Sea Hawks Ready to Host Mustangs in Track Meet

Great new facilities and hard-working coaches have combined to help put spring sports on the upswing at Redondo Union High School's beautifully upgraded campus.

Nowhere is that more obvious than on the track, where Bob Leetch has done a great job building the boys and girls teams into powers in the Bay League.

For the first time in 15 years, Redondo Union will host Mira Costa in a dual meet on Friday, April 22. It's the first time it made sense to have the meet at Redondo because Mira Costa's facility was so much better until Redondo went through its multimillion dollar makeover.

The Sea Hawks, undefeated in the Bay League, are ready.

"We're doing fantastic," said Leetch, a 1980 CIF champion at Redondo who went on to win a state title in the 1,500-meter run at El Camino College.

"Our boys and girls are both undefeated. We're on a collision course with Mira Costa. That will be for the league dual meet title."

Actually, Redondo is expected to defeat Mira Costa in the boys dual meet. The girls dual meet, a battle of unbeaten teams, is up for grabs.

"Our teams are coming along. We've had a lot of sickness this year, but we're getting healthy at the right time," Leetch said. "We've got a lot of hopes for the rest of the year."

It's a great sight, really. At a time when our nation's growing battle with obesity, it's refreshing to see dozens of Redondo High teenagers so active, working hard and obviously enjoying a great new track, as well as the field-event facilities.

"Things weren't so pretty when I came here," Leetch said, "but now we have one of the best facilities in Southern California and we've got all these young kids taking advantage of it."

Before Redondo hosts Mira Costa in a week, some of its best athletes will take part in the South Bay Championships Saturday at West Torrance. The 22-school event includes some of the top athletes from Redondo, Mira Costa, Palos Verdes and Peninsula.

Here's a rundown on some of Redondo's standouts, starting with the boys team.

Senior Christian Bassman leads the sprinters. He's run 10.86 in the 100-meter dash. Senior Derrick Duran lends depth in the all-important speed events, where plenty of points are to be had in the relays, the 100, 200 and 400.

Dezhan Bland is, in Leetch's words, having a fantastic year. He's already run the mile in 4:21 and the 800 in a blazing 1:55.3. But sophomore Evan Malone-White is just as good, having run 4:19 and 1:56, times that make him one of the best young prep runners in the nation.

In the field events, Mahmoud Hassan has done 20-feet, 3-inches in the long jump and 43-2 in the triple jump. Alex Nieber has cleared 13 feet in the pole vault. Taylor Bonngiovanni is solid in the weight events, going 47 feet in the shot put and 132 in the discus.

The girls team features a trifecta of sprinting talent and some great distance runners. Shelby Bassman is the defending Bay League champion in the 100. Haley Miller was No. 2 last year, but senior Ruby Davis has turned in the top sprint times so far.

Erin South has run 60.5 in the 400. Olivia Loveland, a CIF threat in the hurdles, has run a 48.1 in the 300 low hurdles and a 2:19 in the 800.

Laura O'Neill, going to Cal on a partial scholarship, and Kelly Ryan, who is headed to UC Santa Barbara, are among Redondo's top female distance runners. Kayla Ferron, who took the 800 at the Redondo Nike Invitational, is also extremely talented. So is cross country star Rachel Bush.

Then there's Lyndsey Mull, who was third in the state in the mile last year (4:49). Factor in the developing Cara Ulizio in the mile and it's no wonder Leetch smiles when he talks about his middle distance runners.

In the field events, Aundrea Yancy is a multi-talented athlete who earned team MVP honors last year. She's run 16.1 in the hurdles and turned in solid marks in the triple jump (35-5), long jump (16-6), high jump (5-2) and shot put (32-4).

Back in Charge

Mira Costa track coach Bob Fish is, in his words, "a lifer." He's a track and field lover, and Mira Costa is the better for it.

After sitting out a year of teaching and coaching to get over some health problems, Fish is back for his 23rd year at Mira Costa. And he's feeling as good as ever.

His health problems behind him, Fish isn't just happy to be back in his element. He's delighted to see that track and field – at least at the high school level – is doing well.

"We had a great turnout for the Mustang Relays," Fish said. "Bob (Leetch) had a great turnout for the Redondo Nike Invitational and I'm sure West will have a great turnout for the South Bay Championships (Saturday at West).

"I would say it's definitely alive and well in the South Bay."

The Mustangs are having another solid season and there's still much to look forward to, staring with this weekend's South Bay Championships and then next week's dual meet at Redondo. Fish expects the girls dual meet to be for the Bay League title.

"Our girls and the Redondo girls should be extremely competitive," Fish said. "That will be great meet to decide the league champion."

In the meantime, Mira Costa's top individuals will get a chance to shine at West on Saturday night. Here's a look at some of the school's top athletes.

Ashlee Dotson will compete in the 100 and 200, as well as anchor the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Taylor Foland, Kirby Benson and Camille Mills will team with Dotson in the shorter relay, while Foland and the Barnett twins (Charlotte and Claire) will team with Dotson in the mile relay. Fish said he thinks the mile relay could go under 4 minutes, which is a great time.

Acacia Moore will run in the hurdles, where she's gone 15.9 seconds and 48.8.

The Mustangs have excellent distance runners on their girls teams. Aryn Foland, who is coming back from injury but has tremendous talent, Shannon Hagedorn, Kelli Sugimoto and Jenna Tong have all run sub-5:20s in the mile. Fish is hoping for sub-5:10s if the wind doesn't play havoc with the distance races at West.

"Foland looked tremendous yesterday," Fish said. "We're not sure how far along she is, but she's such a tough competitor. She's state material if she's healthy."

Brett Douville, who ran 1:55 in the 800 last year but has focused on the mile this year, will run the 800 at West. Adam Perez has run 4:30 and 9:49 (in the two mile) will also take on some of the area's best distance runners.

Douville has the speed to be part of the mile relay, so it should be interesting to see if all his hard work in the mile will pay off in the 800 the rest of this season.

Teammate Dylan Gates, who has run 2:01, will push him the 800. Douville, Gate, hurdler Kyle Hubbard and Corbin Gates will run in the milde relay, Fish said.

The Mustangs' two top field-event athletes will be at West as well. Ryan Morrow has cleared 14-9 in the pole vault. Football star J.R. Tavai has gone 53-2 in the shot put.

Other Area Stars

There are some pretty fast dudes up on the hill this year. Peninsula's Brailon Brown has run a 10.51 in the 100, but he's challenged on his own team by Victor Woo, who ran a 10.81 on Tuesday in Peninsula's dual meet win over Mira Costa.

Palos Verdes' Brendan Weaver stole the show at the Mustang Relays, setting a school record of 40.90 in the 300 hurdles. He also cleared 6-2 in the high jump. He should improve on both those marks the rest of the season.

Palos Verdes Jonah Diaz made the CIF Masters Meet last year but he's being challenged by teammate and fellow distance runner Justin Unno this year. They should contribute to some special distance races at the Bay League championships.

In the girls sprints, Peninsula's Kaylyn Taylor will challenge the league's best after running 12.95. PV's Erica Capellino and Rebecca Mehra will challenge the best Redondo and Mira Costa have to offer.

Palos Verdes' Keiko Hector has been mentioned here before. She's a threat in several field events and the hurdles. So is Michele Charles, Peninsula soccer's outstanding defender.

Best Seat in the House

What a great way to unveil Palos Verdes High's dramatically upgraded baseball field.

Oh sure, Palos Verdes came out on the short end against rival Peninsula, 3-1, in their Bay League opener. But the Sea Kings and their arch-rivals played a great game while 300 fans watched for the first time in theater-quality seats just recently installed around home plate.

"This is my inaugural win in front of theater seats, at least since I became a high school baseball coach," Peninsula's John Gonzalves said with a big smile. "This is a special day and a special win for our baseball team against a great rival."

Actually, it was Peninsula's first win against Palos Verdes for everyone on Peninsula's roster. The two sides meet again Friday afternoon at Peninsula.

"You can't even explain what this means to us," said senior catcher Justin Hertzmann, who hit the game-winning two-run single in the sixth and then blocked the plate to stop a run from possibly scoring in the bottom of the seventh.

"I've been in a bit of a slump, so getting that hit was huge for me. … In the seventh, I couldn't let that run score so I had to drop the leg and deal with the pain later."

Senior right-hander Dillon Rozas got the win, relieving 6-foot-6 Christian Torres in the fifth and pitching three scoreless innings while the Panthers overcame a 1-0 deficit. He pitched out of a jam in the seventh when his own error let runners reach second and third with one out.

"This is the game of the year for us," Rozas said. "There was so much adrenaline in that seventh inning. We've been playing these guys for so long, since Little League really. We had to beat them today."

The victory raised Peninsula's record to 10-4-1 overall and 1-0 in league. Palos Verdes fell to 12-5 overall and 0-1 despite a solid performance from junior right-hander MacKenzie Menthen, who pitched five shutout innings before faltering slightly in the sixth.

"He did a decent job," PV coach Evan Fujinaga said. "We made it hard on him, extending some innings (with mistakes in the field). We didn't take advantage of some opportunities we had to score some more runs, either."

On this one day, though, the sting of defeat was tempered by the intensity of a rivalry game played in front of PV's remodeled stands. A beautiful new clubhouse is still to come, along with a snack bar that will make PV's baseball facilities truly special.

"We're pretty fired up about all of this," Fujinaga said.  "We have a clubhouse coming and these seats are unlike anything in Southern California, I believe.

"This was the first game, but this is something we can all enjoy for decades to come."

The baseball rivalry seems to be growing as Fujinaga and Gonzalves work hard to build great baseball programs at their respective schools.

"This is great," said Fujinaga. "It's like Rolling Hills and PV back in the day before PV closed and Peninsula became the only school on the hill for awhile.

"Now it's great to have two equal schools."

As a symbol of the growing importance of baseball on the hill, each school starts a freshman who is expected to become an outstanding player in the future. Infielder Edward Haus starts for Peninsula, while infielder Michael Montpas starts for PV. Both are small but highly skilled, and they figure to be special when they mature.

"Those are two great young players," Fujinaga said. "They both played well today."

Unlike anyone else on the field, both will get three more years playing at PV's revamped field, where the Pacific Ocean lurks nearby, hawks fly overhead in the late innings and fans can watch the game from seats that would be acceptable at Dodger Stadium.