South Pasadena Middle School Track and Field Team Has Strong Performances in Second League Meet

SPMS’ Coach Wielenga talks track...

The South Pasadena Middle School Track Team met Huntington Middle School and La Canada Middle School for the second time this season on Thursday, April 23 with impressive results. The 6/7 Girls, the 6/7 Boys and the 8th Grade Girls teams all beat both Huntington and La Canada. The 8th grade boys beat La Canada but fell to Huntington. The Tiger Cubs bested La Canada in the overall score and tied with Huntington. The scores were:

For the 8th grade girls, Christine Taylor won the 400 and the 200 and anchored the winning 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Gina Catania, Rita Mastromatteo, Meghana Sagare, were also on the winning 4x100 placed 2nd . Catania placed 2nd in the high jump and Rita took 3rd. Rachel Gray Was 2nd in both the long and triple jump and was on the winning 4x400 relay with Taylor, Sarah Uriarte, and Olivia Johnson. Johnson was also 2nd in the 800 and 3rd in the 400. Juliana Anuakpado won the 100 meters, Evelyn Bea was 3rd in the long jump, Samantha Bevers took 3rd in the 800 while Meghana Sagare was 4th in the 200.

The 8th grade boys team improved dramatically from last week. The Cubs were led by Nicolo Porcu who placed 2nd in the 1600, 3rd in the 400 and 2nd in the 800.He was also on the 2nd place 4x400 relay with Brian Castillo, Scott Shelton, and Alex Nguyen. In the 100 Saul Topete took 2nd and Alberto Romero was 3rd. Topete and Romero teamed up with Kristoff Tessier and William Wu to take 2nd in the 4x100 and the 4x200. Romero placed 2nd in the long jump and Topete also took 4th . Tessier was 2nd in the 200 and Wu placed 4th in the high jump. Castillo, Shelton and Nguyen also led the Tiger Cubs in the 1600 and 800

Beating both La Canada and Huntington with big margins, the 6/7 boys featured Sam Clark who won the 1600 and placed a close 2nd in the 800. Colin Grace was 3rd in the 1600 followed by Alex Garza in 4th. Michael Jia placed 3rd behind Clark in the 800. Kevin Kang won the triple jump and was 2nd in the high jump. He was supported by Ian McLain’s 3rd place in the triple jump and Nick Owens who placed 3rd and Earl Tizon who placed 4th in the high jump. Anthony Uriarte won the long jump for the second week and Tizon placed 4th in the long jump. Alex Reeves took 3rd in the 100 and anchored the 2nd place 4x100 relay which included Nick Kalaw, Evan Koval and Emiliano Venagas. Aiden Chang, Derek Rodriguez, Andrew Parkinson, Quentin Holmes, Nick Roberts-Metaric , and Pieter Wielenga also performed well in the 1600 and the 800.

The Girls 6/7 team also beat both La Canada and Huntington by over 20 points. Jessica Lat placed 2nd in the 800, 3rd in the 400 and high jump and anchored the first place 4x400. Corey Segal placed 2nd and Erin Anuakpado placed 3rd in the 100 and both were joined by Waka Odagiri and Jasmine Summers on the first place 4x100 relay. Odagiri placed 3rd in the 200 and the long jump and 2nd in the triple jump. Summers was third in the triple jump and on the 2nd place 4x400 relay. Amber Gonzales-Pacheco was third in both the 1600 and 800 and ran on the 4x400 relay. Allie Poloni placed 2nd in the 200 and was on the winning 4x200 relay with Kate Lee, Charis Cheung, and Anna Guevara. Guevara was also 4th in the long jump. Teryn Kum placed 3rd in the 800 and was on the winning 4x400 with Lat Cheung and Caroline Liebe. Hania Taduran placed 4th in the 400 in her first meet of the year. Jaiden McThomas ran with Cheung, Poloni and Lee on the 2nd place 4x100. Emily Kaufman joined Maddie Castillo, Poloni and Summers on the 2nd place 4x400. Castillo and Allie Valario and Liebe performed strong in the 800 while Ella Leeson competed well in the long jump and high jump and joined Emiily Vega and Katie Hohman in the 2nd place 4x200. Hohman also competed in the high jump.

The Tiger Cubs compete in their next and final meet at the 210 League Finals on May 13 at Monrovia High School.