The South Pasadena track & field program keeps racking up wins, personal bests and taking home the top prize in most dual meets.
The team took home nearly every category recently against La Cañada as well as San Marino. This holds true for both girls and boys, especially in the sprints. The team is especially strong in the 100, 200, 400- and 800-meter dashes.
Standouts so far are the Trinidad twins Ferrel and Terrel Mansano along with Ivan Estrada, who came to the forefront last football season. The Mansano brothers are only 15 and a tearing up the meets in the varsity dashes, especially varsity 200 meters.
The perennial standout for the So Pas team is TH Wei, who is excelling again this year in the 100 meters. Also, most recently he took home top honors in the mens varsity triple jump at the 3rd Annual Jim Cerveny Invite with a leap of 46-00. He bested a field of 17 jumpers from the greater San Diego region. Wei wasn’t done for the day as he took home the top prize also in the mens varsity long jump, 21-10.
Also, Andrew Parkinson is most assuredly making a name for himself, his dad, Mike, was a former So Pas track star and coach. The younger Parkinson has excelled in the 1600 meters and the high jump, although he was bested by La Cañada jumper Luke Johnson by a hair’s breadth, 5-04 to 5-00.
There are, of course, girls who are excelling as expected but also there are soccer players that have come over for the first- time running track that are performing well. Emma (Booch) Barrera, for one, is holding her own after being a standout on the girls varsity soccer squad.
CB Richards, head coach, said he was curious to see how well the soccer players would perform. There has not been any disappointment, he said.
Not to be outdone, South Pasadena came in second during the womens varsity 4X800 with a time of 9:50.05 at the Cerveny Invite. The relay team consisted of Amelia Jarolim, Rainey Tilley, Lindsay Michels and Sydney Morrow.
Richards said that for any team to beat South Pasadena at a dual meet that squad would have to be at its very best. So far, that has not occurred.
“The track team season continues,” Richards said in an email to The Review as he was traveling with the team. “We are headed to San Diego for an overnight travel trip. We will compete at the Jim Cerveny Invitational tomorrow morning (April 13) at Mission Bay High School.”
The squad took on Blair High School this past Thursday and is scheduled to compete in the 61st Annual Mt. SAC Relays Saturday, April 20.
As the squad heads into the Rio Hondo League finals next Friday, they hold a commanding lead over all their opponents. The boys and girls varsity squads are 4-0 while the boys and girls frosh-soph teams also are 4-0. It looks like the South Pasadena track & field program is going to claim another consecutive league championship.
