Girls 4×100 relay wraps up near-perfect season in division duals
Thursday against Piedmont Hills
MORGAN HILL — One personal-record time after another, Live Oak’s fleet foursome of Erika Rodriguez, Courtney Robinson, Catherine Sparling and Lauren Drewniany has legitimized its place among the top-20 fastest 4×100-meter relays in the section.
Their next PR could set a school record.
Live Oak’s top time in the 4×100 relay is 50.7 seconds — and it’s on thin ice. Rodriguez, Robinson, Sparling and Drewniany set out to trump that mark at the end of last season, after that same quartet claimed a Santa Teresa Division championship and qualified for the CIF-Central Coast Section Semifinals. In other words, they want to be the best girls 4×100 relay in school history.
They are less than a second away from doing so.
“Our PR is 51.4, so I definitely think we can do it,” Robinson, a senior, said with conviction during Thursday’s dual meet against Piedmont Hills. “Hopefully, with some good hand-offs, we can get there. It’s my last year, so I’m hoping.”
Success in relays belongs to perfectionists; Live Oak’s 4×100 is testament. Although Rodriguez, Robinson, Sparling and Drewniany are the fastest foursome in the Santa Teresa, they are not the fastest sprinters.
Running is only part of the equation — the easy part.
“I have to say it’s our hand-offs,” Rodriguez said when asked what makes the relay so good. “They’re usually perfect.”
Rodriguez said that last line with slight hesitation. She and her relay mates were undefeated in division duals prior to Thursday’s regular-season finale at Richert Field. The Lady Acorns beat Piedmont Hills 66-57, but the 4×100 relay lost because of a faulty exchange, their first this year.
If anything, that will push them to work even harder.
“It’s our first real mistake, but it’s a concern,” Robinson said. “We want to make sure we’re as good as possible. We want to go as far as we can.”
How far? The four have no specific destination in mind. They hope to defend their division title in this week’s Santa Teresa Finals meet at Westmont High School and, later, make the cut for section finals.
Priority No. 1 is to PR each race.
“The philosophy on this team is try and do better than the last time,” Live Oak coach Jon Michael Porras said. “Our girls (4×100) are excellent. They’re going to do something special.”
Live Oak’s boys 4×100 relay completed a two-loss division-dual season Thursday as the Acorns beat Piedmont Hills 67-58.
Jeff Roberts, Greg White, Billy Van Aken and James Hamblin triumphed in a personal-best 44, flirting with their season-long goal.
“We want to break under 44,” Roberts said. “We felt great out there today. I thought we might dip into the 43s.”
That would have been a stark improvement from their first time this season, a 45.3. At the time, Roberts was nursing a hamstring injury.
“We’ve been practicing a lot since then; conditioning so we can stay at full speed the whole race,” Van Aken said.
Added White: “Practice: That’s what it comes down to, practice.”
At Santa Teresa Finals, the foursome only has to finish under 45 seconds to gain automatic entry to the Blossom Valley Athletic League championship meet.
A division title is possible. Roberts, White, Van Aken and Hamblin lost to Independence in their March 13 dual meet, but beat the 76ers’ foursome in the St. Francis Invite.
Their other loss deserved an asterisk, Van Aken said — they struggled with hand-offs in a loss to Sobrato.
“We felt like we should have won that one,” Porras said. “The boys’ biggest problem is consistency. If they can practice better and get some consistency, they’ll get where they need to be.
“I’ve come down on them a lot more recently, and today that showed a little bit, so I was proud of them.”
Boys varsity
Live Oak 67, Piedmont Hills 58
4×100 relay — Live Oak (Jeff Roberts, Greg White, Billy Van Aken, James Hamblin), 44; 110 hurdles — Dominic Leach, Live Oak, 18.4; 400 — Jacob Daw, Live Oak, 53.4; 4×400 relay — Live Oak (Kean Vaziry, Eric Tolson, Daw, Jacob Montoya), 3:37.9; shot put — Mason Lammers, Live Oak, 36-1; discus — Lammers, 118-0; high jump — Leach, 5-4; long jump — White, 19-11 1/2; triple jump — White, 41-1.
Live Oak: 2-5 in Santa Teresa Division duals.
Girls varsity
Live Oak 66, Piedmont Hills 57
1,600 — Olivia Duran, Live Oak, 5:50; 110 hurdles — Stephanie Armstrong, Live Oak, 18.1; 100 — Courtney Robinson, Live Oak, 13; 200 — Erika Rodriguez, Live Oak, 26.5; 3,200 — Duran, 13:01; 4×400 relay — Live Oak (Rodriguez, Armstrong, Robinson, Lauren Drewniany), 4:24; shot put — Nikki Dronek, Live Oak, 25-10 1/2; discus — Dronek, 77-7; high jump — Armstrong, 5-0.
Live Oak: 4-3.
