Culver City track and field teams dominate Ocean League Finals

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Culver City sophomore Arman Rostamian leads Joshua Velasco of Lawndale and Garrett Rifkin of El Segundo down the final straight away on his way to winning the 1,600-meter run in a personal best time of 4:31.91.

Remarkable is the best way to describe Culver City high school’s track and field performance at the Ocean League Finals on a cold and chilly night inside the Jerry Cabola Stadium last Thursday on the Culver City campus. From the beginning to the end the Centaurs proved once again they have one of the best track and field programs in Southern California.

The boys’ and girls’ varsity and the boys’ soph/frosh teams won Ocean league championships and the girls soph/frosh team placed second.

It all started with the 400 meter relays and ended with Culvers City’s multi-sport star Steven Ashby running back and forth from the long jump pit to the other side of the field to compete in the high jump. Ashby won the long jump with a leap of 22 feet and his winning height in the high jump was 6 feet. He also won the 300-meter hurdles but he was not the star of the meet.

Culver City sophomore Arman Rostamian took the star of the meet honors when he ran his way into Culver City track and field history when he won the 1600 meter run in one of the most thrilling races in Culver City high school history. He out lasted Lawndale’s Joshua Velasco and two other El Segundo runners to win the race in 4:31.91. The next three runners ran in the 4:32.00s.

Rostamian also placed second in the 800 meters with a time of 2:02.74 behind Santa Monica’s Brighton Mills who ran 1:59.87. Because of his two outstanding performances Rostamian was named the Culver City News Athlete of the Meet. “I am really proud of myself and my coaches,” said Rostamian after he won the 1600 meters. “As a sophomore I always wanted to win the 1600. The prelims on Monday really helped me because it showed me that I needed to run on the outside not the inside and that’s what my coach (Rayfield M. Beaton) told me to do.”

Rostamian started running cross country in middle school. “I always had the passion for running but I was not that good when I was younger but I started to get better,” said Rostamian. “I am so excited. Last night I said to myself if I win the 1600 I will be so happy.”

Rostamian and the rest of the varsity boys and girls who qualified for CIF will compete in the prelims at Moorpark high school Saturday. “We are extremely pleased with the Centaur athletes tonight,” said a happy head coach Jahmal Wright after the meet last Thursday. “I would have liked to have won all for divisions but maybe next year. This is what we work so hard for. I just want to thank the parents, teachers, athletic department, coaches and the student athletes. It’s a team effort.”

The baseball team will play their final home game of the regular season today against Beverly Hills at home at 3:15 p.m. They are currently 10-14 overall and 5-3 in the Ocean league. They will continue their season in the CIF playoffs next week.

Girls softball is currently 12-11 and 6-3 in league play. They are currently in third place but if first place Santa Monica beats El Segundo this week the Centaurs will be tied for second place with El Segundo going into the CIF playoffs.

The boys’ volleyball team played their second CIF playoff game last Tuesday and if they win they will move into the second round. The boys’ and girl’s lacrosse teams loss their playoff games last week and their season is over.