By Joe Snyder
Serra High senior sprinter Mia Flowers finished second in the girls’ 100-meter dash and third in the 200 at Saturday’s CIF-State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High in Clovis.
Flowers narrowly missed the state 100 title losing by just .006 to champion Mikaela Warr from Canyon Country Canyon. Flowers was timed at 11.41 but 11.407 while Warr won the race clocking 11.4 (11.401).
In the 200, Flowers placed third in 23.87, finishing behind champion Amirah Shaheed of San Diego Madison (23.53) and runner-up Morgan Maddox from Culver City (23.6).
Unfortunately, Serra’s girls’ 4×100-meter relay team of Jaiya Fletcher, Flowers, Raelyn Pleasant and Isabella Samuels fell short of advancing to the finals despite a second-place finish in its heat timing 47.46 in Friday’s prelims, also at Buchanan.
Carson’s 400 relay squad of Taylor Johnson, Christina Gray, Tiffany Williams, and Kaitlyn Williams took third in 46.01, finishing behind winner Westlake Village Oaks Christian (45.67) and second place Long Beach Poly (45.78) in a very fast race in the championship. Gray finished seventh in the 100 clocking 11.57.
For the Colt boys, sophomore Jayden Rendon was second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles at 37.59 and eighth in the 110 high hurdles clocking 14.31. In the prelims a day earlier, Rendon advanced to the 110 high hurdles finals with his personal best time of 14.11.
Gardena High’s Jae’len Sparks, who captured the CIF-Los Angeles City 110 high hurdle championship over second place Rendon on May 17 at El Camino College, failed to qualify for the finals with a 15.0-second performance and that was due to a red hat that did not allow him to adjust his starting blocks in the prelims, according to head coach Dorian Cervantes. It resulted into a slow start that he was not able to overcome.
Sparks, a senior, plans to resume his track and field stint at Cerritos College next season.
Flowers’ performances allowed Serra to tie for 12th place with Culver City and Madison. Long Beach schools, Poly and Wilson, swept the boys and girls. Wilson won its second consecutive girls’ title with 36 points to 30 for runner-up Ventura and 23 for third place Vista Murrieta. Poly captured the boys’ title by defeating second place Clovis North 33-28. Taking third was the Jackrabbits’ (called the Trackrabbits in track and field) cross-town rival, Wilson, with 27. Carson and Culver City tied for 15th, each with 11 points.
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Birmingham shuts out Carson in playoffs
Carson High’s baseball team was denied any hopes of a CIF-Los Angeles City Section championship after being shut out by Birmingham 3-0 in the City Section Open Division semifinals on May 21 at Pepperdine University in Malibu.
With the loss, the Colts, who won their second consecutive Marine League championship, ended their season at 21-9, while the Patriots are 19-11-1 after a stunning 4-1 loss to Bell in the championship game last Saturday at Dodger Stadium. It was the Eagles’ second straight upset win to lead them to the championship. On May 21 at Pepperdine, Bell stunned top seed Granada Hills Charter 1-0. It is just the third time since 1973 that a non-San Fernando Valley team won a major L.A. City Section crown. It was also the Eagles’ first ever CIF-L.A. City crown. Both are expected to play in the CIF-Southern California Regional playoffs this week.
Carson had trouble solving Birmingham junior pitcher Allen Olmas. Olmas, who missed last season due to a disc on his back, allowed just four hits and got the Colts in order in the second and third innings.
The Patriots, meanwhile, scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the second; the first two on a triple by freshman Julius Truitt bringing home Nick Penarando and Ernesto Martinez. Truitt proceeded to score on a failed hidden ball trick by Carson.
The Colts had a pair of chances. In the top of the fourth, they loaded the bases but came up empty. It was a result of three consecutive singles from Johnny Munoz, Sergio Padilla and Ryan Camachi. With two out, Issac Gutierrez struck out.
Carson also had two baserunners on in the sixth but could not score. The Colts went out in order in the seventh as Birmingham celebrated its third consecutive City final, winning the past two seasons before its championship loss to Bell on Saturday.
Banning High from Wilmington, meanwhile, was looking to win its first City crown since 1961 but that fell through with a 3-1 loss to North Hollywood in the Division I final Saturday at Dodger Stadium. The Pilots placed fourth, behind champion Carson and co-runner ups Narbonne and San Pedro, in the Marine League.
ECC swept by Santa Ana in baseball playoffs
Under first year head coach Grant Palmer, El Camino College’s baseball team was faced with a mostly a rebuilding year but managed to make the Southern California Regional playoffs before getting swept by host Santa Ana College.
Santa Ana, though, finished off the Warriors with wins of 6-1 on May 3 and 17-7 on May 4.
Palmer replaced previous head mentor Nate Fernley, who stepped down at the end of last season.
Being under the first-year coach, ECC is going through rebuilding with a mostly freshman team.
The Warriors ended their season with a 21-21 overall record including 12-12 in the South Coast Conference, finishing out their season with three straight losses including the regular season finale to Mt. San Antonio College from Walnut 3-1 at home. El Camino managed to sweep its series from South Bay rival Los Angeles Harbor College by scores of 14-2 at home on April 9, 4-3 at Harbor on April 11 and 7-4 at home on April 12.
The Warriors managed to place five players on all-conference, including first-team pitcher Aaron Ragat. Used mostly as a relief pitcher, Ragat posted one win and four saves. In 23 2/3 innings, he struck out 30 batters with a 3.8 earned run average. Ragat is a sophomore from South Torrance High.
Second team athletes included pitcher Jason Davis, A.J. Hiestand, Connor Meidroth and Matt Hammond.
Davis had a 5-4 record that included two complete game wins. He struck out 80 batters in 86 2/3 innings. He was 4-1 in conference.
