Mulkey, Bell, Wilson win league championships

Three Fallbrook High School girls earned league championships at the Avocado East League track and field meet May 13 at San Pasqual High School.

Fallbrook senior Amanda Mulkey won both the 1,600-meter and 800-meter races, junior Nicole Bell’s victory in the 3,200-meter run gave the Warriors a sweep of the distance event league champions, and junior Hannah Wilson had the best long jump of the league finals.

“I was pretty happy with what the girls did,” said Fallbrook head coach Troy Hamlin.

The league meet consisted of May 10 preliminary heats at San Pasqual as well as the league finals. Mulkey’s 800-meter time of 2:21.17 was that event’s fastest during the preliminaries. She finished second in the 1,600-meter preliminaries as her time of 5:19.38 was bettered only by the 5:16.71 of Vista freshman Ashley Cope. Vista junior Courtney Corradetti was third in that race with a time of 5:21.34 while Bell placed fourth at 5:23.67.

Mulkey also won her heat and finished third overall in the 400-meter race with a time of 1:00.72, although she scratched out of the finals in that event to focus on the 800-meter and 1,600-meter competitions.

Mulkey won the 1,600-meter finals with a time of 5:04.20. Cope finished second at 5:10.05, Corradetti was third after taking 5:13.16, and Bell’s time of 5:15.75 gave her fourth place. The top two finishers in each event automatically qualify for the CIF meet with additional finishers potentially qualifying due to time, and all four of the top finishers scratched out of the CIF meet to focus on other events. “You don’t want to do any extra events that you’re not going to be competitive in or you’re not going to be as competitive in,” Hamlin said.

That made Fallbrook freshman Rosanne Lopez the highest finisher not to qualify for the CIF meet after the drops. Lopez finished eighth in both the preliminaries and the finals, setting a personal record of 5:30.48 in her preliminary heat and lowering that to 5:27.28 in the championship race.

Mulkey’s winning time in the 800-meter finals was 2:17.81. Second place went to San Pasqual freshman Brittany Logan, who completed her two laps in 2:21.99. “It was really a solo effort there,” Hamlin said.

Mulkey also anchored Fallbrook’s 4x400 relay team which finished second. Mission Hills had a winning time of 4:03.72 while the Warriors took 4:10.78. Fallbrook junior Holly Contreras opened with a lap of 1:03.9, freshman Sarah Grantham took 1:03.8, junior Briana Rothert held the baton for 1:03.9, and Mulkey completed her 400 meters in 58.9 seconds. That lap was the first for Mulkey under one minute during her high school career.

The 3,200-meter race is not run during the preliminaries. In the finals Bell had a winning time of 11:15.14, which set a personal record by six seconds. “It was a great performance for Nicole,” Hamlin said.

Cope was second at 11:21.78 and Corradetti placed third with a time of 11:24.56. “It was really a three-girl race for most of it,” Hamlin said.

The leaders broke free from the pack about 1 1/2 laps into the eight-lap race. “They ran together back and forth off each other,” Hamlin said. “Nicole just stayed in there with them.”

Bell started the race with a 77-second lap. Her goal was to run each of the next six laps in 85 seconds, and she completed the first four laps in 5:36.1. “Coming down the homestretch on the seventh lap she just took over,” Hamlin said. “I was concerned that it was too soon.”

Cope and Corradetti tried to catch up to Bell but were not successful. “With 300 meters to go, the other two you could tell they were done,” Hamlin said.

Four other Warriors also competed in the race including senior Emily Calescibetta, who closed out her high school career with a 22nd-place time of 13:31.08.

During the preliminaries Wilson had a long jump of 17 feet 1 1/2 inches, which was the top mark of the day. She had a distance of 16 feet 11 1/2 inches in the finals, which was still good enough for first place. Vista freshman Rashawna Williams was second at 16 feet 5 inches.

Wilson improved her distance in the triple jump, totaling 34 feet 10 1/2 inches to share second place in the preliminaries and enhancing her distance to 35 feet 6 1/2 inches in the finals, which placed behind the 35 feet 8 inch distance of league champion Jordyn McMaster of Mission Hills. Williams was third at 34 feet 7 inches.

The high jump and pole vault preliminaries only last long enough to eliminate competitors, so Contreras was one of six high jumpers who shared first place at 4’7”. She cleared 4’11” in the finals to take fourth place. Fallbrook sophomore Selina Eich cleared 8’5” in the pole vault finals for fifth place.

Contreras also finished sixth in the 300-meter hurdles finals at 49.78 seconds while Rothert was seventh with a time of 50.81 seconds. Grantham took 1:03.61 in the 400-meter run finals to place seventh.

Senior Demi Barrett’s final high school shot put competition included a throw of 30 feet 6 1/2 inches to take fifth place.

The league finals also saw the likely end of sophomore Abi Perdew’s Fallbrook High School career, as the United States Marine Corps has transferred her father to Bahrain and she will be attending school there. Perdew had a fifth-place time of 17.44 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles preliminaries and a sixth-place time of 17.39 seconds in the finals.

Fallbrook had a dual meet record of 1-4 against league opposition and was 3-4 overall in dual meets for the season. “A lot of that was a lack of a good sprint core,” Hamlin said.

“We had a great season. We saw some great things happen over the season. We’re getting better,” Hamlin said. “A good core of the team is coming back, and we should continue to get better.”