In a season opener both schools like the fact that they begin with each other for the past 15 years or so.
The meets are always at Westminster now as their facility is certainly one of the best in Orange County with a 5,500 seat bleacher that joins a tremendous snack bar and hug restrooms that all go well with a 9-lane rubber track and an electronic timing system.
In a season opener both schools like the fact that they begin with each other for the past 15 years or so.
The meets are always at Westminster now as their facility is certainly one of the best in Orange County with a 5,500 seat bleacher that joins a tremendous snack bar and hug restrooms that all go well with a 9-lane rubber track and an electronic timing system.
Bolsa Grande coach Mark Van Grootheest stated “It's always great having the first meet here with Westminster. Our teams always get along well and the coaches get along well. I respect them.
It's always a fun meet. Our kids are always on the same level in term of readiness. It goes a little bit long but we're used to that. I love the fact that they have hosted us every year.”
Westminster High coaches Leonard Ibarra and Tim Boyd feel the same way. Boyd was overheard saying to a runner, “Don’t worry about winning or losing a race. This meet is a perfect tune-up and we have it for experience to prepare us for the season. Bolsa is not the enemy here… that clock is. Run, gain from the experience and prepare for the season. Having a friendly meet brings out the competition and we root for both schools to do their best and move on.”
Van Grootheest thinks that his team will look pretty good in the Garden Grove League.
“Our girls should be pretty strong. We'll see, we got a long way to go. We're just looking at our own team right now and making improvements within our squad.”
He has no team leader and sending captains out to meet the track starter was a chore.
“I don't do captains,” said Van Grootheest. “I don't like kids feeling anyone is better than anyone else.”
Westminster was in complete agreement and coach Eric Gonzalez just picked the closest returning athlete that worked hard in sprinter Julie Nguyen who went on to win the 200 meters (28.74).
Stand out performers for the Matadors included Janette Zambrano who made it to the CIF finals in 3200 and cruised to a 11:45 win in the 3200 meters and 5:31 in the 1600. Janette Nguyen won the 100 in a 13.56 to the Lions Thu Nguyen pulling up to an injured 13.84 and then went on to a great Long Jump of 16-feet, three inches.
Hamstrings were on the mind of all coaches and the chilly air made those who wore their sweats up to race time a lot smarter and the others gained this wisdom the hard way.
In the girls' throws Bolsa’s Truong took both the shot put (29-feet, 11 inches) and the Discus (85 feet, 3 inches).
Westminster’s depleted sprint crew is still missing Diana Che as her eight-medal performance in the Orange County Academic Decathlon kept the county champions alive and heading to Sacramento for the state championships.
Despite this the Lady Lions cruised to a 53.02 400 relay win ands saw Gabby Zavala take the 100 hurdles (20.14) along with Taylor Secrist’s win in the 300 hurdles (55.04).
The competition was a great way to point out to everyone that they will need to get in shape as the season is underway and the Matadors did so will picking up a win on the way.
The boys’ competition came down to a spectacular 64-62 win for the Matadors and any single change in scoring would have swung things the opposite way.
Bolsa’s Victor Diaz took the 1600 (5:02) and 3200 (10:58) and had teammate Steve Sosa right on his back in each race. Westminster’s Andre Nguyen went on to win the 100, 200 and a share of both relays as Bryan Leon joined in the 1600 relay and wins in the 400 and 800.
Each hurdle win for the Lions also featured Raw Htoo who went on the win both hurdles races (110 in 17.69 and 300s in 45.45).
Bolsa dominated the shot put and discus taking 17 of the 18 points possible and stole the meet in this area along with double wins by Chris Nguyen in the long and triple jumps.
If experience was the objective both teams gained plenty of that.
Westminster’s frosh/soph level has not lost a meet in many years, but barely hung on to a three-point win in this seasonal tune-up. The coaches were stunned at the number of missed events and promised to “clean house” should this happen in the future. The boys’ frosh/soph had the Lions in a familiar place with a 77-26 score and as Bolsa used only a small team in the JV division the Lions cruised to a 96-12 win.
The Lions wanted to save a bit of hunger for Saturday’s Earl Engman invitational held at El Modena High and did so with dramatic style as 27 teams faced off in relay fashion. In the end the Lions brought home the sweepstakes trophy for the best-combined boys’ and girls’ team in winning their division.
In all the team brought in 66 medals that included 24 for first place performances.
