By Rick Assad
Special to MyBurbank
What should have been a fairly close dual track and field meet at Memorial Field on Wednesday turned out to be anything but as the Burbank High boys’ and girls’ squads cruised to easy wins over Burroughs.
The Burbank boys’ galloped to a 78-58 triumph over the Indians while the girls’ scorched its Pacific League rival, 88-48, as ominous gray skies hovered overhead.
“They always want to win because it’s Burroughs,” Burbank coach Darin Wolf said. “But we didn’t peak toward this meet. We still have the league meet to look forward to.”
Wolf, of course, was nonetheless pleased with the boys’ and girls’ efforts against the Indians.
“It’s really nice that we can hopefully finish second in the league,” he said. “We’ve never beaten Crescenta Valley in the same season. The girls did it one year and the boys did it a few years in a row, but never in the same season.”
The Burbank boys’ and girls’ teams suffered its only league setback at the hands of first-place Arcadia, which takes on the Falcons on Thursday. The Bulldogs swept Crescenta Valley two weeks ago.
Burbank’s strong showing was powered in part by Noah Powell, who captured the high jump with a leap of 5-10 and the triple jump (43-1), as the boys are 6-1 in league action and 7-1 overall.
Mitchell Aslo was another twin victor as he took the shot put (43-1) and the discus (131-5), while Martin Swan was first in the 100 meters in a time of 11.37 and the 300 meter hurdles (40.45).
Brennan Doyle won the 400 (49.84) for the Bulldogs, and the team of Swan, Chris Roe, Doyle and Joey Miller placed first in the quarter-mile relay (43.31).
The foursome of Doyle, Miller, Powell and Hideki Nakazawa garnered first place in the mile relay and was clocked in 3:28.90.
Despite the weather it wasn’t all gloomy for the Burroughs boys (5-2 in league and 5-4 overall) as Niko Guerrero finished first in the 200 (22.69), Garrett Boulais in the 800 (2:01.90), Andrew Barrondo in the 1,600 (4:26.30), Corwin Scherer in the 100 meter hurdles (15.23), Ben Mathov in the pole vault (11-0), Neron Palmer in the long jump (19-11) and Manne Green in the 3,200 (9:56.00).
Haleigh Cusumano, Juliana LaFrance and Kira Bochard were double winners and led the Burbank girls who are 6-1 in league and 7-1 in all meets.
Cusumano took the top spot in the 200 in a time of 26.03 and the high jump (4-10), LaFrance scooped up the 100 meter hurdles (16.55) and the triple jump (33-10), while Bochard snared the 300 meter hurdles (16.55) and the 400 (1:01.33).
Cusumano, Julie Newton, Chloe Tilton and Mikaela Teixeira were first in the quarter-mile relay in a clocking of 50.32, while Cusumano, Bochard, Tilton and Sydney Custer were on top in the mile relay (4:12.90).
“It’s a little more stressful because it’s Burroughs,” Cusumano admitted. “I just try not to think about it. I just wanted to do the best I could.”
Newton nabbed first place in the 100 (12.64), while teammate Caroline Adams was first in the 800 (2:26.50) and Candela Fernandez took first in the 3,200 (11:53.0).
Nadine Younan won twice for Burroughs (4-3 in league and 4-5 overall) as she claimed the shot put (29-11 1/2) and the discus (99-11).
Teammate Emily Virtue took first place in the 1,600 (5:21.80) for the Indians, while Izzy Funes won the long jump (16-1 1/2) and Sarah Prystupa the pole vault (10-6) for Burroughs.
League finals will be held on May 8 at Arcadia High School.
