Centaur track and field teams get ready for CIF

The next three weeks will determine if Culver City’s varsity boys’ and girls’ track and field teams will have a very good season or a great one. The CIF Southern Section is one of the most competitive sections in the nation and this year will be no different.

This Saturday the Centaurs will travel to Moorpark High School for the CIF prelims. The top place finishers will advance to the CIF finals the following weekend and the top qualifiers from that meet will compete in the Masters Meet on May 27-28. On the weekend of June 3-4, the best in California will compete in the state meet.

Last Thursday the Centaurs proved that they may be ready for the CIF meets. At the Ocean League finals, which was held at Culver City, the Centaur girls’ varsity team won its division by scoring 170 points and the boys frosh/soph team won its division by scoring 232 points. The second place team in that division, Santa Monica, scored 90. The boys’ varsity placed third and the girls frosh/soph team placed second.

“It feels good to win two divisions but I am still a little disappointed that we did not win all four,” Culver City coach Jahmal Wright said after the meet last Thursday. “We battled but we have a good league. Now it’s time to get ready for CIF.”

In the CIF prelims on Saturday, the Centaur girls will be relying on two senior girls to lead the way. Nia Garcia and Veronica Mendez have turned in top performances all year and last Thursday they continued to dominate. Garcia won the 110 hurdles, 300-meter hurdles, and she also won the long jump and the triple jump. Mendez ran on the winning 400-meter relay team, placed second in the 100 and 200 meters and ran on the third-place 1600-meter relay team.

Cahlil Hooper led the Culver City boys’ varsity team when he won the 100 meters in 10.99, placed second in the 200 and ran a leg on the winning 400-meter relay team in a time of 43.11. Although there were a lot of good times and marks recorded by the boys, sophomore Nick Bradley was the athlete of the meet for the boys frosh/soph teams.

Bradley won the 100 and 200-meters sprints and ran on the winning 400 and 1600-meter relay teams.

“I have only been running track for two years,” said Bradley, who also plays running back on the football team. “I like the short distances because that also helps me when I play football.”

Whatever happens in CIF, Culver City track and field teams are moving in the right direction according to girls’ head coach and former USC All-American Rayfield Beaton.

“I feel good about the teams,” Beaton said last Thursday. “Tonight was a good night because we competed hard despite the injuries. I am thankful for all of the good things that are happening to the Culver City track and field teams. We have come a long way but we still have a long way to go to get to the next level.”