Track and field, CdM, Mesa and Estancia gear up for CIF

Joseph Boo

LONG BEACH - It’s that time of the year again for Corona del Mar,

Costa Mesa and Estancia High’s boys and girls track and field teams. The

postseason starts today for those three with the CIF Southern Section

Division III prelims at Long Beach City College’s Veteran Stadium.

The first running and field event have a noon start time. The top nine

qualifiers in each event advance to Friday’s Division III finals.

For CdM senior Liz Morse, the Pacific Coast League champ in the girls

200, 400 and 800-meter runs and the anchor of the Sea Kings’ victorious

1,600 relay squad, she could cap off what is already an illustrious prep

career with the only thing she doesn’t have, a CIF state title. She was

third last year for the 800 in both the state and Southern Section

Division II finals, with a win at the Masters Meet.

This year, Morse has been dazzling in the big races. At the Trabuco Hills

Invitational, she set a state best time in the 800 and an Orange County

best in the 400 with a 56.1. A week later, at the Arcadia Invitational,

Morse put up the nation’s best in the 800 with a 2:09.40. At the Orange

County Championships, she won three events and anchored the victorious

1,600 relay team, running a 54.9 on her leg.

Other Sea Kings in the girls prelim include juniors Jenny Cummins and

Diana Hossfeld, and sophomores Season Meservey, Krisserin Canary and

Allison Brawner. Hossfeld won the PCL crown in the 1,600 and she is in

the 800. Cummins will run the 400 and 800.

Meservey blasted the PCL field away in the 3,200 with a winning time of

11:27.98, and she also qualified in the 1,600. Canary won the PCL pole

vault, and she will take part in the triple jump. Brawner is also in the

triple jump.

Costa Mesa freshman Sharon Day is in two events. She won the PCL crown

for the triple jump and was the runner-up to Morse in the 400. The

Mustangs’ Julie Kroening won the league crown for the 100 low hurdles.

Estancia’s twin sisters Hanni and Jasmine Geider are both in the 100 and

200. Hanni won the 100, just ahead of her sister. Estancia’s Liz Huipe

will run the 1,600.

On the boys side, Costa Mesa’s Greg Stewart is looking to improve on last

year’s sixth-place finish at the CIF Division III boys finals in the 200.

Stewart, who won the PCL title in the 100 and 200 races, has the fastest

qualifying time for the 200 with a 22.66, just .22 seconds off his

personal record. He boasts the county’s third-fastest time in the 100

(10.83).

Estancia’s Travis Chandler joins Morse and CdM’s Reed Glyer as the only

Newport-Mesa athlete in three individual events. He won the PCL crown in

the boys high jump, long jump and triple jump.

Glyer placed in the top three in the league finals for the 110 high

hurdles, 300 intermediate hurdles and the triple jump.

Another Mustang who could make his mark, literally, is senior Robert

Hulliger. The Mesa senior won the Orange County Championship in the shot

put and has the county’s second-best mark with a 56-1 3/4. He is in the

prelims for he shot put and discus.

But it was CdM’s Sean Fenton who made the biggest impression at the PCL

finals. He shattered his PR by three feet with a county-best 56-4. Fenton

then won the discus with a 171-7. He will be joined in the discus by

fellow Sea King Taumata Gray.

CdM’s Travis Beardslee won the league crown in the 800, and he will also

run the 3,200. Josh Yelsey captured the 1,600 PCL crown and is in the

800. Costa Mesa’s Rami Ghebrekious won the 3,200 league title.