For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, local teams will get to compete in dual meets. In recent years, the Pacific League has held meets on weekends at Arcadia that were more reminiscent of an all-comers event as there were hardly any home meets as well as a low number of participants.
But that has changed this year and once again the city has some athletes who could go far in the postseason.
Burroughs
The Bears have one of the top long jumpers in the state in senior Dilan Webster, who has already gone over 23 feet early in the season.
Webster and junior Jaelin Smith should lead the way in the sprints with sophomores Andrew Cox and Alexander Jeronimo not far behind.
The distance running group is young and could be very strong in a few years.
Freshmen Liam Ellingsworth and Nathan Marca are two to look out for along with sophomores Justin Cano, Christopher Miguel and Alex Acevedo.
Burroughs is stronger on the girls’ side.
Quiana Laughlin and Jailyn Turner lead the way in the sprints, jumping events and relays. Isabella Galustians, Vivi Cannon and Mackenzie Monahan have shown strong marks in the distances early on.
Lindsey Mazarei has shown promise in the hurdles and will also run in relays.
Otelia Lighthill is strong in the discus throw.
“We’ve had a good turnout this year, as far as the number of athletes joining track and field, and the few coaches we have are doing a great job coaching them up in different events. We are expecting to be one of the top teams in the Pacific League and have some of our individual athletes compete in the CIF-SS finals this year,” Burroughs coach John Palma said.
Burbank
The Bulldogs may not have any athletes with state meet ability this year, but they have some young prospects who could feature in the future.
Sophomore Ogden Lucsik is very talented in the field events, having already jumped 13 feet, 7 inches in the pole vault. If he can get over 14 feet by the end of the season, he could become an elite vaulter in the future. He’s also solid in the long and triple jumps.
Juniors Caleb Smith and Maxwell LeSane figure to lead the sprinters. Junior Ricardo Mujica leads the distance running group.
Seniors Joshua Jimenez and Troy Cedeno give Burbank two solid throwers.
For the girls’ team, senior Kennedy Bruce and junior Juliette Lambert lead the way in the sprints.
Junior Ashley Sosa and senior Nicole Mireles lead the way in the distance events.
Senior Arpine Khechatourian is strong in the throwing events.
“We have some emerging talent coming up,” Burbank coach Greg Simonds said.
Providence
The Pioneers are quite strong and should send several athletes to the CIF Southern Section Division 4 finals.
For the girls’ team sophomores Aubrey and Reese Eaton and Natalie Gonzalez give Providence three strong in the distance events. Junior Eva Barahona also looks promising in the distances as well and can certainly help the Pioneers.
For the boys’ team the distances are the strong point with seniors Trevor Dean and Aidan Urbina as well as sophomore Henry Virtue.
Junior Alexander Kochoa stands a very good chance of being a CIF finalist as he has already gone over 50 feet in the shot put and 129 feet in the discus. Senior Lucas Parisi-Sanchez is one to look for in the sprints.
