Culver City Observer -

There was plenty of gold awaiting Culver City High track and field. But the big surprise of the 2019 Ocean League Finals was the Centaur varsity girls upset loss to El Segundo High by a single point, 144-143. Yet not to be denied, the Culver City boys varsity and girls frosh/soph teams defended their respective league titles.

The Culver varsity girls dominated in the sprints, hurdles and relays but failed to win the League Championship for the first time in five years. El Segundo excelled in distance running, jumping and field events to snap the Centaur winning streak. The Centaur frosh/soph boys team improved to second place behind winner Santa Monica High.

Varsity sprinter Kayla Barnes put the finishing touches on her fine career at Culver City High by sweeping gold medals in four events: the 100m, 200m, 4x100m and the 4x400m relay. Barnes won the 100m event with a time of 12.17 and captured gold with 25.17 in the 200m.

Barnes teamed with Alero Soaris, Ava Belcher and Alexandra Williams to cruise in the 4x100m varsity event in 48.40, over runner-up El Segundo (50.18). The Centaur girls varsity 4x400m relay team also won gold with Yasmeen Delgado, Anaiya Mitchell, Alero Soaris and Barnes running in 4:02.16.

The City boys varsity reaped five gold medals. Jamal Glaspie took gold in the 100m sprint with a personal best of 11.15. Mekhi Evans-bey won the 200m event in 22.22. Evans-bey completed a duo-gold by routing the field in the 400m final in 48.65.

Arman Rostamian took the coveted 1600m event with a time of 4:31.86. Rostamian also took silver in the 800 meter race at 2:00.59. Brandon Cummings won the varsity boys 3200m distance race with a personal best time of 10:05.35. Shamar Carton took gold in the 300m hurdles with a time of 40.44. Desmond Dickson earned silver with 41.81. Carter also silvered in the boys varsity 100m hurdles.

The Culver varsity boys swept their relays. Mekhi Evans-bey, Khary Crump, Tyler Lucket and Jamal Glaspie teamed to win the 4x100m relay event. Dexter Hollier-Larouse, Shamar Carter, Dialo Drati and Mekhi Evans-bey ran 3:23.62 to take gold in the 4x400m relay.

Alero Soaris won gold in the varsity girls 400m sprint event with a time of 59.94. She edged out three Centaurs: Yasmeen Delgado (1:00.65), Emily Sugiyama (1:03.07) and Anaiya Mitchell (1:04.06).

The City varsity girls also dominated in the hurdles events. Ayana Bahati took the 100m hurdles in 16.17. Alexandria Williams (17.73) and Cmone Garret (18.32) followed for silver and bronze. The girls re-arranged their stature for the 300m hurdles final. Williams won gold with a time of 47.19 with Bahati (49.08) and Garrett (52.51) completing another sweep.

The girls frosh/soph team took home six gold medals. Kennady Iverson doubled in the 200m and 400m events. Maya Cox led five other 100m hurdlers to a 1-6 place sweep in the event. Cox also led the team to a 1-5 sweep in the 300m hurdles.

The foursome of Kamia Carter, Maya Cox, Katherine Holland and Sasha Murphy aced the field in the 4x400m relay by over five seconds. Jazmin White led the frosh/soph girls to a 1-4 sweep in the triple jump.

The City boys frosh/soph team also earned five firsts against their competition. Ayinde Bankole completed the 100m and 200m sprint sweep. Bankole, Emari Pait, Amari Levels and Miles Concepcion won gold in the 4x100m relay.

Levels, Eric Smith, Concepcion and Bankole completed the relay sweep by easily winning the 4x400m relay by over 10 seconds. The Centaur frosh/soph high jumpers took the first four places as Quinton Chapman won with a jump of 5 feet 4 inches.

Fred Altieri

Jamal Glaspie Wins Gold Boys Varsity 100m Sprin Final.

The Centaur varsity boys took first in the team competition with 127.5 points. Santa Monica (106.5), Lawndale (96), El Segundo (29), Beverly Hills (26) and Hawthorne (8) followed. Santa Monica with 137 placed first in the frosh/soph boys contest. Culver City with 107 points took second followed by El Segundo (73), Beverly Hills (21) and Hawthorne (19).

El Segundo won the varsity girls competition with 144 points. Culver City finished one point behind at 143. Santa Monica (62), Beverly Hills (15), Lawndale (12) and Hawthorne (10) followed. The Culver City frosh/soph girls overwhelmed their competition with 173 points. El Segundo (115) placed second followed by Santa Monica (45), Beverly Hills (17), Lawndale (12) and Hawthorne (3).