad outpacing the rest of the meet for third place with a time of 9:50.87. That squad consisted of Thalia Silva, Nicole Pederson, Nicole Beaudoin and Peyton Bell.
In the girls distance medley Taylor Beaudoin led off with a stirring 1200 meter leg to build what became an insurmountable lead. She handed off to Henderson who increased her lead with her 400 leg. Leonard ran the 800 leg and handed off to anchor leg Pederson who brought home the baton in 12:37.95. Great Oak in second at 12:53;09. Followed by the Redondo B squad of Nicole Beaudoin, Wynne, Ferlazzo and Bell for third place with a time of 13:04.62.
Montgomery opened the season with a personal best in the long jump good enough for second place with a jump 17 feet 5.5 inches. Kristen Quinn place seventh with a jump of 15 feet 5.5 inches. Quinn also placed second in the pole vault in her ever attempt at the event with a vault of 9 feet 6 inches.
Ashley Wells placed first in the discus with a throw of 112 feet and backed it up with a shot put of 30 feet 6 inches, good enough for sixth place overall.
With many of the boys squad still migrating over from other sports the smaller squad had fine performances as well. The distance crew of Carlos Suarez, Nick Elias, Jonathon Douglass and Ethan Comeaux placed second in the 4×800 meter relay with a time of 8:17.29. Sophomore Comeaux anchored the crew with a split time of 1:58.8. Host Corona placed first with a time of 8:09.74. Later the squad of Suarez, Comeaux, Elias and Kris Patterson place second in the distance medley with a time of 10:48.94. Great Oak was first in 10:38.91
Winning the boys pole vault was sophomore Tate Curren with a fine mark of 14 feet 9 inches. Tates father UCLA pole vault coach Anthony Curren and uncle both vaulted 15 feet in high school at the age of 15. Same age as Tate. Tate’s uncle set the mark in 1970 which at the time was the world record for 15 year olds. Seems to be in the jeans.
