Huntington Beach’s Makenzie McRae earns marquee win at Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational
Makenzie McRae already had a soft spot for the track at Laguna Beach High, where she first broke 11 minutes in a 2-mile race.
The Huntington Beach High junior distance running standout added to those memories on Saturday, as she earned a wire-to-wire win in the marquee event of the Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational.
McRae crossed the finish line in 10 minutes, 44.03 seconds in winning the Eric Hulst girls’ 3,200-meter race, securing a four-second personal record in the process.
“I love this track, and I love Laguna and the ocean and all that,” McRae said. “Last year, I had a really good race on this track, too, so it’s kind of like a lucky track, I guess. Coming back to it, knowing that I’ve had good races in the past here gets me excited to run another good race.”
Not far behind, Corona del Mar junior Melisse Djomby-Enyawe placed fourth in 10:51.93. The duo have starred in the past two cross-country seasons, too.
Fountain Valley senior Benjamin Prado ran with the pack in the Eric Hulst boys’ 3,200-meter race, producing another top-10 finish for the area in 9:21.76 (10th).
Contested at Newport Harbor High, the meet’s throwing events saw Edison junior Alexa Sheldon come away with a sweep. Her winning marks included 40 feet, four inches in the shot put and 131-8 in the discus throw, both career-best tosses.
Locals claimed more field events at Laguna Beach High, where Fountain Valley senior Jonathan Yu (45-2¼) and Marina senior Julia Wang (35-11) won the triple jump competitions.
The area was also victorious across both genders in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, as Huntington Beach junior Kieren Beckman (40.66) and Newport Harbor freshman Natalie McCarty (46.67) paced the field.
“I always have just had a really competitive mindset,” said Beckman, who said he started running competitively a year ago. “Just being able to kind of have me as my own team and be able to improve on myself really kind of pushed me to love the sport.”
Beckman was joined on the podium by Edison senior Jackson Irwin and Yu, an all-Sunset Conference showing in the event.
It is not uncommon to see multisport athletes participate in track and field. Laguna Beach’s Ryner Swanson, an all-CIF tight end for the Breakers’ Division 9 football championship team, was among those putting in some work on the track.
The 6-foot-5, 240-pound junior turned heads — even for those within his heat — as he barreled down his lane in 11.90 seconds in the 100-meter sprints.
“If I get smoked, then it just makes me want to get better and better,” Swanson said. “I didn’t get smoked today, but I just want to keep improving my time and just having fun.”
The Laguna Beach receiver said he has made visits to BYU, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Alabama and Ohio State, among others.
Corona del Mar junior Ava Simos placed in the top three of the 100 (12.65) and 200 (25.13) sprints and the 100 high hurdles (15.64).
Long Beach Poly junior Xai Ricks set a meet record in running 1:53.91 in the boys’ 800 meters.
“It’s great having another top guy out there with me,” said Ricks, who saw Jackrabbits teammate Cameron Rhone finish fourth in the race. “We’re always pushing each other constantly in practice, so it’s fun.”
New meet records on the girls’ side included Long Beach Poly senior Kennadi Reed in the 200 (25.02) and Las Vegas Centennial’s Iyonna Codd in the 400 (55.39). JSerra also set the time to beat in the 1,600 relay (3:51.57).
BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD
Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational
At Laguna Beach High
* Denotes meet record
100 - 1. Frazier (Mater Dei) 10.97; 2. Hampton (Long Beach Poly) 11.17; 3. Crutchfield (Centennial) 11.19; 4. Mwendapole (Corona del Mar) 11.35; 5. Sung (Palos Verdes) 11.37
200 - 1. Dawson (Long Beach Poly) 21.88; 2. Butler (Centennial) 22.35; 3. Crutchfield (Centennial) 22.36; 4. Johnson (Long Beach Poly) 22.40; 5. Frazier (Mater Dei) 22.50
400 - 1. Chang (Canyon) 49.89; 2. Shaul (Palos Verdes) 50.15; 3. Auci (JSerra) 50.19; 4. Alton (JSerra) 50.49; 5. Hoskins (Mater Dei) 50.89
800 - 1. Ricks (Long Beach Poly) 1:53.91*; 2. Naehu (Palos Verdes) 1:55.32; 3. Horrocks (Foothill) 1:56.49; 4. Cameron Rhone (Long Beach Poly) 1:56.65; 5. Cleugh (Edison) 1:58.52
1,600 - 1. Naehu (Palos Verdes) 4:20.89; 2. Newman (Canyon) 4:21.18; 3. Parashar (University) 4:21.95; 4. Arrey (JSerra) 4:22.80; 5. Alonso (Fountain Valley) 4:26.50
3,200 Eric Hulst - 1. Noonan (Dana Hills) 9:08.26; 2. Woodruff (Dana Hills) 9:12.14; 3. Yunker (Santa Margarita) 9:15.50; 4. Handorf (Villa Park) 9:16.06; 5. Niednagel (La Costa Canyon) 9:17.26
3,200 Open - 1. Naticchioni (Servite) 9:38.46; 2. Chavez (Green Valley) 9:43.72; 3. Steinman (Corona del Mar) 9:44.58; 4. Maldonado (Kennedy) 9:45.56; 5. Ornelas (Ayala) 9:48.98
110HH - 1. Poteat (Villa Park) 15.10; 2. Gutierrez (Mater Dei) 15.54; 3. Garcia (Portola) 15.66; 4. Anderson (Long Beach Poly) 15.83; 5. Beckman (Huntington Beach) 15.89
300IH - 1. Beckman (Huntington Beach) 40.66; 2. Irwin (Edison) 41.28; 3. Yu (Fountain Valley) 41.33; 4. Davis (Mater Dei) 41.90; 5. Lara (Desert Oasis) 42.88
400 relay - 1. Portola 44.06; 2. Harvard-Westlake 44.07; 3. Centennial 44.09; 4. Centennial (Nev.) 44.16; 5. Villa Park 44.37
1,600 relay - 1. JSerra 3:23.59; 2. Portola 3:29.46; 3. Fountain Valley 3:29.91; 4. Green Valley 3:37.52; 5. Centennial (Nev.) 3:39.72
3,200 relay - 1. Dana Hills 8:00.76; 2. Portola 8:03.73; 3. Fountain Valley 8:58.17; 4. Palos Verdes 9:13.79
HJ - 1. Coates (Canyon) 6-2; 2. Kaltreider (Edison) 6-0; 3. Cox (Villa Park) 6-0; 4. Gutierrez (Mater Dei) 5-10; 5. Chang (Canyon) 5-10
LJ - 1. Gorski (Mater Dei) 22-10½; 2. Hampton (Long Beach Poly) 22-4; 3. Fleischer (Harvard-Westlake) 22-1; 4. Christie (Villa Park) 21-11; 5. Baca (Ayala) 21-0
TJ - 1. Yu (Fountain Valley) 45-2¼; 2. McDuffie (Mater Dei) 43-8¼; 3. Kaltreider (Edison) 43-8¼; 4. Nguyen (Marina) 42-2; 5. Winbush (Palos Verdes) 41-11¾
PV - 1. Gandara (Los Alamitos) 13-3; 2. Sherry (Fountain Valley) 13-3; 3. Wesley (Fountain Valley) 13-3; 4. Wagner (Centennial-Nev.) 12-9; 5. Yoneda (Dana Hills) 11-3
SP - 1. Deines (Redondo Union) 59-8; 2. Wells (Warren) 58-1; 3. King (Trabuco Hills) 52-7; 4. Goodloe (Warren) 52-3; 5. See (JSerra) 51-9
DT - 1. Deines (Redondo Union) 174-0; 2. Stafford (JSerra) 172-8; 3. See (JSerra) 169-2; 4. Horton (Corona del Mar) 154-5; 5. Goldman (Harvard-Westlake) 154-1
GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD
Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational
At Laguna Beach High
* Denotes meet record
100 - 1. Codd (Centennial-Nev.) 12.18; 2. Smith (Long Beach Poly) 12.62; 3. Simos (Corona del Mar) 12.65; 4. Woolforde (JSerra) 12.85; 5. McLeary (Villa Park) 12.85
200 - 1. Reed (Long Beach Poly) 25.02*; 2. Simos (Corona del Mar) 25.13; 3. Woolforde (JSerra) 25.24; 4. Hunter (Long Beach Poly) 25.43; 5. Smith (Long Beach Poly) 26.11
400 - 1. Codd (Centennial-Nev.) 55.39*; 2. Jeanneret (JSerra) 57.94; 3. Reed (Long Beach Poly) 58.43; 4. Becker (Long Beach Poly) 59.25; 5. McCarty (Newport Harbor) 59.48
800 - 1. Biesinger (La Costa Canyon) 2:13.55; 2. Lopizzo (La Costa Canyon) 2:14.84; 3. O’Brien (JSerra) 2:15.92; 4. McRae (Huntington Beach) 2:16.74; 5. Johnson (JSerra) 2:17.17
1,600 - Lopizzo (La Costa Canyon) 4:55.96; 2. Lieberman (Murrieta Valley) 4:56.72; 3. Calvin (Centennial-Nev.) 5:06.58; 4. Carmichael (University) 5:06.75; 5. Biesinger (La Costa Canyon) 5:07.34
3,200 Eric Hulst - 1. McRae (Huntington Beach) 10:44.03; 2. Polay (Santa Margarita) 10:45.39; 3. Brinkman (Trabuco Hills) 10:50.24; 4. Djomby-Enyawe (Corona del Mar) 10:51.93; 5. Guilfoile (Portola) 11:14.69
3,200 Open - 1. N. Conde (Norco) 11:52.12; 2. E. Conde (Norco) 11:57.30; 3. Tallas (Fountain Valley) 12:00.94; 4. Viscount (Santa Margarita) 12:01.35; 5. Mellott (Santa Margarita) 12:01.61
100HH - 1. Miles (Centennial-Nev.) 15.10; 2. Simos (Corona del Mar) 15.64; 3. Menchine (Edison) 15.73; 4. Tarvin (Edison) 16.77; 5. Wang (Fountain Valley) 17.20
300IH - 1. McCarty (Newport Harbor) 46.67; 2. Gramata-Massey (Long Beach Poly) 46.89; 3. Miles (Centennial-Nev.) 47.46; 4. Denison (Long Beach Poly) 48.88; 5. McGill (Huntington Beach) 49.55
400 relay - 1. Long Beach Poly 48.36; 2. Centennial (Nev.) 49.10; 3. Portola 50.82; 4. Warren 51.44; 5. Green Valley 52.15
1,600 relay - 1. JSerra 3:51.57*; 2. Centennial (Nev.) 3:57.47; 3. Laguna Beach 4:16.14
3,200 relay - 1. Dana Hills 9:27.93*; 2. Warren 9:52.91; 3. Huntington Beach 10:04.51; 4. Crean Lutheran 11:14.94; 5. Mater Dei 11:19.25
HJ - 1. Wetteland (Long Beach Poly) 5-4; 2. Howard (Centennial-Nev.) 5-4; 3. McCarty (Newport Harbor) 5-2; 4. Hogan (JSerra) 5-0; 5. Norwood (Crean Lutheran) 4-10
LJ - 1. Forbes (Mater Dei) 18-3¾; 2. Richmond (Portola) 17-6½; 3. Salinas (Dana Hills) 17-3¼; 4. Casteneda (Tesoro) 16-8¼; 5. Howard (Centennial-Nev.) 16-7¾
TJ - 1. Wang (Marina) 35-11; 2. Salinas (Dana Hills) 35-3¼; 3. Jones (Villa Park) 33-10; 4. Casteneda (Tesoro) 33-10; 5. Truong (Fountain Valley) 33-9
PV - 1. Thompson (Harvard-Westlake) 12-6; 2. Giacobetti (JSerra) 10-9; 3. Bourdon (JSerra) 10-9; 4. Scarpelli (Sage Creek) 10-9; 5. Chiaverini (JSerra) 10-3
SP - 1. Sheldon (Edison) 40-4; 2. Ricks (Long Beach Poly) 38-0; 3. Hofland (Los Alamitos) 35-2; 4. Frankel (Sage Creek) 34-6; 5T. Lopez (Marina) 34-1; 5T. Reyes (Warren) 34-1
DT - 1. Sheldon (Edison) 131-8; 2. Hofland (Los Alamitos) 122-8; 3. Wilson (Los Alamitos) 114-0; 4. Ricks (Long Beach Poly) 113-4; 5. Ellis (Los Alamitos) 113-0
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