Another record breaking day

It’s mid-April -- that time of year when the Marine View Middle School

track and field program makes its annual assault on the Mt. SAC Relays

meet in Walnut.

With 6,900 middle schools competing to make the Mt. SAC Relays the

largest meet of its kind in the nation, student athletes from Marine View

garnered 103 medals and established two new meet records.

“As always, our kids represented Marine View very well,” Mariners’

track and field coach Kelly Painter said.

The day was fruitful enough to change the record books.

The seventh-grade girls’ quartet of Marilena Guadagnini, Chrissy Van

Doornum, Christine Nazario and Saida Hudson sped into the meet record

books with a time of 2:04.7 in the 200-meter relay. That time erased the

old meet mark of 2:06.5.

The second record setter was Loren Kortizija who set the eighth-grade

girls’ triple jump mark with a leap of 30-feet 9-inches, replacing the

old standard of 29-8, set by former Marine View student Ashley O’Brien in

1998.

“It was fun competing against so many kids,” Kortizija said. “I just

tried to do my best.”

The two new meet records give the Marine View track and field program

a total of seven Mt. SAC records. The school got its first meet record in

1997, when Summer Owens ran a 2:24.2 in the 800 meters. Owens was a

seventh-grade student at the time.

While most participating schools had one 400-meter relay team

competing in the eighth-grade boys’ race, Marine View had two relay

squads vie for first place. Both teams medaled.

The team of Scott Schaur (1:02.3), Aldo Maltos (1:03), Robert Peck

(59.9) and Santiago Talavera (59.8) ran a 4:05.1 while in a separate

heat, Shaun Lin (1:03), Ryan McAlister (1:07.8), Jeff Van Doornum (1:05)

and Ruben Gomez (1:04) also medaled with a time of 4:19.

Marine View’s eighth-grade girls’ 400-meter relay team of Kortizija

(1:11), Kaydee Lane (1:14),, Ashley Ratelle (1:11) and Kristen Fronk

(1:10) won the event with a time of 4:46.

The Mariners’ seventh-grade boys’ 200-meter relay team also was

victorious with Thompson Nguyen, Bryce Overend, Kevin Lachman and Nick

Potrykus running a 1:59.7.

Other notable results turned in by Marine View included eighth-grade

athletes Kortizija (13.8) just edging out Ashley Ratelle (13.9) in the

100 meters, Fronk (5:40) earning second place in the 1,500 meters and Ashley Burke (1:10.1) finishing third in the 400 meters.

In eighth-grade boys’, Talavera (2:22.3) was second in the 800 meters,

Peck (1:00.9) was second in the 400 meters, Jeff Sandberg (15-2) was

second in the long jump, and Dallas Walters (33-2) was second and

Talavera (32-8) was third in the triple jump.

In seventh-grade boys’, Potrykus (30-6) and Jeff Davies (29-8)

finished 1-2, respectively, in the triple jump, Mike Kinoshita (1:07.9)

was second and Overend (1:08) third in the 400 meters. Albert Breitwieser

(2:39) was second and Justin Peck and Michael Daugherty (2:41) tied for

third in the 800 meters, and Kinoshita (13-1) placed second in the long

jump.

The seventh-grade girls’ competition saw Marine View’s Guadagnini

(13-2), Kendall Phelan (12-11) and Kassi Hewin (12-4) take the top three

spots, Nazario (27-9) and Staci Austin (27-0) finish 1-2 in the triple

jump, and Nazario (13.6) was first and Hudson (14.0) second in the 100

meters.

Marine View’s sixth-grade boys’ team also had a strong showing, led by

the top three finish of Kelan Stuart (27-7), Corey Kaiser (25-3) and Ryan

Donohue (24-8) in the triple jump. Stuart also won the 100 meters in

13.5, Phillip Cobb (12-1) captured the long jump, and Celso Arcos ran a

1:10.9 to place third in the 400 meters.

Kelsey Kraiss had an outstanding meet in the sixth-grade girls’

competition as she brought home three medals. She placed second in the

triple jump (24-2) and placed third in the 400 meters (1:16) and

100-meter relay, where she was part of a relay team that consisted of

Allyssa Rogers, Christina Badajos and Elizabeth Thomas.

Other first place finishes by Marine View athletes in the sixth-grade

competition included Erica Congelliere (11-7 1/2) in the long jump,

Brittany Woodward (26-4) in the triple jump, and Ashley Lampley (13.42)

in the 100 meters. Rogers (11-7) was second in the long jump and Allison

Green (23-8) was third in the triple jump.

Perhaps, though, the greatest accolade bestowed on the Marine View

track and field program came after the meet. Following the team’s

traditional dining excursion to a favorite restaurant, a retired couple

who volunteers at the meet and had handed out a number of awards to

Marine View student athletes, approached Painter. They had been dining

near the team, they said.

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at (714)

965-7171 or by e-mail at [email protected].