Boys track and field: Mesa limps against Laguna Beach

Joseph Boo

LAGUNA BEACH - Costa Mesa High’s boys track and field team came to

Laguna Beach wounded, had a scare during the 200-meter run, and left

insulted at the end.

Injury-ridden heading into Thursday’s dual meet with the host Artists,

the Mustangs faced a big problem when Greg Stewart, the defending Pacific

Coast League champion in the 100 and 200-meter races, reaggravated an

ankle injury in the long jump.

Mesa then lost a controversial 1,600 relay, and that left the Mustangs

exasperated in an 80-46 PCL dual meet loss to Laguna Beach.

In the last race of the day, Laguna Beach took a sizable lead with their

first two runners in the 1,600 relay. Mesa’s third leg, Zack Powell,

closed the gap and was right behind the Artists when he handed off to

Josh Strickland.

In the last 200 meters, Strickland made his move and briefly passed

Laguna Beach’s Nick Brown. But Brown drifted into Strickland’s lane, and

he held on to win by less then half a second. The meet starter let the

result stand because no contact was made.

“We should have won that race,” Carney said. “He can’t cut off our

runner. He has to stay in his lane. It doesn’t matter if there’s contact

or not. He should have been disqualified.”

That incident capped off a bad day for the Mustangs (1-2 in league) that

included Stewart’s injury. Running on the bad ankle, he finished fourth

in the 200.

“He never got in a rhythm or his groove,” Costa Mesa assistant coach Eric

Davies said.

While the injury noticeably slowed Stewart down, the injury is not

considered to be serious, and Mesa coaches are hoping he will regain his

form quickly.

Before the 200, Stewart won two events. He barely captured the 100 run in

11.48 and he had the costly long jump victory with a leap of 19-2.

The Mustangs can ill afford to be without Stewart. They lost Louis Day,

the team’s most versatile runner and jumper, indefinitely because of a

hip flexor he suffered during a dual meet with University. Before that,

Mesa was dealing with the loss of sprinter Mike Jones and distance runner

Mike Williams.

The Artists, 3-1 in the PCL after failing to win a league dual meet last

year, exploited Mesa’s lack of depth in the distance events with six top

three finishes.

Sophomore Remi Ghebredious and freshman Irwin Salas provided some points

for Mesa in the distance events. Ghebredious won the 3,200 (10.21) and

was third in the 1,600 (4:43.57). Salas finished third in the 800

(2:11.00).

In the field events, defending PCL champion Robert Hulliger came through

again with winning throws in the shot put (52-6) and the discus (142-6

3/4).

Boys

Laguna Beach 80, Costa Mesa 46

100 - 1. Stewart (CM), 11.48; 2. Paeley (LB), 11.66; 3. Martinez (CM),

12.11. 200 - 1. Wolfe (LB), 24.47; 2. Strickland (CM), 24.51; 3. Bell

(LB), 24.56. 400 - 1. Wolfe (LB), 53.40; 2. Bell (LB), 53.81; 3.

Strickland (CM), 54.14. 800 - 1. Moore (LB), 2:07.05; 2. Zuckert (LB),

2:07.24; 3. I. Salas (CM), 2:11.00. 1,600 - 1. Moore (LB), 4:38.03; 2.

Zuckert (LB), 4:39; 3. Ghebredious (CM), 4:43.57. 3,200 - 1. Ghebredious

(CM), 10:21; 2. Heatley (LB), 11:20.2; 3. Morgan (LB), 11:35. 400 relay -

1. Laguna Beach, 46.25. 1,600 relay - 1. Laguna Beach, 3:50.25. 110 HH -

1. Brown (LB), 16.51; 2. P. Hulliger (CM), 18.27; 3. Liu (CM), 19.95. 300

IH - 1. Brown (LB), 45.27; 2. Jordan (CM), 46.99; 3. P. Hulliger (CM),

47.27.

HJ - 1. Ward (LB), 6-0; 2. Myton (LB), 4-8. LJ - 1. Stewart (CM), 19-2;

2. Todd (LB), 18-1; 3. Schoettler (CM), 17-8 1/4. TJ - 1. Wood (LB),

38-11; 2. Powell (CM), 36-7; 3. Todd (LB), 35-7. SP - 1. R. Hulliger

(CM), 52-6; 2. Gomez (LB), 42-2 3/4; 3. Connaty (CM), 39-5. DT - 1. R.

Hulliger (CM), 142-6 3/4; 2. Rodack (LB), 119-6 1/2; 3. Connaty (CM),

118-5 1/2.