2012 Season Updates & Photos

Rebecca Mehra and Kylie Bulter wait to strike on their way to a 1-2 finish in the girls varsity 800 meters. Photo by Jane Mehra.

Update -- March 20, 2012 -- Blazing Hurdles and Double Winners Highlight Mira Costa @ Palos Verdes Dual Meet

The expected marquee hurdles matchup of Mira Costa senior Kyle Hubbard and Palos Verdes junior Brendan Weaver lived up to the billing with the duo splitting the races in outstanding early season times.  Weaver won the 110 high hurdles in a blistering 14.60 seconds with Hubbard just a step behind, then Hubbard returned the favor later in the meet by winning the 300h in a very fine 38.63 with Weaver right behind.  Both winning times were new era PVHS facility records.  The rest of the varsity boys meet largely went the Mustangs' way despite a nice 800 effort from Justin Unno and Jonah Diaz for second and third places in a very fast boys 800m and Austin McGibbon winning the discus.

On the girls side of the meet the team competition was extremely close with the Lady Mustangs pulling away to a 75-61 victory only at the very end with a sweep in the 3200 meters and a victory in the 4x400m relay.  Ashlee Dotson starred for Mira Costa winning the 100m and 200m and anchoring the 4x400m relay team to victory and Acacia Moore won both hurdles races.  For Palos Verdes, Rebecca Mehra won the 800m and 1600m races, Cate Ryant won the long jump and triple jump, and Megan Wooley won the 400m and led the 4x100m relay team (Wooley, Durko, Johnson, Ryant) to a win with a very fast opening leg.  Courtney Daly continued her fine pole vault season taking first place and a share of the new era PVHS facility record with a vault of 9'0".

Mira Costa also won both frosh-soph divisions convincingly but there were some bright spots for PV, including Anthony Alvarado in the short sprints, Madison Richards in the long jump, and good results from the distances.  Freshman Kevin Weaver also scored a varsity point taking third place in the long jump.

Event results are being summarized and will be linked on Edline. 

The Sea Kings split the squad this coming weekend with the distances seeking fame and fortune at the Azusa distance carnival while select sprinters and hurdlers will compete at the California Relays at the legendary Cerritos College facility.

March 17, 2012 -- Update -- PVHS Athletes Battle Competition, Elements at Redondo Invitational.  A powerful winter storm drenched the morning events at the prestigious Redondo Invitational but afternoon clearing allowed for PV athletes to shine against some of Southern California's strongest teams.  The girls 800m sprint medley team of Megan Wooley, Avery Durko, Candace Johnson, and Kylie Butler finished third in their heat and fifth overall in 1:56.56.  Johnson also made her 300m hurdles debut a good one finishing third in her heat at 51.83 seconds.  Brendan Weaver readied himself for the Arcadia decathlon in three weeks by running the 800m, finishing second in his heat in 2:05.96, a very fine time given the strong winds in the late afternoon.  Junior Austin McGibbon won his flight of the boys varsity discus with a mark of 114'0".  Some of the newest Sea Kings also had good results. Junior Julia Milliken was a heat winner in the girls 400m, and freshman Kevin Weaver and sophomore Anthony Alvarado looked solid in the 100m.

The Sea Kings open Bay League action on Tuesday, hosting Mira Costa.

Full meet / searchable results available here:  https://dyestat.rise.espn.go.com/meetresults.jsp?meetID=49674

Justin Unno captured the title in the boys varsity 800m with a blazing finish.  Photo courtesy Duncan Selby, Selbyphotography.com

Update -- March 10, 2012 -- PVHS SWEEP OF VARSITY 800 METERS HIGHLIGHTS GREAT DAY FOR SEA KINGS AT IRVINE INVITATIONAL.

PVHS opened the 2012 invitational season with a blizzard of tremendous performances and personal bests at the highly competitive Irvine Invitational.  Senior superstars Justin Unno and Rebecca Mehra led the way with a sweep of the varsity 800 meter races.  Justin's furious finish outlasted three other competitors driving for the line and got him there first by a hair in 1:57.71 while Rebecca won comfortably by over a second in 2:16.89 followed closely by junior teammate Kylie Butler who slipped under the 2:20 barrier for fourth in a PR of 2:19.82.  

Other outstanding performances included:  Jonah Diaz taking third in the boys varsity 1600m in 4:17.42, Brendan Weaver taking third and second in the boys varsity hurdle races with Arcadia qualifying marks of 15.43 in the 110h and 40.43 in the 300h, Candace Johnson taking second in the girls frosh-soph 200 with a time of 27.46 into a strong headwind, Cassidy Webber taking fourth in the GFS 1600m in 5:21.07, freshman Casey Celestin taking eighth in the BFS 800m in 2:06.75 with a huge PR, Lucas Robinson taking third in the BFS 1600 in 4:34.15, and freshman Anna Pruter also turning in a giant personal best for tenth in the GFS 800m in 2:30.71.

Full meet/searchable results available here:  https://espn.go.com/high-school/track-and-xc/california/story/_/id/7672313/irvine-invitational

The Sea Kings are next in action Saturday, March 17, at the Redondo Invitational.

Justin Unno on his way to a stunning victory in the boys 400 meters. Photo by Coach Shapiro

Courtney Daly set a new PVHS school record in the pole vault at 10'0" under the watchful eyes of the Coaches Bentz. Photo by Jane Mehra

Rebecca and Monica Mehra enjoyed their first PVHS track meet together. Photo by Jane Mehra

Maile Davis (center), Julia Milliken (l) and Avery Durko (r) looked strong for PV in the girls varsity 300m hurdles. Photo by Lauren Gagnon

Update -- March 1, 2012 -- Palos Verdes and Culver City Split Highly Competitive Season Opening Dual Meet
Palos Verdes and Culver City have a longstanding tradition of opening the season against one another in nonleague action. Year after year the meets are always thrilling and this year was no exception.
On the boys side, superstar hurdlers senior Lucas Nozick from Culver City and junior Brendan Weaver from Palos Verdes were one of the marquee matchups of the day. Nozick drew first blood in winning the 110 high hurdles in an impressive time of 15.20, but Weaver roared back in the 300 hurdles to win in 40.09, a new PVHS school record, and also won the high jump. But Nozick enjoyed the last laugh, as the meet came down to the final event, the 4x400 meter relay, and Nozick blazed to a 49.9 second opening leg to open a gap the Sea Kings could never close and clinch a 70-64 win for Culver City. Other notable efforts for PV included senior distance stars Justin Unno dropping down to win the 400 meters in a solid 52.84 seconds and Daniel Rieger switching focus entirely to take second in the triple jump.

For the girls, Palos Verdes vaulters Courtney Daly, Aleen Gordon, and Brooke Bessen led the way to a 79-53 win with a sweep of the pole vault highlighted by Daly's new PVHS school record vault of 10'0". Senior distance ace Rebecca Mehra added to her growing legend with two stirring come from behind efforts in the 400 meters and as anchor in the 4x400 meter relay. Mehra won the 400 meters in 59.09 seconds and ran another 59 second split to win the relay for PV after gutsy legs from Avery Durko, Kylie Butler, and Candace Johnson kept PV in range of the strong Culver City female sprint crew. Other noteworthy efforts for PV included Cate Ryant winning the triple jump and placing second in the 100 meters, and Julia Milliken winning the high jump after joining the team only weeks ago.

Culver City also won the mutually understaffed frosh-soph girls (66-42) and frosh soph boys (55-36) divisions. The Sea Kings are off this weekend and continue training with an eye towards competition later in the month.

As the Culver City meet was an away meet complete individual event results unfortunately were not available.  Partial results are still being compiled and will be posted on Edline.

Update - Feb. 26, 2012 - Jonah Diaz among nation's best with 4th place finish at prestigious Brooks PR Invitational; Sea Kings prepare to open the 2012 season.
Senior Jonah Diaz left no doubt that he is ready to take his place among the nation's best 3200 meter runners this season, going toe to toe with some of the best runners from across the country gathered at the Brooks PR Invitational held at the University of Washington.  In the end Jonah finished an impressive fourth with a blistering early season time of 9:03.44 for a full two miles on an indoor track.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Sea Kings spent the weekend preparing for the official opening of the 2012 outdoor CIF season with the annual nonleague dual meet against Culver City on March 1.  The meet is at Culver City this year and will start at 2:45 pm.

Update -- January 21, 2012: Brendan Weaver shows well in the 55m hurdles and finishes fifth in the high jump at the California Indoor High School State Meet.

Palos Verdes HS junior multi-events star Brendan Weaver had some good performances and gained valuable big time experience at the California Indoor HS State Meet January 21st in Fresno. In the 55 meter hurdles Weaver shaved his personal best down to 8.11 seconds, missing a spot in the finals by a mere three-hundredths of a second. Then later in the evening Weaver earned a tie for fifth place in the high jump by clearing 6'2". Full meet results available at: https://dyestat.rise.espn.go.com/meetresults.jsp?meetID=48271

Update -- January 7, 2012 -- WEAVER OPENS JUNIOR YEAR WITH A BANG

Junior Brendan Weaver, pictured here in 2011 Bay League dual meet action, qualified for the 2012 California State Indoor HS Meet in the 55m hurdles and the high jump. Photo by Elisa Liehr.

Palos Verdes HS junior multi-event superstar Brendan Weaver opened his 2012 competition year with a tremendous two-event performance today at Paramount HS in the Los Angeles Region qualifying meet for the California State Indoor HS Meet to be held on January 21 in Fresno. In the 55 meter hurdles, Brendan recorded a whopping personal best, knocking over 1.3 seconds off his previous fastest time to finish in 8.12 seconds to finish second and qualify automatically as one of the top three fastest finishers in the Los Angeles Region. Then Brendan qualified automatically for the high jump with a fine early-season leap of 6'3", placing third and meeting the automatic qualifying standard. Brendan finished his 2011 campaign ranked among the top ten sophomores statewide in the 110m hurdles, the 300m hurdles, and the high jump, and appears poised to equal or better that success this season.