Culver City Observer -

Track and Field is back in a big way in the form of the Culver City High School Invitational meet on Saturday at the Culver City High School track. The meet starts at 10 a.m. and over 20 schools will be running and jumping on Saturday.

Culver City will be trying to improve on their inspiring start of the season last Saturday when they dominated all four Divisions against Torrance and Palisades high schools. The Girls varsity and freshmen/sophomore teams and the boys' varsity and freshmen/sophomore teams turned in some impressive performances.

"It was the first meet, but it looked like everybody enjoyed their experiences," said head boys coach Jahmal Wright in a phone interview this week. "I like the fact that we have a pretty deep team this year with a lot of student athletes that came out to compete on the track and field teams. The vibe with the team is very good and everyone is working hard."

Competition is good but sometimes it can create inter squad problems but not with these teams according to Wright. "The team camaraderie was great on Saturday. I really enjoyed hearing all the athletes cheering each other on. I think that's important to have that team bonding spirit. I was excited about that."

The crowd was upbeat and that seemed to inspire the athletes like Culver City's returning CIF champion Zaire Waring who clocked a very fast winning time in the 200 meters of 21.55. Also recording a fast early season time was the girls' varsity 400-meter relay. The team of Andrea Smith, Joelle Trepagnier, Morgan Maddox and Imaan Minwalla ran a fast time of 48.84.

The girls track and field head coach, Rayfield Moses Beaton was also excited about the early season marks. "I was surprised in a lot of ways. It was a good first day. The girls relay team really ran fast but I was just trying to get through the day without any body getting hurt but a lot of young kids surprised me."

George Laase

Team co-captain, David Valenzuela (#7) hits a winner against Inglewood. The Centaurs beat the Sentinels, 3-0 at home and 3-2 on the road last week.

Other Culver City sports also got off to excellent starts. The baseball team is 3-0 at press time and they have outscored their opponents 37-3. Next Tuesday they start a three-game home stand against three of the four Torrance schools. On Tuesday they play a 5-1 Torrance team at 3:30 p.m. On Friday, March 11, The Centaurs battle 4-1-1 North Torrance at 3:30 p.m. and on Saturday they face always tough 4-0 West Torrance at 11 a.m.

The 2-0 boys' volleyball team will travel to Palos Verdes on Wednesday, and they return home next Thursday to play Santa Monica at 3:30 p.m. The 6-0 boys' tennis team has a home match against Torrance on Wednesday at 3 p.m. and they travel to Mira Costa on Thursday. The 4-0 girls' lacrosse team will play two home game starting this Friday, March 4, against Beverly Hills at 3:30 p.m. and they battle Santa Monica on Wednesday, March 9, at 4 p.m.

Please call the high school to confirm the days and times.