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May 18, 2023
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on Twitter
John Glenn High has not had a history in a lot of sports, especially track and field. But senior Mikel Udengwu made the biggest historical mark the school has ever seen in the sport.
At last Saturday’s CIF-Southern Section Divisional Track and Field championships at Moorpark High, he set a Division 3 record in the discus event when he had a mark of 193-0, clearly beating Brendon See of JSerra High, who threw 179-4. The previous CIF-SS Division 3 record was 190-06, accomplished by Blake Ayles of Orange Lutheran High in 2007.
Udengwu qualified for the finals with a mark of 171-9 the previous week in the divisional preliminaries, which was the second best mark in Division 3. But in the finals, he got the mark on his first throw, which put him into Saturday’s Masters Meet. He will be seeded first as his mark not only was the best in the division, but in the Southern Section from last Saturday. The next best mark is 180-08 from Redondo Union High’s Kai Deines.
The top six finishers in the Masters Meet advance to the state preliminaries in Clovis on May 26.
Elsewhere from the divisional finals, the Gahr High boys 4×400 meter relay team of senior Jacob Joseph, juniors Jared Joseph and Jaiden Powers and sophomore Dylan Thompson advanced to the Masters Meet as the first alternate with a time of 3:21.89, which was the 10th best time from the finals. Thompson also had a time of 21.86 in the 200 meter dash, which was the fourth best time in Division 2, and had the fifth best time in the 100 meter dash at 10.72.
Also in Division 2, Cerritos High junior Osinachi Agaranna had a mark of six feet in the high jump while senior Kailah Usi ran a 16.25 in the 110 meter hurdles.
In Division 3, Artesia High sophomore Keiasja Carbins was third in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.21 while Valley Christian High was well represented in Division 4.
The 4×100 relay team of seniors Mickyas Beneye, Nick Bozanic and Haruto Imai and sophomore Jayce Shields finished seventh in the division with a time of 44.17. Bozanic also ran the 100 meter dash and had a time of 10.90 while senior Matthew Kubler came in fourth place in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:20.81. The 4×400 relay team of Imai and Shields, sophomore Jonas Arana and Wyatt Barker finished in fifth place with a time of 3:33.40.
In the high jump, freshman Oliver Boateng had a mark of 5-8.00 while senior Aaron Cheng finished fourth in the shot put with a mark of 49-4.00.
BASEBALL
Four area teams advanced to the quarterfinals last Friday and all four saw their season’s end. In addition to La Mirada High falling to Santa Margarita High 9-4 in Division 1 action, Artesia lost to Fillmore High 7-1 to finish with a mark of 13-14. It’s the second straight season the Pioneers have had double digit win totals and the combined 28-26 since last season is the program’s best two-year record since 2004-2005 when those teams also went a combined 28-26.
Gahr went on the road and fell to Calabasas High 3-1 in Division 2 action to wrap up another banner season at 23-7-1. It’s the 14th time since 1999 the Gladiators have won at least 20 games, but the first time since 2018. This was also Gahr’s sixth quarterfinal loss since 1999.
Finally, the dream season for Norwalk High came to a halt with a home loss to Hesperia Christian 8-3, the fifth defeat in 28 games for the Lancers. This was the first time since 1999 Norwalk had reached the quarterfinals and the first time in at least 25 seasons the program had won more than 16 games. The 37-18 two-year record is also the best for the Lancers since the 2005 and 2006 squads went a combined 30-21.
