By Leonard COUTIN

With a time of 4:12.31 in the 1600m, Falcon junior Dylan Wilbur found victory at the Division 1 CIF track and field finals on May 11.

Held at the state-of-the-art all-weather track at El Camino College, a large crowd of spectators and athletes for more than five hours watched competition in four divisions (128 events). Having to deal with only moderate temperatures, the athletes were able to record personal bests throughout the day.    

Wilbur’s strong performance was on par with other outstanding Falcons. Crescenta Valley High School Coach Mark Evans gave an overview of some of the school’s previous golden athletes.

“I did some research and found that in 1976 Don Moses was the CIF champ in the 1600 with a time of 4:10.9,” said Evans. “Morgan Bateman was the CIF champ in the 800 in 1988 with a time of 1:52.87. Rick Parks was the masters meet champ in the high jump in 1974 with a jump of 6-9.5. Rick was not the CIF champ but did win the masters meet, which is the state qualifying meet.”

Wilbur’s performance brought the crowd to its feet. The runners are required to stay in their lanes briefly then usually break for the curve. Wilbur hung back, putting himself in the fourth position behind Carrick Denker of Dana Hills going around the first lap. Leading the pack was Cole Stark of Dana Hills followed by Daniel Rodriquez of Highland. Completing his second lap, Wilbur moved out to run next to Rodriquez while Stark still held the lead. As they came around for the third lap, Stark still held the lead with Wilbur close at hand. Coming into the final lap with 300m left in the race, Wilbur pressed Stark.

“Dylan has good racing instincts and he followed them,” said Evans. “The race went out in 2:06 for the first 800 and Dylan was tucked in at second or third and seemed pretty comfortable. He made a move to the front with about 300 to go in the race. He really was not challenged but the Dana Hills runner did try to stay on Dylan’s shoulder. At about 250 to go, Dylan made another move and the Dana Hills runner was not able to go with that move.”

Wilbur accelerated, putting more distance between him and the rest of the runners, taking the win with a time of 4:12.31. The win earned him second place on the list of CV champions behind Don Moses.

“This was a season – and lifetime – best for Dylan,” said Evans. 

The Pacific League finalists who also did well were Burbank’s Jayla Flowers, who placed fifth in the long jump (17-10.05) and third in the triple jump (38-05.00). Glendale’s Julius Reyes placed eight with a put of 151-07 in the shot put. In Division 4, Muir performed well with the help of Jenesis Sanford who placed third in the 100m running 12.25 and fifth in the 200m running 24.87. Teammate Cynthia Hill placed eighth in the 100H running 15.96 and took ninth in the triple jump with a 37-07.25 jump. Reggie Miles won the 300H running 39.71 and placed third in the 110H running 15.39. Bernardo Brito placed fourth in the shot put with a put of 46-05.25.

  Leonard Coutin