In a meet that featured several of California’s top performers, the La Cañada High girls’ track and field team narrowly defeated South Pasadena 64-63 in a Rio Hondo League dual meet on March 27.
The victory sets up a path for the Spartans girls’ team to capture their fourth straight Rio Hondo League title.
La Cañada faced a 60-35 deficit with four events to go but managed to outscore their opponents 29-3 in the remaining competitions to complete the comeback.
“This was a truly unbelievable comeback, and I am so proud of the girls for not giving up when everyone else thought the meet was lost,” La Cañada coach Chris Matarese said.
La Cañada’s girls team boasts five seniors who will compete at the collegiate level next year, including Katelyn Matarese (Harvard), Erin Makhanian (Emory University), Brittany Rivas (Pepperdine), Kaitlyn Creighton (Claremont McKenna), and Yasmin Ghaneh (UC San Diego).
Makhanian, Katelyn Matarese and Spartans junior Sarina Parks led the way against South Pasadena.
Katelyn Matarese won the 800-meter race in 2 minutes, 22.6 seconds, and combined with Parks, Julia Sada and Brittany Rivas in the 4×400 relay to win the event in 4:02.93. The senior also took home critical points in the 400 and 3,200 races to finish as the Spartan’s only four-event point scorer.
Makhanian took first in the pole vault with a school record with a vault of 12 feet, 3 inches, which ranked as the third best vault in California on the day of the meet.
Parks secured key first-place finishes, with a time of 25.3 in the 200 and 57.31 in the 400.
Juniors Maya DeBrouwer and Katie McGuinness also had big performances.
DeBrouwer cruised to an easy victory in the 3,200 finishing the event in 12:18.93 after setting the school record in the event four days earlier with a time that is ranked fourth-best in the state. The junior also ran the 13th fastest time in the state in 1,600, clocking in at 4:53.37 to add to the team’s point total.
McGuinness took first place in the long jump with a leap of 19-3 — a school record and the fourth-longest jump in the state this season. The junior holds the school record in high jump as well, finishing with 5-3 1/2. McGuiness also competed in the 100-meter hurdles race, finishing in 15.31.
“Katie is an amazing athlete that could hold eight school records by the time she finishes her high school career,” Matarese said.
First-year thrower Kayla Buchok was La Cañada’s final event winner. In the shot put, Buchok threw for 31-4, besting her previous personal record by 3 feet.
Mia DiConti captured second place in the pole vault and Ghaneh finished second in the 3,200 to score three points apiece.
La Cañada’s third-place finishers each tallied a single point that was the difference, which included Lily Bingham in the 100, Danica Eggleston in the triple jump, Nora Anderson in the high jump, Jessica Eggleston in the pole vault, Kaitlyn Creighton in the 100 Hurdles, Rivas in the 300 hurdles and McGuinness in the 200.
La Cañada victory ultimately came down to the last race of the day in the 4×400 relay.
Katelyn Matarese, Rivas, Sada and Parks teamed up to win the race and the meet for the Spartans, who managed to keep their five-year meet winning streak intact.
La Cañada’s next league meet is Thursday, April 11 hosting Blair and Monrovia, with a win securing the Rio Hondo League championship.
The Rio Hondo League finals will take place April 26 at South Pasadena High.
First published in the April 4 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
