MISSION VIEJO — Rosary’s Justine Wilson was looking forward to competing in the Orange County Championships for track and field Saturday for a variety of reasons.
Wilson knew she and her teammates had a chance to do well and she was excited about competing against athletes she’s known most of her life.
Everything worked out just the way sophomore sprinter hoped it would at Mission Viejo High School.
Wilson was named the sprinter of the meet after winning the 200- and 400-meter races, running a leg of the Royals’ 4×100 relay that finished first and a leg of the 4×400 relay foursome that took third.
Rosary’s relay team of, from left, Milan Smith, Justine Wilson, Sol Lee and Paige Sorensen won the 4×100 at the Orange County Championships on Saturday, April 13. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)
The Royals finished tied for second with Newport Harbor in the team standings with 58 points, while JSerra scored 88.50 points and won the O.C. Championships title for the third year in a row.
“It feels very good here,” said Wilson, who has been competing in club track since age 6. “Obviously because all the people from my league are here, and a lot of friends I’ve been running with since I was way younger are here, so it feels really good to win here. I’m happy that my hard work paid off, especially at a meet like this.”
The Lions finished first, in large part, on the strength of their distance runners, the same athletes that were on JSerra’s state championship cross country team in the fall.
JSerra’s Summer Wilson finished first in the 3,200 in 10 minutes, 26.81 seconds and teammates Sophie Polay and Brynn Garcia placed third and fourth, respectively, accounting for 21 team points.
The Lions also picked up 12 points in the 800, 11 in the 1,600 and 10 for finishing first in the 4×400.
“We were the No. 1 team in California in cross-country this year and that translates to all those different races,” JSerra coach Chase Frazier said.
Frazier also praised JSerra’s frosh-soph girls team which finished first.
“Our lower levels are doing the job,” Frazier said. “They are waiting and excited to get their opportunity to jump onto the varsity team.”
Newport Harbor’s Keaton Robar was named the girls distance runner of the meet, after winning the 1,600 and 800, with both races featuring a prestigious field of runners.
Robar made monster moves in the final strides of both races.
Newport Harbor’s Keaton Robar, left, pulls away from JSerra’s Anne Elise Packard to win the 1,600 meters at the Orange County Championships on Saturday, April 13. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)
The junior came from far back in the final 200 meters to win the 1,600 in a field that featured Holly Barker of Trabuco Hills and JSerra’s Anne Elise Packard.
Robar’s time of 4:50.16 is the fourth-fastest in the history of the meet.
Barker, who ran 10:02.52, the second-best time in county history in the 3,200 at last week’s Arcadia Invitational, had been leading for most of the race before falling back to fourth. Packard finished second and Sydney Rubio of Huntington Beach took third.
“It’s a lot of fun to see how we compete, because we’re all very different runners, and we all want the same thing, to go as fast as we can,” Robar said. “I like running with them. I like running with fast people.”
Robar made a nearly identical move in winning the 800, coming from fourth place to run down JSerra’s Georgia Jeanneret in the final 5 meters.
Robar and Jeanneret finished in 2:11.62 and 2:11.81, respectively.
Barker came back later and anchored the Mustangs’ relay that won the 4×800 in 9:39.86.
The race was being held for only the second year at the Orange County Championships.
“I think going in we were all pretty nervous about it, but then once the race kind of started we all just locked in and got it done,” said Skylar Watts, who ran the third leg in the race.
Roxy Meyer of Dana Hills took home girls field athlete of the meet honors, finishing first in the long jump, triple jump and high jump.
Edison’s Alexa Sheldon won the shot put at the Orange County Championships for the second year in a row on Saturday, April 13. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)
Edison’s Alexa Sheldon, who finished first in the shot put at Arcadia last week, came right back to win the shot put at the O.C. Championships, capturing first in the event for the second year in a row.
“I feel like at the end of the season it’s going to look really good,” said Sheldon, a Cal State Fullerton commit. “I’m finally going to get to the state meet, which I’m praying for. I know it’s in my future, I know that.”
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