CIF-SS Track Finals: Brown Scores Big For San Marino

All but one member of San Marino’s student body was doing something other than competing in the CIF-Southern Section track and field championships Saturday at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

But junior Omhunique Brown made sure her school got some notoriety.

Brown netted 31 points by herself and won the 300-meter hurdle title in Division 3 competition to give the Titan girls’ team a sixth-place finish. Forty schools scored at least one point in the division.

“It’s hard not having your teammates here to support, but I get to go back to my school and they will congratulate me, but I will say we did it,” Brown said. “I get to represent my school. It feels great to be able to do that for my team.”

Brown won the 300 hurdles in 43.56 seconds.

She finished second in the Division 3 100-meter dash in 11.95 and was second in the 200 in 24.49.

Brown was fourth in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.34 seconds.

Brown will move on to the CIF Masters Meet next Friday in the 300 hurdles. She is an alternate for the 100 and missed making the cut as alternate for the 200 by less than one one-hundredth of a second.

“Everyone has a bad day and today seemed to be mine,” said Brown who expected better times in some of her events. “I set a goal for myself today to make it in all four and if not all four at least three.”

Brown was not the only Rio Hondo League athlete to win a CIF title. South Pasadena senior Sam Pons won his fifth and sixth CIF titles in track and field alone.

South Pasadena also finished fourth in the team standings with 32 1/2 points.

Pons won the 1,600-meter run in a personal best 4:10.37. He came back and won the 3,200 9:02.42.

The 1,600 time was the second fastest of the day and the 3,200 mark was the fourth fastest of the day.

Pons plans to drop the 1,600 moving forward to concentrate on the 3,200 -- the event he won in state as a junior.

“I wanted to go faster,” Pons said of the 3,200. “I got thrown off and I didn’t feel as well as I did in the mile. Clearly I can run much faster than I did today.”

Perhaps Pons’ biggest challenger in the 3,200 will come from another local in Arcadia’s Ammar Moussa.

Moussa took the Division 1 boys’ title in 8:54.85, the fastest time of the day.

“I’m happy. You can’t complain with 8:54,” Moussa said. “I know I’ve got two more weeks until the state meet.”

Also winning a CIF title was Muir’s Daityvon McFadden. He ran away from the field in the boys’ 300 hurdles to finish in 37.74. His time was the third fastest of the day, which easily moves him onto the CIF Masters Meet.

He will be joined in that race by St. Francis junior James Knowles. Knowles was fourth in Division 3, finishing in a personal best 38.38. Knowles was third in the 110 high hurdles in 14.62. He is an alternate for the Masters Meet in that event.

La Salle will also be represented in the Master Meet.

Senior Itohan Aikhionbare won the Division 4 girls’ shot put with a best of 41 feet, 1 ½ inches. After winning the CIF title in the discus as a junior Aikhionbare finished third year with a best throw of 127 feet, 2 inches.

Both marks were good enough to move on to the Masters Meet.

“It was nice to have PR. I’ve been trying to hit 40 this whole year, so it was nice to go over it,” said Aikhionbare, who will compete for UC Irvine next year. “In practice some of my throws have been about 41 so it was just putting it together and staying in the ring.”

South Pasadena freshman Claire Kieffer-Wright qualified for the Masters Meet in the high jump as she cleared a personal best 5 feet, 4 inches. She finished fourth in Division 3 in the event.

South Pasadena triple jumper Mayan Schexnayder advanced to the Masters as he finished fourth in his division with a best of 45-5. Teammate Sean Nang was not as fortunate as he took sixth with a best of 44-7 ¾. Monrovia’s Michael Harris was eighth with a best of 42-9 ½.

Harris was fourth in the Division 3 long jump with a best of 21-7 ½.

Monrovia’s Ellis McCarthy finished third in the shot put with a best of 53-11 ¾. Like Harris, he did not make the cut for the Masters Meet.

Monrovia’s Sabrina Thomas was seventh in the girls’ discus with a best of 110-3.

South Pasadena’s Elaine Horng was eighth in the Division 3 girls’ long jump with a best of 16-6 ½.

Flintridge Prep’s Kate Kennedy was fourth in the Division 4 girls’ 300 hurdles, running 45.39.

Monrovia’s Skylar Buchanan finished fifth in the Division 3 girls’ 100, running 12.42. She was seventh in the 200 in 25.60.

South Pasadena freshman Kamia Rodil-Willis was fourth in the Division 3 girls’ 400 in 57.48. She was eighth in the 200 in 25.61.

Flintridge Sacred Heart’s Drew Washington was eighth in the Division 4 girls’ 400 in 1:00.36.

Tolog freshman Rebecca Armstrong was ninth in the Division 4 800 in 2:27.37.

South Pasadena’s girls’ 4x400 relay team of Jessica Moog, Kieffer-Wright, Anika Renken and Rodil-Willis took fifth in a school-record setting time of 3:59.11.

Monrovia’s girls’ 4x100 relay team of Kia Smith, Jasmine Thomas, Jenny Pfau and Buchanan took sixth in 48.63.

Muir’s boys’ 4x100 relay team of McFadden, Kevon Seymour, Keith Callum and Karl Holmes was fifth in Division 4 in 44.24.

Pasadena High’s boys’ 4x100 team of Kendall Phillips, Michael Dennis, Chris Fuqua and Tarus Stepney took seventh in Division 2 in 43.77.

Flintridge Sacred Heart’s 4x100 finished seventh in Division 4 as the team of Stephanie Vargas, Noelle Niederhaus, Daelyn Moon and Washington finished in 50.58.

South Pasadena's Blake Parson finished seventh in the 300 hurdles in 39.31.