Fallbrook track and field wraps up season - Sophomore Mikey Sykes clears 6'3" at CIF finals

Fallbrook High School sophomore Mikey Sykes, who was in his first year as a track and field participant, cleared 6’3” in the high jump at the CIF San Diego Section finals May 31 at Mt. Carmel High School.

The distance gave Sykes a three-way tie for fifth place. The top three finishers in each event qualify for the CIF state meet, and the tie among the three jumpers who cleared 6’3” was broken based on earlier missed attempts.

“Mike did very well. He was one jump away from qualifying for the state meet,” said Fallbrook head coach Marco Arias. “He’s going to be one to watch.”

As a team the Warrior boys finished 4-4 in dual meets, including 2-3 in Avocado West League competition. Fallbrook’s girls were 3-5 overall and 1-4 in league meets. The Warrior boys and girls both defeated Westview to open the dual meet season, and both squads defeated Orange Glen in pre-league competition.

During the league season the boys defeated El Camino and La Costa Canyon while the girls’ victory was against El Camino. “The win against La Costa Canyon was really big for the boys,” Arias said.

The Warriors had a May 8 home meet against La Costa Canyon to close out dual meet competition.

“I think we competed fairly well with most of the teams. The only team that really dominated us was Carlsbad,” Arias said. “I was fairly pleased with what we did.”

Sykes and other newcomers helped contribute to that. “We had some new people step up,” Arias said.

Only dual meet records determine team league championships. The league meet, which this year took place at El Camino, produces individual league champions and CIF meet qualifiers. The May 13 preliminaries were conducted as planned, although the fires in the county caused the finals to be postponed from the original May 16 date to May 19.

“We had a couple of kids who were close to being league champions,” Arias said.

Hayden Haldi was second in both the discus throw and the long jump. Tanner Miller of El Camino threw the discus 146’6” with Haldi achieving a throw of 146’5”. Haldi had a long jump of 21’4”.

Trevino Cordova was also second in two events, completing the 100-meter dash in 11.04 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 23.04 seconds.

The tiebreaker of earlier missed jumps cost Sykes the league championship in the high jump. Sykes was one of three jumpers to clear 5’11”, but Zack Fernandez of La Costa Canyon was the league champion and Sykes placed second.

Although Matt Doyle of Rancho Buena Vista won the boys 400-meter run league championship with a lap of 51.59 seconds, Fallbrook took second, third, and fifth after qualifying three runners for the nine-lane finals. Oscar Ruvalcaba had a time of 52.36 seconds, DeQuincy Roberson took 52.37 seconds, and Sierra Arteaga had the fifth-place time of 52.64 seconds.

Rosanne Lopez had the best finish at the league meet among Fallbrook’s girls, completing the 800-meter race in 2:20.71 for second place. Mikala Tidd and Taryn Ransbury both cleared 8’1” in the pole vault with Tidd capturing third place and Ransbury being given fifth place.

The CIF preliminaries took place May 24 at Mt. Carmel High School. “We did okay,” Arias said.

The top nine Division I finishers and the top nine Division II finishers in each event at the CIF preliminaries advance to the finals; the top nine overall advance to the “A” race or field event flight while the next nine compete in the “B” race or flight. Sykes advanced to the “A” high jump flight while Haldi had distances worthy of the “A” discus flight and the “B” long jump flight. The 6’3” Sykes cleared during the preliminaries was worth a four-way share of second place in Division I with Sykes earning fourth based on earlier misses. Haldi’s discus throw of 145’1” was the sixth-longest Division I distance in the preliminaries while his long jump of 21 feet 1 1/2 inches was seventh among Division I boys.

Fallbrook’s boys 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams also participated in the CIF section preliminaries as did Cordova in the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash, Rene Hernandez in the 800-meter and 1,600-meter races, and Elijah Roque and Sam Comerford in the 1,600-meter run. John Pease was initially given a lane in the 300-meter hurdles race but was scratched out due to an injury.

The only Fallbrook girls in the CIF preliminaries were Lopez in the 800-meter run and Sarah Grantham in the 300-meter hurdles. Neither qualified for the finals.

Haldi injured his back during the long jump at the CIF finals. His best distance was 20 feet 10 1/4 inches, which placed 16th among the 18 finals jumpers. The injury prevented Haldi from throwing the discus at the finals.

Arteaga, Cordova, Grantham, Haldi, Hernandez, and Lopez were seniors. Pease, Ransbury, Roque, and Tidd were juniors. The sophomores included Comerford, Roberson, and Ruvalcaba along with Sykes.

“We have quite a few returning,” Arias said. “We should be very competitive next year in our new league.”

The Warriors will contest their 2015 league meets in the Valley League.

Arias coached the Warrior throwers and distance runners as well as serving as the head coach. Jim Curran coached Fallbrook’s pole vaulters, John Kroeger mentored the jumpers, and Miguel Trejo worked with the sprinters.

“I’m extremely proud of the way everyone competed,” Arias said. “Every single kid got better.”