By Leonard COUTIN

The Falcons hosted their first Pacific League tri-meet against the Burroughs Indians and the Hoover Tornadoes on Thursday, March 12.

The Falcon boys knew it was going to be tough to beat the Indians who were state cross-country champions last season. Burroughs had a remarkable season and hoped to maintain their winning streak as they prepared for this early season schedule of track and field. CV was able to capture six gold wins, but unfortunately fell short in their fight against Indians.

Falcon Arin Nahabtian won the high jump with a season best of 5-8 while Armin Cardenas ran his first race of the season in 2:09.9 finishing strong to tie with Andrew Barrondo from Burroughs. Emin Assaghoulian won the discus (110-1½) and Kenny Kang had a strong win in the 300 intermediate hurdles in a time of 40.7. The CV boys won the final event of the day, the 1600m relay (Kyle D’Ambrosio, Cardenas, Christian Villegas, Shawn Grinnell), in 3:39.0. Final score boys’ varsity: CV 51 vs Burroughs 85.

The Falcons’ boys and girls overpowered the young Tornadoes team: CV boys 110 vs Hoover boys 5 and the CV girls scored 117 vs Hoover girls 10.

Hoover Coach Jack Sallakian has been trying to rebuild his track program for the last two years while an all-weather facility was being installed at the school. It was hard to build the program without having a track on campus for daily workouts and having to go to Glendale Community College each day to work out. The team is now approximately 50 athletes strong.

The Falcons’ girls stepped up during this early season to win key events. The first win came from the opening race of the day, the 400m relay. The CV team of Kelly Im, Claire Schlueter, Emmie Walker and Hannah Sy won with a time of 52.3. Other key contributors to earn multiple wins for the Falcons team against the Indians included Megan Melnyk, Sammie Phinney, Alisha Shinn as well as Schlueter. Melnyk won the 1600m (5.26.7), 400m (58.9) and anchored the 1600m relay. Phinney won the 100HH (14.8) and 100m (12.6). Shinn won the shot put (34-1.5) and the discus (93-11). Schlueter won the 100m (12.6), long jump (19-10.5) and triple jump (31-3.75). Walker won the high jump with a 5-2 jump, and a leg of the 400m. Liz Filipian won the 300H (52.4) and Annie Meyer ran a strong 800m to win (2:42).

Final score girls’ varsity: CV 84 vs Burroughs 52; CV 117 vs Hoover 10.

The final scores for the frosh/soph boys: CV 5 vs Burroughs 90; CV 104 vs Hoover 15. Frosh/soph girls: CV 81 vs Burroughs 53; CV 128 vs Hoover 3.

“I thought the meet went well,” said Head Coach Mark Evans. “We were missing a few people and did not have the depth in the boys.  Girls had a very good meet.”

  Leonard Coutin