HIGH SCHOOL TRACK VALLEY PAC-8 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS : Birmingham’s Impressive Effort Marred by Relay Team’s Mistake

The Birmingham High boys’ track and field team made an impressive show of force in the Valley Pac-8 Conference championships on its home track Thursday, winning 10 of 15 events.

But an event the Braves didn’t win might come back to haunt them. Birmingham, the runner-up in last year’s City Section championships, lost potential points in this year’s City finals because its 400-meter relay team was disqualified for passing the baton out of the zone on the second exchange.

“They haven’t been running to win this season,” Birmingham Coach Scott King said of the relay runners. “Because of various injuries to different guys, they’ve been running more along the lines of advancing to the next qualifying meet. They have been conservative in their passing. Today, I think they tried to be a little more aggressive.”

The missed exchange took place between Raymond Banner and Mike Moguel. “We just had a bad pass,” Banner said. “We’ve just got to hope and pray that we get in next week.”

Birmingham’s relay team could have a chance to redeem itself as an alternate in next week’s City semifinals because each school is allowed to enter a team or individual in one event in which the team/individual failed to qualify in the conference meet. However, the Braves’ relay team must have one of the top two times among alternates to guarantee entry.

Aside from the 400 relay, Birmingham, the conference’s dual-meet champion, met all expectations. Banner won the 110-meter high hurdles in a personal-best 14.2 seconds and the 300 intermediates in 40.2, and Tony Serpas won the 100 (10.9) and the 200 (22.1). Alvaro Mejia won the 1,600 (4:25.9) and the 3,200 (9:45.5).

Sophomore James Lincoln won the high jump with a personal-best leap of 6 feet 7 1/4 inches.

In the girls’ meet, North Hollywood’s Oshonda Posey won the 100 (12.2), 200 (26.5), 100 hurdles (16.2) and 300 hurdles (48.7).