CIF-SS Track Masters Meet: Moussa, Pons Advance to State

South Pasadena’s Sam Pons takes racing seriously. But he also is mindful that Friday night’s CIF-Southern Section Masters Meet at Cerritos College in Norwalk was not the end of the season.

Pons took the early lead in the 3,200 meters, but decided to wait until week’s CIF State Track and Field Finals Meet in Clovis to put forth his best effort.

“I took the lead. I had already distanced the pack and I come through in 67 and a half, which is like 9 flat pace. Still nobody is there,” said Pons, the defending state champion in the event. “I said I’ll give them one more lap and if they aren’t coming up, I’m just going to drop back with them.”

Pons ended up finishing fifth in 9 minutes, 1.59 seconds, just half a second behind Arcadia senior Ammar Moussa, who was fourth in 9:01.09. Loyola’s Elias Gedyon won in 8:57.73.

“Me and Elias were talking the whole race,” Moussa said. “We were out there having fun.”

Pons wasn’t fond of the idea of two of his closest rivals carrying on a conversation.

“They were right behind me the whole time and at one point I was about to turn around and say, ‘Shut up, we’re in a friggin race right now. What are you doing?’ ” Pons said.

Both needed just to run faster than the 9:09.65 qualifying standard to get in the state meet and neither Pons nor Moussa put forth a strong kick in the end.

La Salle will be represented in the state meet by girls shot putter Itohan Aikhionbare, who finished fourth with a personal best of 41 feet, 4 inches.

“I used to hate the shot put,” Aikhionbare said. “But something started clicking. I guess I got better at it and it is easier to like it.”

Aikhionbare began the season known more for having won a CIF title as a junior in the discus.

She finished ninth in the discus on Friday with a best of 128-6, but failed to qualify for a trip to Clovis in that event.

Also qualifying for state was San Marino’s Omhunique Browne, who finished sixth in the 300 hurdles in a personal best 43.06 seconds. With the top five automatically qualifying, Browne qualified by running faster than the qualifying standard of 43.53.

“I’m very excited. I’m not believing it,” Browne said after her race. “I’m surprised and nervous.”

Muir’s Daityvon McFadden also qualified for state by taking fourth in the 300 hurdles, running 38.02.

“The first part of the race was good, but coming off the turn I kind of got out of my zone,” McFadden said. “I’m used to winning, so it felt awkward to play catch up but I’ll be ready next race.”

The final local qualifier to move on to the state finals was Loyola’s discus thrower Nick Budincich, who lives in Sierra Madre.

He finished ninth in his event with a best of 174-4, which easily surpassed the qualifying standard of 169-8.

“It was a pretty good throw, it was pretty flat though,” Budincich said. “If I would have raised it up a little more, it would have been better. That’s something I’m working on.”

Failing to qualify for the state meet was St. Francis junior James Knowles, who was eighth in the 300 hurdles in 38.71.

South Pasadena’s Mayan Schexnayder also failed to qualify in the triple jump, as he took eighth with a best of 45-5 ¾.

South Pasadena’s Claire Kieffer-Wright finished 10^th in the girls’ high jump by going 5-3.

More on Patch: Track: Pons, Schexnayder and Kiefer-Wright Compete In Masters Meet