Calendar Live - Golden Knights meet their match

Tuesday, March 26, 2002

Golden Knights meet their match
St. Francis boys' track and field team records a number of personal bests, but can't upset 14-time league champion Loyola, 82-45.

By ERIK BOAL

     LOS ANGELES -- Just like any opponent that steps onto the all-weather track at Loyola High, Joe Monarrez knew what his St. Francis boys' track and field team was in for when it faced off against the Cubs in Monday's Mission League dual meet.
     So with the chances of upsetting the 14-time league champion being of the most remote variety, Monarrez made the Golden Knights' gameplan as simple as possible.
     "It's not necessarily about our numbers, we just want to see [personal records]," said the fifth-year coach following his team's 82-45 setback.
     "Against a team like Loyola, it's about what we can do on a nice track against the clock."
     And for most of Monarrez's 24 athletes that competed against the 90-plus individuals that comprise the navy blue and white army -- which brought its dual meet winning streak one step closer to 100 straight -- the results supported his strategy.
     St. Francis (2-2 in league) -- which fell, 71.5-55.5, to Harvard-Westlake on Thursday -- kicked off the meet with a season-best time of 44.16 seconds in winning the 400-meter relay and went on to capture five of the 14 events and record 12 top-three finishes.
     In addition to running the lead leg of the 400 relay, senior Kenny Patton -- who finished third in the 200 in 22.91 -- also triumphed in the 100 in 11.12.
     The event was surrounded by some controversy, as well as a bit of uncertainty, as one individual -- St. Francis junior Kevin Herron -- was hand-timed by two different sources as finishing no worse than third in 11.27, yet according to the meet's official scorer, was recognized as taking fourth behind Loyola's Michael Asuncion (11.36) and Umari Duffus (11.37).
     Regardless of Herron's efforts or Patton's, the event was missing a key component in Loyola junior Quintin Daniels -- the defending league champion -- who was sidelined with a pulled hamstring.
     According to Cub Coach and La Crescenta resident Greg Wells, Daniels might have also given his 400 relay squad the boost it needed to hold off the Golden Knights, having been part of a quartet that clocked 43.2 -- compared to Monday's 44.48 -- earlier in the season.
     After scoring no points in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 events in last season's dual meet against Loyola (3-0) according to assistant Coach Dennis McNulty, St. Francis picked up six points in the 800, led by junior Pat Donovan's win in a personal-best time of 2:01.77.
     Donovan also ran the second leg of the Golden Knights' 1,600 relay, which was awarded a delayed victory in 3:42.65 after the Cubs were disqualified because of one relay member wearing white spandex shorts and another wearing black.
     Drew Vezina took second in the 300 intermediate hurdles in a personal-best 43.81, which came on the heels of a third-place effort in the 100 high hurdles in 17.42.
     Marc Tarzia won the pole vault with a leap of 13 feet and Scott Burton captured the high jump with a 5-8 effort.
     La Canada Flintridge resident Mario Nicholas won the 400 for the Cubs in 51.36
     BOYS' VARSITY TRACK AND FIELD RESULTS
      Results of Monday's Mission League dual meet between St. Francis and Loyola. Individual scoring on a 5-3-1 basis. Relay scoring on a 5-0 basis.
     Loyola 82, St. Francis 45
     400-METER RELAY
     1. St. Francis (Patton, O'Kane, Orlandini, Herron) 44.16. 2. Loyola (Asuncion, James, Nicholas, Duffus) 44.48.
     1,600 METERS
     1. Matusak (L) 4:27.57. 2. Morris (L) 4:30.22. 3. Torrence (L) 4:37.33.
     110 HIGH HURDLES
     1. Wade (L) 16.40. 2. Ferrell (L) 16.81. 3. Vezina (SF) 17.42.
     400 METERS
     1. Nicholas (L) 51.36. 2. Delgado (L) 53.26. 3. Aguilar (L) 54.13.
     100 METERS
     1. Patton (SF) 11.12. 2. Asuncion (L) 11.36. 3. Duffus (L) 11.37.
     800 METERS
     1. Donovan (SF) 2:01.77. 2. Mares (L) 2:02.72. 3. Rippens (SF) 2:05.35.
     300 INTERMEDIATE HURDLES
     1. Cole (L) 43.46. 2. Vezina (SF) 43.81. 3. Wade (L) 44.09.
     200 METERS
     1. Duffus (L) 22.30. 2. James (L) 22.64. 3. Patton (SF) 22.91.
     3,200 METERS
     1. Tyhurst (L) 9:46.23. 2. Matusak (L) 9:52. 3. Morris (L) 10:19.
     LONG JUMP
     1. Leffall (L) 20-10 1/2. 2. Orlandini (SF) 19-2 1/2. 3. Wendel (L) 18-6.
     TRIPLE JUMP
     1. Scherer (L) 39-6. 2. Valdez (SF) 38-2. 3. Horgan (L) 38-1/2.
     HIGH JUMP
     1. Burton (SF) 5-8. 2. Valdez (SF) 5-6. 3. Sweeney (L) 5-6.
     POLE VAULT
     1. Tarzia (SF) 13-0. 2. Appanaitis (L) 12-6. 3. Long (L) 12-0.
     SHOT PUT
     1. Colich (L) 47-0. 2. Klain (L) 46-3 1/8. 3. Valente (L) 45-9 3/4.