Oaks Christian/Valley Christian Invitational

Salesian participated in the Oaks Christian/ Valley Christian Invitational on Saturday at Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village.  The first official track meet of the season saw many quality performances in the all the disciplines. 

In the 1500 meters, seniors Ivan Rafael, Paul Cornejo, and Adan Garcia posted times of 4:44, 4:49, and 5:12 respectively.  Ivan's time converts to a 5:05 mile for the 1600 meters.  Without a doubt, his personal best of 5:01 in the 1600 meters, will drop considerably by the end of the season.  A sub 4:50 is the ultimate goal.  Paul's time has cemented himself as one of the three of the varsity milers for the approaching league season.  Adan can run faster.  Junior Daniel Verdin, ran an impressive 4:59.  Danny has aspirations of running sub 5:10 in the 1600 by League Finals.  Also, Ivan, Paul, Adan and Daniel each ran a leg in the 4 x 400.  Their time of 4:17 is an improvement by 3 seconds from the last time they ran the event.  The biggest surprise of the day in the distances came from sophomore Uriel Rafael.  Last track season, Uriel desperately wanted to run sub 6:00 for the 1600.  He came close running 6:01.  On Saturday, Uriel's time of 5:28 in the 1500 meters, converts to a 5:53 for the 1600. 

Seniors Chris Hernandez, and Frank Zamora, junior Evan Sena, and freshmen Vladimir Chicas comprised the sprint squad on Saturday.  Michael "Speedy" Rodriguez, had planned on running, but during his warm-up for the 100 meters, he felt a pain in his tendon.  Hopefully, he can train this week, and compete on Saturday.  One of the highlights for the day, came from Chris.  He placed 3rd overall in the 100 meter dash, and 4th in the Long Jump.  Without question, Chris is one of the best sprinters in the the division.  He will test himself in the 400 meters this coming Saturday.  Frank ran in the 400 meters, posting a time of 1:00.  He can run faster, along with Evan.  His time of 1:08 was due in large part to a stomach problem that caused him to vomit after the race.  Freshman Vladimir ran an expected 1:02 in the 400.  In the 4 x 200, Chris, Evan, Vladimir, and distance runner, Uriel, made up the team. 

Throwers senior Jorge Baez, juniors Michael Aldana, and Marty Martinez,, along with sophomore Pedro Ortiz  competed in both the shot put and discus events.  Another highlight of the meet was the performance by Michael in the shot put.  His best throw of 40 feet, 10 inches was a personal best by 4 feet, 3 inches.  Overall, Michael placed 2nd.  In the discus , Michael, along with Marty and Pedro were the  top 3 performers for the Mustangs. 

The Mustangs next compete in the Tri-County Small Schools Invitational on Saturday at Moorpark High School.  Senior Chris Hernandez will compete in the 400 meter invitational race.  More importantly, the 2 favorites to win the Sante Fe League Championship, Daniel Murphy, and St. Genevieve, will also compete on the same track as the Mustangs.  The vans depart at 6:30 AM.   

East LA All-Comers Series

L.A. Open All-Comers Series

Distance runners and the throwers of the track and field competed in the L.A. Open All-Comers Series at Cal State Los Angeles on Saturday, January 19. Results are encouraging in that many of the athletes are at the point where they finished last season in. 

All distance runners ran in the 1500 meters, 100 meters short of the mile.  Senior Ivan Rafael led all runners with a time of 4:59.  He was followed close by senior Paul Cornejo who finished with a time of 5:00.  Several seconds behind them were juniors Daniel Verdin, Danny Garcia, and senior Adan Garcia.  Verdin clocked a time of 5:08 in the 1500 meters which converts to a time of 5:31 for the mile.  With a couple weeks of training, Danny was 8 seconds off his personal best.  The other Danny, finished with a time of 5:12.  Adan ran 5:09.  Sophomore Uriel Rafael, and junior Isaac Miranda ran 6:13, and 7:19 respectively. 

Junior throwers Michael Aldana, Alex James, Marty Ortiz, and sophomore Pedro Ortiz competed in the shot put event.  Michael's best throw of the 12 pound ball was 34 feet, 10 inches, 1 feet, 7 inches off his personal best.  Michael, along with all the other throwers, solely used the pivot aspect of the glide technique in their attempts.  Alex, who joined the team this past week, threw an impressive 32 feet, 7 inches.  Marty threw 28 feet, 5 inches, and Pedro threw 25 feet, 3 inches.  

The throwers next compete in the Frostbite All-Comers at Gahr High School on Saturday, February 2 where they will compete in both the discus and the shot put events.  Distance runners will run again in the 1500 meters, as well as a leg on the 4 x 400 on Saturday, February 9 at the East Los Angeles All-Comers where they will run against Francisco "Panchito" Garcia, Edwin Garcia, and Christian "Lisa" Ruiz, alumni  running for East Los Angeles College.  Sprinters will make their debut at this meet.