Staff Writer
Members of the Mira Costa track and field team competed in the Mt. San Antonio College CIF finals on Saturday. Seniors Raphael Lawson-Gayle and Reed Scale qualified to continue to the Masters meet at Cerritos College today, where they will attempt to qualify for state.
Lawson-Gayle finished as the Division II CIF champion in the long jump at 24 feet and 9.75 inches. He also broke the Costa record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.97 seconds at the CIF prelims. The previous time was set in 2006 at 10.99 seconds. However, Lawson-Gayle will be advancing to compete at the Masters only for long jump.
“I was lucky to have competed so well at Mt. SAC in long jump, but now I have to focus on maintaining that energy for the Masters,” Lawson-Gayle said.
At Mt. SAC, Scale placed second overall in boys pole vault at a height of 15 feet. He is advancing to the Masters. Fellow pole vaulter senior Sean Griffin finished fourth overall but did not qualify for the Masters.
“I am proud of my performance at Mt. SAC,” Scale said. “I jumped better than I have been lately. I’m excited to continue on to Masters.”
The team of juniors PJ Onusconich, Josh Block, Carter Anderson and senior Khalil McClain finished in sixth place in the 4×400-meter race with a time of 3:24 at Mt. SAC, but they will not be advancing. Junior Abby Hong competed in the 1,600-meter race and finished in seventh place with a time of 4:58. Senior Lauren Hagedorn ran the 3,200-meter race,
finishing in fifth place. Neither qualified for the Masters.
“It’s been a goal of mine to break five minutes in the mile,” Hong said. “I have really improved my time since the beginning of the track season and will continue to work hard to improve.”
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